Reviews Search | Songlines

Reviews

Review of Why the Mountains are Black: Primeval Greek Village Music 1907-1960

Why the Mountains are Black: Primeval Greek Village Music 1907-1960

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Third Man Records (2 CDs)

Rating: ★★★

In early 1980s Epirus (Greece), I learned of a University of Washington musicologist engaged in fieldwork for a PhD on...

Reviewed by Marc Dubin in issue: May/2016

Review of Öngtupqa: Sacred Music of the Hopi Tribe

Öngtupqa: Sacred Music of the Hopi Tribe

Clark Tenakhongva, Gary Stroutsos & Matthew Nelson

ARC Music

Rating: ★★★

Öngtupqa is the Hopi name for the Grand Canyon (which translates to ‘Salt Canyon’). Musicians Clark Tenakhongva, Matthew Nelson and...

Reviewed by Marc Fournier in issue: November/2019

Review of Handfuls of Night

Handfuls of Night

Penguin Cafe

Erased Tapes

Rating: ★★★

There are multiple associations that weave around this fourth studio album from Penguin Cafe, Arthur Jefes' successor ensemble to his...

Reviewed by Tim Woodall in issue: Jan/Feb/2020

Review of Palimpsest

Palimpsest

Three Cane Whale

Three Cane Whale

Rating: ★★★★

For their third album, Three Cane Whale eschew their previous in-the-field approach to recording – an 18th-century Bristol church for...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: April/2016

Review of Jamaica: Rhythm & Blues 1956-1961

Jamaica: Rhythm & Blues 1956-1961

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Frémeaux & Associés

Rating: ★★★★

The years 1956 and 1961 brought two key events to Jamaica’s musical history. The dates also provide well chosen bookends...

Reviewed by Clyde Macfarlane in issue: Jan/Feb/2013

Review of Hà Noi Duo

Hà Noi Duo

Nguyên Lê & Ngô Hong Quang

ACT Records

Rating: ★★★

French guitarist Nguyên Lê and Vietnamese singer and multi-instrumentalist Ngô Hong Quang take the clash of the modern and traditional...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: June/2017

Review of Woodlands

Woodlands

Woodlands

Woodlands

Rating: ★★★★

Justyna Krzyzanowska’s harp provides the dancing rhythmic opening to this album, which is then accompanied by Kristina Leesik’s fiddle, bringing...

Reviewed by Buzz Bury in issue: November/2020

Review of Small Island Big Song

Small Island Big Song

Small Island Big Song

Top of the World

Small Island

Rating: ★★★★★

A little idea that's grown into a large project, Small Island Big Song is the brainchild of Australian sound producer...

Reviewed by Seth Jordan in issue: November/2018

Review of Petrichor

Petrichor

Paul Hutchinson

Paul Hutchinson

Rating: ★★★

Accordionist Paul Hutchinson, of Belshazzar’s Feast and The Pagoda Project, is a well-known and highly-regarded figure on the folk scene,...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: July/2021

Review of InConcept

InConcept

Notify

Ropeadope Records

Rating: ★★★★

Cross-genre fusion, particularly between jazz and traditional styles, is a very tricky thing to pull off without sounding contrived, derivative...

Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: November/2016

Subscribe from only £7.50

Start your journey and discover the very best music from around the world.

Subscribe

View the Current
Issue

Take a peek inside the latest issue of Songlines magazine.

Find out more