Poster Portrait of a woman holding a violin
This episode of 'Extra Eclectic' features music by composer Layale Chaker.
Anna Rakhvalova
Extra Eclectic

Middle Eastern connections

Extra Eclectic - June 11, 2025

Contemporary composers with Middle Eastern roots provide a lively and evocative tapestry on this week’s episode of Extra Eclectic. We hear French-Lebanese composer Layale Chaker’s “Ya Fajr” from her Mkhammas Suite, Iranian composer Reza Vali’s Calligraphy No. 16, “Isfahan,” and the Syrian musician Mevan Younes playing a work on the buzuq, a long-necked string instrument common in Kurdish and Lebanese music. Listen now with host Steve Seel!

Playlist

Mkhammas Suite: Ya Fajr
Layale Chaker
Sarafand
Layale Chaker, violin
In a Circle 11

Piano Miniature No. 12
Mohammed Fairouz
Nicholas Phillips, piano
New Focus 144

Lamma bada yatathanna/El helwa di
Arab-Andalusian Muwashshah/Sayed Darwish
Karim Sulayman, tenor
Pentatone 7031

Calligraphy No. 16 “Isfahan”
Reza Vali
Fawzi Haimor, conductor
Wurttemberg Philharmonic Reutlingen
Naxos 579150

I would I were a bird
Anonymous
Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello
Harmonia Mundi 902242

Tous des oiseaux: David's Dream
Eleni Karaindrou
Argyro Seira, conductor
String Orchestra
ECM 2634

Unknown Gates
Margaret Hermant/Neil Leiter/Gary De Cart
Echo Collective
7K! 24

Nights
Shamsi Karimov
Mevan Younes, buzuk
Dreyer Gaido 21131

Traveling North
Danielle Eva Schwob
Nathalie Joachim, flute
Innova 64

Night Ferry
Anna Clyne
Andrew Litton, conductor
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Avie 2434

Last Hour Story
Julia Kent
Julia Kent, cello
Leaf 106

Gymnopedie
James Sutcliffe
Howard Hanson, conductor
Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra
Mercury 434347

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