FASIL is about love, suffering, happiness, and Aisha’s evolution from teenage beauty to Muhammad’s confidante and finally to political leader. Julia Hülsmann’s songs, which seem idiosyncratically familiar and yet immensely independent, together with instrumental improvisations create a music of great tenderness and intensity, beyond the narrow boundaries of genres and cultures. The improvisations are based on fragments of traditional and mystical Koranic recitations by spiritual singers, which Marc Sinan studied during numerous trips to Turkey. Thus, three years of fruitful collaboration have formed melodies “as heavy-smelling as cumin and as sweet as apricots.”