11:40, Marrakech Medina

I have read somewhere ( in the herald tribune obviously) that the record companies have invested over 5 billion dollars a year in musical talent lately, and that that cypher covers the launch of 4000 artists out of, they compare, the approx 13 million musicians present on myspace. It averages to a meager 0.3% of signed artists out of that pool. I have released two well funded albums via the industry and have had a Major publishing deal and I can tell you that even being into the 0.3% can help you get a life maybe , lets be large, 50% of the time. On this next album I have decided to go 100% autoproduced from music to artwork to financing. I have moved to Morocco to record it and to use local African influences off the street ( like the trans oriented Gnawa music for instance) to make an acoustic album reminiscent of Brian Jone's ' Flutes of Jujuka' with a Folk edge. My name is Firouz, and the album is called ' Astronomer and other travelling ballads'. The songs are the result of my travels in China, Spain and Morocco's deserts and windy beaches all through these last 6 months.