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Reviews

Review of Remember

Remember

Kamatana

EchoLocation World Music

Rating: ★★★

This is a style of music that has received little exposure outside of the Nyanza province in western Kenya. It...

Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2014

Review of Lamwong: Freedom Fighters

Lamwong: Freedom Fighters

Acholi Machon

IRL

Rating: ★★★

The musicians from the Acholi tribe in remote northern Uganda were recorded on Lamwong by producer Ian Brennan, known for...

Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2014

Review of Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako

Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako

Les Ambassadeurs

Top of the World

Sterns Music

Rating: ★★★★★

What a joy it must have been to see and hear Les Ambassadeurs in the mid-70s, playing in the motel...

Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2014

Review of Memoirs of an Arabian Princess

Memoirs of an Arabian Princess

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Winter & Winter

Rating: ★★★

This album takes its title from a 19th-century autobiography by Emily Ruete. Born Sayyida Salme, the daughter of the Sultan...

Reviewed in issue October/2014

Review of Mali All Stars: Bogolan Music

Mali All Stars: Bogolan Music

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Wrasse Records

Rating: ★★★★

You might have thought there were already enough compilations of Malian music in the world. But this well presented box-set...

Reviewed in issue October/2014

Review of Éthiopiques 29: Mastawesha

Éthiopiques 29: Mastawesha

Daniel Techane

Buda Musique

Rating: ★★

These two latest releases from Buda are in some respects polar opposites, though connected by a common theme. One is...

Reviewed in issue October/2014

Review of Wicked Leaders

Wicked Leaders

King Ayisoba

Makkum Records

Rating: ★★★

Ghanaian popular music is currently dominated by both religious music and the genre known as hiplife. King Ayisoba is well-known...

Reviewed in issue October/2014

Review of Dernier Appel

Dernier Appel

Tiken Jah Fakoly

Wrasse Records

Rating: ★★★

The singer Tiken Jah Fakoly is next in line to Alpha Blondy on the somewhat specialised Ivory Coast reggae scene,...

Reviewed in issue October/2014

Review of Maghreb Lyon

Maghreb Lyon

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Frémeaux et Associés

Rating: ★★★★

The role of Paris and Marseille in the production of North African music in France is well documented: less so...

Reviewed in issue October/2014

Review of Rough Guide to the Music of the Sahara

Rough Guide to the Music of the Sahara

VARIOUS ARTISTS

World Music Network

Rating: ★★★★

The rich river of talent flowing from beneath the sands of West Africa has rather hijacked our perception of music...

Reviewed in issue October/2014

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