Saturday, November 29—7 PM Nexus Art Café, Northern Quarter, Manchester Corner of Dale and Oldham Streets, M1 1JW Free and all ages welcome.

Lorelei Loveridge lived for 11 years in Saudi Arabia, pre and post 9/11, and loved it. She experienced religious zealots, compound invasions, a terrorist chase, earthquake, tsunami, war in Lebanon, crazy drivers, nutty expats and more, and survived to tell the tales in story and song.

Her physical, personal, and musical journey is documented in Bakhoor, a 4-year, 15-song album project recorded in India, Canada and Saudi Arabia. It features some of the finest players from across the globe including Brian Hughes (producer of Loreena McKennitt), Harry Manx and Lester Quitzau.

A contemporary acoustic songwriter who draws comparisons with Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell, Loveridge pairs a passionate political sense with an understanding of the complex personal stories that go beyond politics. Loveridge and Canadian producer Rob Hewes have woven the sounds of tabla, oud, darbuka, Tibetan overtone chants, violin, bazouki, Latin/African/slide blues guitar into a richly-textured, multicultural tour-de-force. While “Home is Where the Heart Is”—a song about the pain of a mother and her Palestinian daughter—is the first single off of the album, U.S. songwriter and guitar legend Dick Wagner says this of Loveridge and Bakhoor: “Her vocals are hauntingly emotive, her songs are beautifully structured folk/pop creations and her musicians are world-class interpreters of her musical vision…The brilliant ‘Oh, India’ sets the tone and atmosphere for this musical journey…a journey you won’t forget. I personally love Lorelei’s music and recommend it to all seekers of sophisticated yet accessible music.”

Orderly Bazaar Records&Publishing celebrates the UK release of the album with a ‘majlis’ or Saturday night sit-in at the arty, cozy, tea and cake serving Nexus Art Café. Lorelei Loveridge will be joined by her very special band plus special guests Zoe Mulford of the U.S. (award-winning American singer-songwriter), Rosie Smith of Cornwall, U.K. (multi-instrumental performing/recording artist), and lisa b of Canada (queer spoken-word poet), while Dave Puller of Manchester, U.K. (poet/writer/performer and satirist) hosts the evening. Adding to the ambience will be Arabesque music between sets and a slide show of Lorelei’s travel photography.

This may possibly be the last major UK performance of 2008 and 2009, as Loveridge has signed to management in India/UAE and Canada and looks forward to taking Bakhoor back to some of the places that inspired it.