Amina Alaoui

Amina Alaoui: Arco Iris

by John Kelman
July 3, 2011

Following her outstanding performance with the cross-cultural, century-spanning ensemble of Norwegian keyboardist/composer Jon Balke's Siwan (ECM, 2009), it's no surprise that the German label has tapped into the Moroccan singer for an album of her own. But as sprawling and ambitious as Siwan was, Arco Iris is, while being no less dramatic, on a much smaller scale; its greatest strength coming from Alaoui's nuanced delivery and acute ability to unveil the hidden power in a set of music that, like ...