Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

Masaa's blend of free-spirited instrumental quartet and outstanding male voice makes their sound arguably the most accomplished fusion of Jazz and Arab tonal colouring currently to be found in Germany. On their third album ″Outspoken″ the four musicians demonstrate their mature mastery of their craft. Stefan Franzen talked to singer Rabih LahoudMore

The Moroccan Film Festival in Berlin highlighted films made by women or dealing with women's issues. In interview with Elizabeth Grenier, the director of the Moroccan Cinema Centre revealed what he found most fascinating about the movies in the programmeMore

This latest in historical culinary literature is guaranteed to appeal to avid collectors and adventurous chefs alike. As Marcia Lynx Qualey discovered, ″Scents & Flavors: A Syrian Cookbook″, presented side by side in English and Arabic, has much to tempt and inspire even relatively inexperienced 21st century cooksMore

While many albums have explored the space where American jazz meets Eastern music, the latest recording from Boston-based Neotolia on Interrobang Records, ″Neotolian Song″, has achieved a fusion that expands to encompass the rest of the world. Review by Richard Marcus

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Following his suicide in 1969, the private diaries of Egyptian writer Waguih Ghali, known for his one best-selling novel, ″Beer in the Snooker Club″, were preserved. Surviving only as copies, they were made available through Cornell University in 2014. May Hawas has now deciphered Ghali′s sometimes drunken scrawl and compiled his journals into two eminently readable volumes. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the firstMore

Henry Corbin, theologian and professor in Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne, is widely regarded as the West′s authority on Persian philosophy. Despite having died in 1978, he is not only revered in modern-day Iran, he has also been appropriated. By Marian BrehmerMore

Saudi Arabia seems to be having a change of heart with regard to modern culture and entertainment. Pop concerts, shows and festivals are a new departure for the conservative kingdom on the Gulf, something that is also having an inevitable impact on the country′s strict policy of gender segregation. By Joseph Croitoru More

With ″Kidal″, its latest album of beautiful, heart-stopping music, Tamikrest is following in the footsteps of its Tamasheq predecessors and attracting a global following. Richard Marcus shares his impressionsMore

A haze of nostalgia pervades ″Menorahs and Minarets″ (2017), the third and final novel in an ambitious trilogy by Egyptian author Kamal Ruhayyim. All three books have now been ably translated into English by Sarah Enany. Marcia Lynx Qualey has the detailsMore