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The ferocious heat on Tihama, the Red sea coastal plain of Yemen, is matched in it's intensity by the tibbal music, an Afro-Arabian amalgam that features lyres, reeds and, particularly, virtuoso drumming. It's practitioners are largely drawn from the akhdam, an outcast group with a reputation for sorcery, who bring passion, skill and stamina to performances which accompany acrobatic dancing and ceremonial trance. This exciting CD captures the traditional music of this region which has retained an edge of intensity and an almost unrestrained energy. Recordings and text by Anderson Bake well.