"Magic Carpet," Marcel Khalife's latest release, is a suite of 12 instrumental pieces written for the Caracalla Dance Troupe's theater shows "Alisar the Queen of Carthage" and "Andalusia: The Lost Glory." It is the second album that Khalife published of his instrumental works for the Caracalla plays, his first being "Summer Night's Dream," which came out five years ago. The recent album appeared in the market on cassette and CD in the summer of 1998.
"Magic Carpet" scores high on the scale of modern music composition. Like an earthquake it shakes much of the still trivialities of Arabic musical expression, and uproots its aged and brackish foundations. It is a unique festival of the possible and the inconceivable, the familiar and the surprising, the original and the novel, all in succession. An instrumental roar, yet with a charming, quiet imagery, "Magic Carpet" comes as a new statement of revolution unrelentingly pursued in a time of nostalgia and resignation. This magic carpet rides a wind that clears the way for a soft and delicious listening, similar to previous texts by Khalife which crowned him a unique composer capable of prowling around the common taste with what's familiar and new. Despite his revolution, he leaves the soul without a scratch in its aesthetic inclinations.
Tracks:
1. Mare
2. Diwan of the Harem (Dance of the Scarves)
3. Coronation in a Phoenician Shrine
4.Dance of the Priestesses
5. Love Duet (Inspired by Delibes' Lakme)
6. Alisar's Escape, Tyre to Carthage
7. Diwan of Decadence (Al-Bahrah)
8. Diwan of Andalusia (Muwashahaat)
9. Departure from Granada
10. Reconquista
11. Horsemen (Dabke dance)
12. Spirit of Dance-Finale
