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Chapter 224: Love Is Not A Joke

Middle Eastern & North African pop & folk

This chapter of Middle Eastern & North African music spans a wide variety of styles, found everywhere from Israel to Syria to Turkey to Mali. The saturnine “Ateş-i Aşkına (Semah)” thuds like an ancient, mournful ritual; “Silsulim” is an endlessly inventive bag of pop tricks. And you’ll need to steel yourself for dabke, the Syrian wedding music that comes on like a whirling dervish at hurricane speeds. “Love Is Not A Joke” and “Shift Al Mani” summon angry synth snakes that will wrap around your brain stem.
1. Ofra Haza

Im Nin'alu

2. Hakim

Sidi Mansour

3. Kol Hakavot

Mocher Haprachim

4. Jamshied Sharifi

Through the Veil (ft. Hassan Hakmoun)

5. Static & Ben El Tavori

Silsulim

6. Tolga Sağ, Yılmaz Çelik & Muharrem Temiz

Ateş-i Aşkına (Semah)

7. Tinariwen

Cler Achel

8. Ahmad Al Kosem

Love Is Not a Joke

9. Omar Souleyman

Shift Al Mani (I've Seen Her)

10. Tamikrest

Tisnant an Chatma