The Paris-based Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil has enjoyed a long career with Enja Records, where his mastery of this pivotal Arabic instrument was showcased to impressive effect. Abou-Khalil's idiosyncratic take on the rhythms and melodies of the oud is evident in the humorously titled tracks on this, his debut release for World Village; calling pieces things like ‘Fish and Chips’ and ‘Mushy Peas’ and ‘Shaving Is Boring, Waxing Is Painful’ seems to have allowed Abou-Khalil and his quartet the sort of creative freedom found in the work of such waggish outfits as 3 Mustaphas 3.

There is some lovely stuff here; Gavino Murgia's soprano sax weaves rich lines around the oud (a direct ancestor of the European lute); tuba and accordion add weight and gravitas to a series of instrumentals placing the oud in a series of settings. Inspired by recent economic and political upheavals – by, one suspects, the Arab Spring – this multi-textured effort has a soul-food thing going on, revealing a little more with every extra helping.