A
seamless melding of beautiful, Arabic, Bedouin, and Persian
vocals with melodic western instruments and drum loops.
Written
around the magic of ancient Egypt - from Ra, Horus and Set
to the Rosetta Stone and the Book of the Dead - this album
journeys from Mother Nile to the blood-red desert moon of
the
Sahara.
Huda
Sabour builds on the wonderful track she sang on A
Pattern of Lands, translating and interpreting Riley's
lyrics from English into Arabic and Bedouin and providing
the haunting vocals for such tracks as The Prayer Boat
and In the Footprints of Ra.
Hamid
Toyouri and Ramin Kousary add stunning Persian vocals and
the spine-tingling sound of the ney flute and Persian violin.
The silky skills of Andrew Mortimer and Jon Mark on guitar,
Tony Tziakis on bozouki, and Chris O'Connor's dumbek complement
Philip Riley's melodic keyboard and percussion arrangements.
Secret
Egypt is an album for all those who like their music to cross
borders, collecting together the stories and special magic
of the World's most romantic cultures.
'Oh
Mother Nile
Your eb and flow are the bitter and sweet of me
My breathing in and out.
Fashioned from your clay
Spinning like a leaf among the reeds
Drifting blind through deeps and shallows
Onward from the Highlands to the Delta'
Mother Nile(track 1)