Damascusby night

Album: Dance 4 Syria vol.3 Compilation

Artist: Various Artists

Style: Trip Hop, Ambient, Electronica

Release date: 2013

A total of 23 songs.

One of the most amazing compilation albums that came to my attention lately is the Dance 4 Syria vol. 3 compilation. It’s a series of projects compiled by J/Producer Marc Hupkens. He also runs the music prod company PJSM Productions.

What has drawn me to this album is its diversity in terms of styles and moods. Sure it’s an electronic compilation featuring trip hop and EDM artists but there is that unifying theme that runs in the entire album. This also goes for others in the series.

Why did this came to be? Perhaps it’s a call to pay attention to the issue in Syria putting a political theme to the fore, or perhaps it is something else entirely? Here’s the answer I got from the official website of PJSM Prodictions

PJSM Productions is proud to announce that we are sponsoring and supporting a world-wide campaign to raise funds for the desperate families that have been displaced and dispossessed as a result of the ongoing onslaught on the Aleppo region. The campaign is a humanitarian effort to provide financial support, food supplies, and medical care for the people of Aleppo, who have been badly affected by the current crisis. Please visit the campaign’s Facebook Page  for more details. We have set up a special Indiegogo Crowd funding Project for this campaign, which you can use if you wish offer us your support and a DONATE button if you wish to donate any sum.

That answers my questions. I think this is an amazing project with a big heart behind it. After all we are all the same regardless of race and culture. What happens to the people out there also affects how we see ourselves in the bigger picture. We are human beings. We deserve something better than being abused, bullied, tortured or killed. Those are our brothers and sisters!

The album cover of vol 3 shows an urban portrait during the rush hour. That time when people leave their work and start commuting home.

The first track  Bastilidad by Addictive Fuzz Conspiration  sets the mood of what’s the come. There are over twenty songs in this album. So it’s like buying two albums for a price of one.  The production quality is also excellent and it reminds you that a lot of hard work has been put in this album before it got its release. Other songs have ambient styles like the tune Are We by Balkansky. Almotahalik Aljanobi by Hullabaloop is something I’d recommend for those who are into world music-particularity Arabic tunes. It’s like the Gregorian chants of the Muslim world.

Except for dance inducing tracks like The Worst in Me and The Final Point , every song sounds like dance music in a chair. You get that groove but it is cool enough to just let you sit down and relax. A truly good album to beat the rush hour.

To sample the music, simply visit this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dance-Syria-Vol-Unclassified/dp/B00DJB4TUY