Album Notes

Anthea Poole (Kawakib), classically trained from age 8, records under the name Tribe O. She grew up playing piano, learning her church’s pipe organ as a teen, then playing bass guitar for various local bands in her twenties. She credits the pipe organ foot pedals for her love of skull-rattling low notes, and her classical training for the baroque style that often peeks out under her melodies. An infinite cosmic view of life adds an “orbital” feel (KAWAKIB is Arabic for “planets”).

A professional belly dancer for over 20 years, Kawakib explored Middle Eastern music through movement, drumming, and finger cymbals. She composed rhythm-songs for her percussion ensemble as well as an a-capella Finger Cymbal Solo that became a Youtube hit.
Kawakib specialized in Egyptian-style belly dance (Raks Sharki) but also grew to love tribal-style group improvisation. Her search for music to accompany her group improv format of bellydance (Tribal Odyssey) led her to create this CD blending traditional and future sounds of belly dance.

In \"Now To The Sky\" Kawakib combines her classical music training, feel for dance rhythms, and driving bass lines into belly dance electronica. The tracks vary in mood and style, starting with “Emergence”s’ dark insistence, to the retro Southern soul of “Tailspin”, through “Sunfall”’s happy disco ride, and closing with the ascendant trance of “Dream Spinner”.