Sinouj (Arabic for nigella sativa, also known as black cumin, the seeds of which are often used to decorate bread and, in the popular belief, are also used as protection against evil) is a Spanish project around saxophonist Pablo Hernandez, who, in collaboration with musicians from Spain (in addition to Pablo, bassist Javier Geras), Italy (keyboardist Sergio Salvi), Nigeria (drummer and percussionist Akin Onasanya, with whom Pablo also plays together in Ogun Afrobeat) and Tunisia (violinist Larbi Sassi) created a mix of Western jazz with influences from Arab (opener 'Essaouira', 'Cosmic Shake') and West-African tradition. 'Labu', the title of this album, was the nickname of Pablo's late uncle José Luis Ramos Martín to whom he dedicated this album. For 'Labu', the band's sound was supplemented with the zurna, ney and flute of Kaveh Sarvarian (Iran), the trumpet of Miron Rafajlovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina), the guitar and voice of Brazilian Munir Hossn (again in opener 'Essaouira') and the oriental percussion of Luis Taberna. There's also a Belgian connection, as in the past the band still collaborated with Fabrizio Cassol (Aka Moon), Pierre Vaiana, Jozef Dumoulin and Laurent Blondiau (Mâäk). The experimental nature of Sinouj's sound might rather make 'Labu' an album for jazz-heads than for amateurs of world music.