or anyone interested in something a bit different...

I plunked this thing down on the counter a few months ago but didn't sit down to do any serious, critical listening until today. It immediately made me think of a recent discussion round these parts about the Kronos Quartet and something they had done bordering on "atonal".

In any case, Rainbow is a collaboration between the Quartet and some Azerbaijani folk singers/musicians. It's done in conjunction with the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings group and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. It's a well-packaged, two disc CD/DVD combo for not a lot of money and appeared to be just one in a series of partnerships. The sound quality is quite good and Azerbaijani tendency to emphasize different notes makes the passages certainly more challenging that typical western fare.

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=124828092