Reviews
All These Years
This finds Irish-American luminaries Solas celebrating two decades together in ebullient style. This crowd-funded collection of all-new material brings past...
Reviewed by Michael Quinn in issue: June/2016
Despite the Dark
The opener ‘Dark Reel’ is an ambitious and blistering introduction to an album that is moody, earthy, haunting and passionate,...
Reviewed by Billy Rough in issue: July/2015
Tikounen
Can you have too many Touareg guitar records? Not when they’re as potent as this second album from Kel Assouf,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2016
La Fasciculation
Their name translates roughly as the ‘Sons of a French Gypsy poodle.’ They were the official group at the annual...
Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: December/2017
So Bouzouk
On paper, the diverse musical elements that this album brings together – Kurdish traditional, flamenco and Parisian jazz – could...
Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: October/2012
Ameriikan Laulu
Aallotar are a transatlantic ‘chamber folk’ duo, comprising Finnish accordionist Teija Niku and Finnish-American fiddler Sara Pajunen. In the early...
Reviewed by Merlyn Driver in issue: March/2019
Ageless Garden
Mehmet Polat is from Urfa in Turkey, overlooking the Euphrates, so looking towards Syria and Iraq rather than Istanbul. He...
Reviewed by Neil van der Linden in issue: June/2018
Far From Home
From the opening, jump-up moments of ‘Abatina’, a crisp, smart updating of a famous traditional rhythm, ‘Kalenda March’, it is...
Reviewed by Charles De Ledesma in issue: Aug/Sep/2016
Sheikhs Shikhats & B’net Chaabi
Sheikhs Shikhats & B’net Chaabi
This sprawling 18-piece Belgian ensemble combines Sheikhs Shikhats and B’net Chaabi, the former a horn-dominated band fronted by a female...
Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: June/2023
Borga Revolution! Ghanaian Dance Music in the Digital Age 1983-1996 (Vol Two)
By the 1980s Ghana's once vibrant highlife scene was in decline along with the country's economy, and many of the...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: June/2023
