It's a musical delicacy and lives up to its name in more ways than one. It contains singing in 5 different languages: Arabic, English, French, Spanish and the West African tongue of Wolof. Apart from that, the number 5 itself has well-known mystical properties, especially among the Arabs. In North Africa it's a fact that the "Hand of Fatima" is called, simply, 5. Add to this, the 5 continents, the 5 senses and the "5 pillars of Islam", not to mention the outrageous meaning of the "Unspeakable" number of the Indian subcontinent. Need we say more?
Every song on the albums 2-times-5 compositions were recorded in different towns and cities, and the resulting diversity of the music on "5" reflects the very diversity of these varied cultural climates. With "Trance Dance", Mr. Baroudi shows once again his definitive skill in the subtle blending of the Trance rhythms of Maghreb and modern European rave beats. In "Columbus", Hamid takes us to the Straits of Gibraltar to witness the meeting of the ways, the musical bridging of the Spanish and the Arabian. Arabic also features in "Mama Tamba", the artist weaving and winding his wily oriental way using the West African Kora sounds, merging magically with the Arabian vocal. And, to top it all, and to pay a long held due to Hamid Baroudi's culture - crossing cleverness, there are remixes from top names such as DJ Krush / Tokyo and, from his latest Japanese excursion, the revered Sakuma!

To sum it all up, "5" can be described as nothing less than a glance through Hamid Baroudi's personal notebook. Could you possibly want more?