"Now, at last, this brilliant multi-instrumentalist and composer emerges as leader of his own ensemble… a sextet of musicians carefully selected to traverse the musical territory of Bassam's 30-year career.”                             
cegmusic.com January 2010

“Arabic music virtuoso Bassam Saba weaves together Lebanese and Arabic folk music with Turkish Gypsy styles and Russian motifs, playing oud, flutes, violin and buzuq… surprisingly funksome stuff.”

Time Out New York, January 2010

“It only takes a few minutes to realize Composer Bassam Saba is a genius. Listening to his delightful compositions, watching him seamlessly switch from nay to oud to flute and back, it all leads up to what he calls ‘creating a beautiful moment' — where music, musician and listener meet.”                              

FEN Magazine, January 2010

"Brilliant performance by Saba… a true master of his art."                            

The New York Times

"Technical Genius Shines in Saba's nay, flute, oud and violin performance, a true master of his craft."    

The Chicago Tribune

"Bassam Saba’s nay (flute) solo was also memorable, with fine grains of sand in his tone adding an ecstatic lift to an understated opening, and his virtuosic windup inspiring huge applause."

Afropop, March 2009

"The night's most exquisite solo voice was that of Bassam Saba on the nay (the Arabic reed flute)... where [it] sang solo atop rumbling double-bass, sounding like a call to prayer over slowly waking traffic."

Star Ledger, April 2007

"Classically-inspired Middle Eastern music, showcasing a collection of very soothing melodies – his ensemble, which included cello, bass, violin and percussion provided the perfect backdrop for his free improvisation."

Global Rhythm, January 2008

Truth in advertising: this is a wonderful album, one of the year’s very best. Multi-instrumentalist Bassam Saba leads the New York Arabic Orchestra, arguably America’s most vital large-scale Middle Eastern music ensemble. This is a richly diverse, emotionally resonant collection of original compositions, a tribute to Saba’s native Lebanon. Here the composer plays ney flute, western flutes, saz (Turkish lute), oud, buzuq, bansuri flute and violin, joined by an inspired, virtuosic cast of Megan Gould on violin and viola, William Martina on cello, Peter Slavov on upright bass, and April Centrone and Jamey Haddad on a drum store’s worth of percussion instruments.

The album begins on a lush, vividly pastoral note with the ten-minute suite Nirvana, morphing from a stately dance theme into a sprightly, swinging scherzo and then a distantly haunting ney solo over terse oud and percussion. The ensemble end it with a beautifully majestic crescendo, bringing up the strings and oud. A similarly understated majesty rises later on the evocative Breeze from the South, Saba’s conversational arrangement for oud and buzuq building to a joyous, anthemic theme. Saba’s bansuri flute taqsim opens the goodnaturedly hypnotic Orange Dusk, its loping beat mimicking the sway of a camel making its way methodically across the desert. The title cut takes an apprehensive oud taqsim intro up into a joyous levantine dance with a terse simplicity worthy of Mohammed Abdel Wahab, followed by a long, expressionistic buzuq solo. U Vrot Vastoka (At the Door of the Orient) works tension between the distantly threatening rhythm section versus Saba’s peaceful ney (which cleverly nicks a western spy show melody).

Waltz to My Father, based on a Russian folk melody, could be Henry Purcell, strings cleverly echoing the flute theme – and then suddenly it’s back to the desert, to the here and now with the shifting, trance-inducing pulse of the bass. The group introduce a rattling, increasingly apprehensive oud-fueled East African taraab feel on Afrocola, a homage to Patrice Lumumba. The album concludes with Story of the Dried River, a dreamy, minimalist flute-and-percussion mood piece. It’s to think of another album as warmly and captivatingly atmospheric as this that’s come out in 2010.