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Music by Farya Faraji, vocals by Ibrahim Charaf, lyrics by Antarah ibn Shaddad. It was about time I tried my hand at the vast, diverse repertoire of the Arab world, and I wanted to start with no other than Arabia proper. This composition is inspired by the Khaliji (broadly meaning of the Gulf) styles of music—those of the Arabs living on the eastern coast of the Persian gulf, where their music is broadly the same as that of southern Iranians living near the gulf. The Iranian style is called Bandari, a style I’m a little familiar with, but is mostly alien to me as I’m Mazandarani from the North, where our music has more affinities with the music of the Caucasus. This style called Khaliji by the Arabs is often in triple metre, with a percussive pattern that is highly syncopated as heard here. The primary instrument used is different forms bagpipes, such as the habban in the Arabian peninsula or the ney anban in Iran. I used a mijwiz, which is a bagless, similar reed instrument that produces the
