Abdullah Miniawy

He's worked with Simo Cell, Ziúr, ZULI, HVAD, Deena Abdelwahed and many more of the avant garde's most arresting artists, but singer, poet, trumpeter, author and actor Abdullah Miniawy is most vital when he's given free rein. On this year's 'Peacock dreams أَحْلَامُ الطَّاوُوسِ', the Saudi Arabia-born Egyptian original perfects a concept he's been sculpting and refining for years, chanting assuredly in Arabic over delicately dramatic brass arrangements performed by trombone aces Robinson Khoury and Jules Boittin. If last year's astonishing 'NigmaEnigma أنيجم النَجم' was "an opera for Muslims", its sequel is an epic poem that unfolds in multiple dimensions, across multiple timelines. It's a suite that flourishes in the live environment, and we can only imagine how it will sound in Kraków's cavernous Wieliczka Salt Mine.