Multi-cultural rhythmic impulses come home on Layers of Time (Ellipsis Arts 4130; 47:39), led by Austrian drummer-composer Reinhard Flautischler, whose Megadrums projects celebrate the universality of the pulse, here he engages such masters as Zakir Hussain, Airto Moreira, Milton Cardona, and Glen Velez…On Muwashah (JVC 3501; 48:31), worldly Nubian hero Hamza el Din, whose music has been played by the Kronos Quartet, performs and sings captivating Arabian and “muwashhh” music on oud, accompanied by hand-clapping and indigenous instruments, as well as spare and unintrusive synthesizer adornments.
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