A high point of the Moroccan music festivals is without doubt the Mawazine Festival in Rabat, Morocco.

Al Di Meola’s fantastic appearance in 2009 also represented a summit of different cultures and religions: Al Di Meola (guitar), Peo Alfonsi (2nd guitar), Fausto Beccalossi (accordion), Gumbi Ortiz (percussion), Victor Miranda (bass), Peter Kaszas (drums), and with special guests from Morocco, Said Chraibi (oud), Abdellah Meri (violin) and Tarik Ben Ali (percussion). 

On his third trip to Morocco, the public gave this exceptional guitarist a rousing reception, and Al Di Meola wowed the audience with a special repertoire.

• 2LP 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• DMM Direct Metal Mastering
• Gatefold Cover

"There exists a universe of really good guitar players on planet Earth but only a small catalogue among them transcends human norms, causing jaws to drop whenever they strap an axe on. Al Di Meola's one of the latter, a fretbender so accomplished that adjectives pale. He debuted rather auspiciously in the famed Return to Forever combo, replacing Bill Connors as the group ramped up into a fusion mode so heady that it, for a time, redefined what acumen and the genre itself were. I caught him in Tampa in the 70s, opening for Weather Report (with Jaco), and was astounded by what the gent could pull off as easily live as on LP.

Probably the best comparative would be John McLaughlin's later works, from Shakti forward and into his work with Trilok Gurtu and others. This isn't accidental. McLaughlin, Di Meola, and Paco de Lucia stunned the music world a couple decades ago with their acoustic trio releases before once again treading their own paths. John and Al could probably make a lot more money were they to re-form their old ways in the blistering, roaring, pounding Mahavishnu Orchestra and RTF, but they're true artists and never sit still for very long, evolving and reaching for new skies and climes.

Di Meola's been pursuing the world music use for a good while now, and Inakustik has recorded just what that means: beautifully complex exotic sounds and tempos, dazzling prowess, containing moods and tones uncommon to the Western world while introducing subtleties and nuances continuing to influence the more intelligent axemen. Di Meola allows plenty of room for the back-up players to stretch out their colorations, especially accordion player Fausto Beccalossi, and the whole thing wraps up in a tear-the-roof-off version of Egyptian Danza as the guitarist picks up his electric and travels back to the Casino days." - A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by Mark S. Tucker / David N. Pyles, Acousticmusic

Track Listing:

1. Misterio
2. Siberiana
3. Double Concerto
4. Michelangelo's 7th Child
5. Gumbiero
6. Turquoise
7. Encore
8. Egyptian Danza