Kareem Roustom

Kareem Roustom, El-Zafeer Ensemble: Almitra's Question

by Dan McClenaghan
March 7, 2005

Guitarist Kareem Roustom was born in Damascus, Syria to American and Syrian parents; on Almitra's Question he and the El-Zafeer Ensemble make music that blends American jazz with Arabic sounds. The rhythm patterns and the distinctive percussion (riqq and daff) lend an exotic and crisply declamatory backdrop to Roustom's lush accoustic guitar playing and violinist Hanna Khoury's sweetly sinuous lines. Exotic, mysterious--especially to an ear (like this reviewer's) that hasn't listened to much of the music from the East.