Niyaz

Niyaz means "yearning" in Urdu, and the group's stately collection of nine Sufi songs recorded in acoustic and electronic versions exudes nothing if not yearning. Vocalist Azam Ali looks like a Goth on the album cover, and she takes herself just about that seriously. The piling-on of momentous tracks gets a bit wearying -- not to mention monotonous -- for this reviewer, but many listeners will respond to what is an unusually accessible introduction to Middle Eastern music.