Jafaar: Middle Eastern Jazz Fusion"

This is sort of a follow-on to last week's post about Project Mastana. Jafaar is another multicultural fusion group, this one based in mostly Middle Eastern traditions blended with jazz and funk. After extended travel in the Middle East, bassist Troy Cole returned to the Triangle in 2002 and pulled together the initial incarnation of Jaafar ("forgiveness"). The lineup fluctuates, but generally include bass, keyboards, drumset, oud, and doumbek. In addition to regular local performances, they have played at festivals in Egypt, India, and Poland.

Their web site (the design of which is a load of pants) has a ton of music to explore, but let me highlight a few things, and then you can go digging.

MP3: "Ana Melkik (percussion solo)" (this is what a doumbek sounds like!)
MP3: "Wherever You Are" (slow and quiet -- more jazz evident in this track)
MP3: "Heya Heya"

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