Palestinian violinist, oud player and composer Simon Shaheen is devastatingly talented. His work in the area of Arabic classical music includes some of the most beautiful recordings ever made in the genre. Living in New York since 1980s, Shaheen has more than once been lured into participating in various fusion or crossover projects, but the results have not generally been to his liking. Blue Flame is Shaheen's first release with his experimental group Qantara, and it delivers an amalgam of Arabic music, jazz, pop, and rock, but Shaheen's way--technically brilliant and glistening with his characteristic veneer of subtlety, care, and perfection.

Shaheen tries to erase genre descriptions. He doesn't want you to hear jazz with Arabic flavoring, or Arabic music with jazzy solos, or a Western style string quartet with an oud added in. He wants you to hear something so balanced and thoughtfully blended that you won't know what box to put it in. For the most part, he succeeds very well in this. There are fiery, oud-driven set pieces with improvised sections morphing seamlessly into composed ones. "Waving Sands" is sweet, like Middle Eastern pop with chiming, African-style guitar and a catchy hook melody. "Fantasie for Oud & String Quartet" is short, riveting classical piece in which East and West coexist in every rhythm, tone and melody. There's even a lush, heavily orchestrated reading of Sting's "Tea in the Sahara."

The players here are sensational, and picking up Shaheen's determined sense of purposefulness, they never noodle or wander. Shaheen's violin tone sears and sighs with the power and suppleness of a human voice, and you won't find a more riveting oud player anywhere. The music here favors design over spontaneity, but it's never contrived or lifeless. Indeed, Qantara's first full-length studio work sets a new standard for Arabic crossover music.

Contributed by: Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org