CD CHOICE:Orquestra Àrab de Barcelona Libertad World Village****

Down around the Mediterannean the Arab Spring is showing all the signs of turning into a pretty torrid summer. So this hymn to liberty from the Arab Orchestra of Barcelona is a timely plea for peace, love and understanding – and proof that, for many outside the Anglophone world, music is not simply a recreational activity but an important conduit for political expression and social solidarity.

Any fears that Libertadis simply an exercise in worthiness and wishful thinking are dispelled by the opening track. If OAB were a singles band (and there was any justice in the world), then Magrebiawould be rocketing up the charts – its two minutes and 40 seconds of pure musical joy, alternating between deep funk and even deeper Berber rhythms, with lyrics exhorting young Moroccans to take care of their homeland and a funky Fender Rhodes solo from guesting Cuban piano star Omar Sosa.

Orquestra Àrab de Barcelona is the creation of violinist Mohammed Soulimane and singer Mohammed Bout, both Moroccans who settled in the Catalan capital in the 1990s.

In the past decade the group has become a lightning rod for Arab pride in Spain. Their 2009 release, Maktub, was widely praised for its bright, upbeat hybrid of various north African traditions, including elements of Andalous, Berber, Gnawan and Sufi music.

Soulimane and Bout widen their embrace on Libertad, crafting a poppier, more electric sound with discernible traces of Afro-Cuban jazz, American funk and the pop music of the Maghreb, particularly rai. The resulting melange is like a spice mix in a Marrakesh bazaar – a riot of heady, intoxicating flavours, with different notes vying with each other for your attention.

It can take Western ears a while to get used to the highly ornamented nature of classical Arabic singing, with its agile melismatics and soaring cries, but Bout is the real deal, and there are moments when all but the most cynical spine will tingle.

And, should you wish to reassure yourself that the sense of universal brotherhood is not illusory, translations of the impassioned Arabic lyrics are offered in Catalan, Castilian and English. See naghmart.com

Download tracks: Magrebia, El Camino