Middle Eastern, North African music these days?

I'm sure everyone else has been listening to him for a very long time but he was new to me and I've lately been spending a lot of time with the music of Hamza El Din, the Nubian oud player.

It's the most interesting mix of unaffected, intuitive musicality and sophistication I've run across in a long time. His album "A Wish" is the most accessible I have but all the others are wonderful, too.

I play Anouar Brahem a lot, as well. Definitely a modern mix of North African and European influences but good listening.

Another great place for sampling is [url]http://www.grooveshark.com[/url]. They don't have everything but you'll be astonished at what is available for listening - complete songs, not just samples as on emusic or amazon. I just did a search for Cheb Khaled, whom I've never heard of, and there are three complete albums available. I'm not sure how it's legal or how long it will last so take advantage of it while you can.