Reviewed by Dancin' Dave Derbyshire

This is an entirely instrumental album produced by violinist Romel Joseph from Haiti. Romel appears to have an impressive CV. A graduate of Cincinnati Conservatory and the Julian School Of Music, he now works as Music Instructor in schools in Miami and is the founder and president of the Haitian Corporation for Musical Development (HCDM), a cultural training organisation for music students. Since HCDM is a non-profit making organisation the proceeds from Romel's tape go to purchasing instruments and funding cultural events for the Corporation. It is Romel's hope that this tape will give the listener an opportunity to meditate, pray and praise our creator. Having persevered and listened to this several times now I must confess to finding this difficult. Perhaps it is Romel's choice of songs: "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder", "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen", "Have You Any Room For Jesus" to name but a few. There's not much there that I have ever found particularly moving. Perhaps it's the slightly uneasy playing that I can't get used to. I Sometimes I hear dissonance when I don't think I should and other times there are idiosyncrasies added into the tunes that I feel are there to impress but don't. Perhaps it's just that I find it difficult to get into this style that sounds like classical orchestral pieces even though I know they are hymn tunes. This music certainly isn't bad and maybe some people will really enjoy this. There is obviously a lot of work and skill gone into this but I just can't say that it works for me.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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