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Review of Four Shagai Bones: Masters of Mongolian Overtone Singing

Four Shagai Bones: Masters of Mongolian Overtone Singing

Dörvön Berkh

Pan Records

Rating: ★★★

Imagine if, in their late years, Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Muddy Waters all got together for a...

Reviewed by Michael Ormiston in issue: Apr/May/2012

Review of Hello, Goodbye

Hello, Goodbye

John McCusker

Under One Sky

Rating: ★★★

Celebrating 25 years as a professional musician, multi-instrumentalist John McCusker teams up with a cast of musician friends who have...

Reviewed by Rob Adams in issue: July/2016

Review of Cicada

Cicada

Hazmat Modine

Jaro

Rating: ★★★★

As someone once noted, if you haven’t heard them, it’s hard to describe what Hazmat Modine do, but if you...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Aug/Sep/2011

Review of Ballébé: Calling All Africans

Ballébé: Calling All Africans

Hama Sankare

Clermont Music

Rating: ★★★★★

If a solo album by a veteran Malian percussionist whose only instrument is the hollow gourd calabash doesn't sound over-enticing,...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: March/2018

Review of Brasses for the Masses

Brasses for the Masses

Džambo Aguševi Orchestra

Top of the World

Asphalt Tango Records

Rating: ★★★★

The future of Balkan brass seems secure in the fast fingers of Macedonian trumpeter Džambo Aguševi and his orchestra who...

Reviewed by Simon Cross in issue: May/2020

Review of Hlybini

Hlybini

Aliaksandr Yasinski

Top of the World

Riverboat Records

Rating: ★★★★

Hlybini means ‘Depths’ in accordionist Aliaksandr Yasinski's native Belarusian. In his first solo album he plumbs these, musically and emotionally....

Reviewed by Julian May in issue: December/2022

Review of Chapter One

Chapter One

Blo

Mr Bongo

Rating: ★★★★

With a 1973 debut record floating somewhere between San Francisco and Lagos, Blo were the pioneers of African rock. Fusing...

Reviewed by Edward Craggs in issue: Nov/Dec/2013

Review of Next Stop Soweto Vol 4: Zulu Rock, Afro-Disco and Mbaqanga 1975-1985

Next Stop Soweto Vol 4: Zulu Rock, Afro-Disco and Mbaqanga 1975-1985

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Strut Records

Rating: ★★★★

The years between 1975 and 1985 marked the violent beginning of the end for the apartheid era. Mandela was still...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: Apr/May/2015

Review of Quick Sparrows Over the Black Earth

Quick Sparrows Over the Black Earth

Laura Cannell

Brawl Records

Rating: ★★★

The interesting album title has been taken from one of the Greek poet Sappho's fragments. It suggests Cannell seeks in...

Reviewed by Julian May in issue: Aug/Sep/2014

Review of Gavin Fairhall Lever

Gavin Fairhall Lever

Gavin Fairhall Lever

Penny Fiddle Records

Rating: ★★★

James Patrick Gavin on fiddle and vocals, double bassist Tim Fairhall and Adrian Lever on guitar, vocals, harmonium and piano...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: December/2022

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