Pitchfork

The Algerian-born DJ Cheb i Sabbah blends a variety of Asian, African, Indian, and Arabian traditions with modern production techniques, drawing a commonsensical line between the ceremonial trance music of ancient cultures and the stylized trance of today. On La Kahena, he collaborated with a variety of traditional North African musicians, recording their performances and gently reshaping them into chilled-out club music. DJ Sandeep Kumar remixes "Toura Toura" into a sinuous, understatedly hooky bhangra groove: The gruff, resonant gnawa singing of Brahim Elbelkani engages in an incantatory call-and-response with a chorus of female singers from Maghreb. The original's percussive guimbri (a sort of bass lute) is replaced by sleek electric bass and a circular string drone; handclaps are recast as burbling hand percussion; a hiccupping chant of "hey! hey!" energizes the groove without squandering its mesmeric thrust. The result is a spiritually rich dance track that's more concerned with anonymous cosmic harmony than individual hedonistic abandon, a rare commodity in today's club music.