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It’s been a long time since the Counting Crows, one of my favorite bands, has put out a studio album. Every Crow’s album is a mood swinger, from their folksy debut with August & Everything After, to its aggressive rock follow up, Recovering the Satellites, the laid back This Desert Life and the pop-friendly Hard […]

I haven’t posted a playlist in a while so here’s a lengthy one that includes all the music I’ve been listening to in the past couple of weeks. In addition to Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through The Static and the bowl-full of awesomeness that is the Once soundtrack (Falling Slowly, When Your Minds Made Up, Say […]

Once in awhile a movie comes along that can be truly aspiring. In the pool of big budget Hollywood musicals that have come out in the past few years, whether its Chicago or Dreamgirls or even the better odds of last year’s Todd Sweeney and August Rush, it’s almost difficult to imagine a musical without […]

With his latest album, Sleep Through The Static, Jack Johnson proves he can still make solid zen-like, beach-side, laid-back tunes that can either put you to sleep or have you sing along. It is certainly not as great as the milestone of In Between Dreams, and some of the best songs on Sleep actually sound […]

Say - John Mayer | Must I wait for Mayer to finally release another song before I can hear good music again? “Say” was written as a single for the upcoming Rob Reiner picture “The Bucket List”, where two old men from different backgrounds come together to complete a things-to-do-before-i-die kind of list. The official […]

I know the Black Iris has been on a political bend lately, which I suppose was unavoidable. So I offer this playlist as compensation for all the torture. Some of these tracks are ones I’ve discovered recently, while others are old gems I’ve been rediscovering. On a personal note, it should be noted that I’ve […]

From Amman’s sister city, the Trio Chicago and Friends played a lengthy program that included Bernstein and Ellington at the Cultural Center last night. It was a great show. And now, A little bit of Porter to lighten the mood…

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Last night the Amman Symphony Orchestra performed its first concert for the 2007-2008 season. Josep Vincent of Spain was the guest conductor with 22 year-old piano virtuoso, Lulu Yang of China on piano. The concert was pretty phenomenal as it was my first time seeing the Amman Symphony Orchestra play. My favorite pieces included the […]

Typical - Mute Math | One of the best and freshest bands I have heard in a long time. Front man, Paul Meany has a voice that is reminiscent of a coarser Sting, and many of the songs will drive you in that direction before leading you away into a more synth-indie-rock style. Mute Math […]

Forever Begins - Common | I’ve been really into Common’s latest album, Finding Forever. He is one of the handful of artists I would consider to be a reflection of genuine hip hop. His lyrical sophistication outshines the rest. In his latest Kanye West-produced album, Common finds familiar ground for his music. From kicking it […]

Last night the Al-Hussein Cultural Center hosted Sacromonte, a Flamenco concert, organized by the Spanish Institute in Amman. It was a stellar performance that left everyone applauding endlessly. It was composed by a group of young artists who have strongly influenced in the Andalusian and Spanish flamenco panorama in the last years. The Sacromonte quartet […]

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…
Nancy held a press conference a few hours before her concert at the Radisson Sass in Amman, Jordan. As she was talking about her participation in the Jerash Festival and everything was going as planned, an Israeli Journalist from ‘ Yadiot Ahranot’ newspaper disrupted and asked Ajram a […]

Having not put out a playlist for quite some time, I thought I’d quickly compile a longer (than usual) one. Consider it the ’summer edition’ playlist.

Bittersweet - Kanye West ft. John Mayer | It’s a song that I’ve waited a pretty long time to hear. Clips of it have been released as far back as […]

In their first concert in an Arab country, Palestinian hip hop trio DAM, rocked Amman last night as part of the Fete De La Musique (Music Day) series of concerts that took place across the city. Popularized on the net, I thought they were worth checking out and indeed they were pretty entertaining given that […]

Wow. Simply wow. Just a great album. Talk about changing gears. Talk about sounding more pure and more raw than ever before. Talk about finding a new take on old sound. Talk about making both simultaneously successful. Talk about not skipping a single heart beat.
I think this is one of the best rock albums […]