(Review from gnosis2000.net)

The double album Istanbul Casablanca – Tour 98 is another document of the band’s live performances.

Sound is of varying quality but the performances are lovely. As always a wide variety of influences can be heard, but as the title suggests, the music from Turkey and Morocco stands in the spotlight.

On several tracks Embryo is joined by the Turkish band Oriental Wind. “Istanbul Suite” is based on a famous Turkish folk melody, but it has been turned into a great jam with a prominent role for Oriental Wind’s percussion player Okay Temiz.

“All Alone” is a beautiful ballad showing once more that boundaries between jazz and ethnic music are not necessarily existent. It features great solos for flute, vibes and clarinet among others. Most of the second disc contains music recorded on their Moroccan journey reporting the intense collaboration with Mahmoud Gania.

There are also a few tracks with Chinese master musician Xizhi Nie on erhu and one poorly recorded track features the outstanding lyra player Ross Daly.

Line-up:
- Christian Burchard / percussion, santour
- Roberto Licci / tambourine, vocals
- Xizhi Nie / flute, erhu, scheng
- Yulius Golombeck / oud
- Lothar Stahl / percussion, marimba
- Okay Temiz / percussion
- Ahmed Özden / surna
- Hüsnü Senlendirici / clarinet
- Jens Pollheide / bass, flute
- Roman Bunka / oud
- Karsten Hochapfel / cello, guitar
- Murat Ertel / saz
- Mamadou Diop / percussion
- Gökhan Aya / saz, guitar
- Salih Nazim / saz, guitar
- Ross Daly / lyra
- Sascha Alexandr Alexandrov / bassoon
- Malik Dogan / vocals
- Lam Nordlaw / prep. piano
- Alan Praskin / alto sax
- Edgar Hofmann / alto sax, clarinet
- Chuulunbat Munkh / erdene yatga
- Dadgan Ganpu / bass murin khuur
- Sharav / muriu khuur
- Arildi Boldbator / muriu khuur
- Dangaa Khosbayar / overtone, sin-ging
- Götz Lieckfeld / trumpet
- Dieter Weberpals / flute
- Eugen de Ryck / guitar
- Jurij Parfionov / trumpet
- Cecilia / vocals, guitar
- Mahmoud Genia / vocals, gembri
- Mohammed Abdellaoui / vocals, percussion
- El Moukthtar Gania / vocals, percussion
- Mohammed Outanine / vocals, percussions
- Abdallah Gania / vocals, percussion
- Abdellaoui Hamani / vocals, percussion
- Abdelativ / vocals, percussion
- Ahmed Geurfti / violin
- Rashid Ahmed / oud, vocals
- Dieter Serfas / percussion
- Sascha Alessandrov / bassoon
- Niklas Olschewsky / percussion

Track List:
CD1
01. Roberto – 5:39
02. Nasredin – 9:00
03. Renk – 5:45
04. Bisterve – 4:49
05. All Alone – 11:13
06. Istanbul Suite – 12:36
07. 3-2-3 – 5:49
08. Air – 3:46
09. Mirhaba Herzberg – 1:07
10. Mongolenblues – 8:34
11. Session 2, Part 1 – 3:41
CD2
01. Telefon – 4:52
02. Chinese rap in 9 – 7:36
03. Rumba di Llanca – 2:26
04. Saat Holm – 10:17
05. Pirata – 2:19
06. Gnawamagic – 12:56
07. Andalouse – 2:46
08. Essaouira – 9:16
09. Banda Banda – 2:28
10. Nayi! – 2:18
11. Onibo – 4:00
12. Session 2, part 2 – 1:46

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