ONE WORLD TAPESTRY - PROGRESSIVE ROCK FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Originally this CD is an idea by the Australian DJ Andrew Holbron because of the devastating Asian tsunami a few years ago but after the Interantional Red Cross has done a lot for the tsunami victims, Andrew changed his focus to the Sudanese refugees. If you buy this CD you help these people who live in terrible circumstances we cannot imagine because it is so far away from our houses with airco or central heating, our loaded refrigerators, our new iPods or wide screen TV's or our holidays to Aruba, Greece, China or South-Africa.

This album has become a wonderful and varied musical journey, from folk to classical to symphonic rock: a pleasant mix of flute, acoustic guitar, mandoline and pan flute in Karakoram Waltz by the Swedish band In The Labyrinth, Al DiMeola-like acoustic guitar runs blended with violin and percussion in Hawa El Sahra by the Australian Steve Warner, strong prog folk with exciting violin work in InstruMental Breakdown by the USA musician Steve Unruh (once he played Neal Morse and Kevin Gilbert!), beautiful work on violin and Grand piano in Madrugada (excerpt) by Wiermann & Vogel, known from the Brasilian formation Quaterna Requiem, Nordic folk in Tolv Man by Styrbjorn Bergelt & Roland Hakansson from Sweden, a compelling blend of folk with mandoline and symphonic with bombastic church-organ in La Tour Haute by Vital Duo (known of the French progrock band Minimum Vital), classical flute by Attila Kollar with bombastich female choir and fiery electric guitar by the late Istvan Czigli (both know from Hungarian sensation Solaris) in Alchemy, didgeridoo in Gregorian by Robert Erdesz (also from Solaris) and pure symphonic rock with howling guitar and lush keyboards in Geracao Perdida by the overlooked Brasiliaanse prog folk band Pocos & Nuvens.

This is a CD to discover, what a pleasant and varied blend of folk, classical and symphonic! My rating: 3,5 stars.