Reviews
Retumba La Tierra
Calle Mambo are a five-piece band that combine traditional Chilean instrumentation with synthesizers and modern flourishes to create a hybrid...
Reviewed by Chris Wheatley in issue: August/2025
Cold Blows the Wind
The assured trio of Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne on melodeon, concertina and vocals, singer and guitarist George Sansome and violinist Lewis Wood...
Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: August/2025
MEL
Efrén López, Ciro Montanari & Jordi Prats
A welcome return for Spanish/Italian trio, Efrén López, Ciro Montanari and Jordi Prats, who play rabab (Afghan lute), tabla (hand...
Reviewed by Chris Wheatley in issue: August/2025
Tour of Japan
Japan’s min’yō folk tradition is rooted in the work songs of farmers, fishermen and miners who sang unaccompanied about their...
Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: August/2025
Born in the City of Tanta: Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore and Bedouin Shaabi from Libya’s Bourini Records 1968–75
Seemingly a world removed from the lushly orchestrated, exquisitely tasteful music of state-approved Egyptian icons like Mohamed Abdel-Wahab and Oum...
Reviewed by Paul Bowler in issue: August/2025
Lek Mak: A Footprint From Bougainville / Hamoris Lian Timor: Reviving the Sound of Timor
These new ethnographic-oriented albums document recent Pacific projects initiated by Australian-based label Wantok Musik in the two formerly war-torn island...
Reviewed by Seth Jordan in issue: December/2025
Lisané Bahir
Lisané Bahir, the fourth offering from LA-based Ethiopian keys player Kibrom Birhane is an otherworldly set deftly combining tradition with...
Reviewed by Andrew Taylor-Dawson in issue: January/2026
Bootleg Series Volume 18: Through The Open Window, 1956–1963
Bob Dylan would go on to reinvent himself many times, but there remains something iconic about his first iteration as...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: January/2026
