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Reviews

Review of Maloya Malbar

Maloya Malbar

Zéne’T Panon

Top of the World

JuJu Sounds

Rating: ★★★★

Is La Réunion the new Cuba? Just as the music of the latter pulsed ubiquitously through the late 90s and...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: March/2023

Review of Walimizi

Walimizi

Sarera & Blanc Manioc

Blanc Manioc

Rating: ★★

Mayotte is a little island and French overseas department situated in the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar where the...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: March/2023

Review of Relke Meto

Relke Meto

Happy Mphande

Digital Indigenous

Rating: ★★

Malawian musician Happy Mphande's Relke Meto opens with the title-track, a percussion-heavy beat that sets the tempo for the rest...

Reviewed by Jack McBrams in issue: March/2023

Review of Sounds of Peace

Sounds of Peace

Moreira Chonguiça

Morestar Entertainment

Rating: ★★★★

The revered Manu Dibango died three years after making M&M in 2017 with the Mozambican saxophonist, Moreira Chonguiça. Echoes of...

Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: March/2023

Review of The Rough Guide to Railroad Blues

The Rough Guide to Railroad Blues

VARIOUS ARTISTS | Various Artists

World Music Network

Rating: ★★★★

The clickety-clack of the railroad and the haunting sound of a train whistle run through the DNA of American blues...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: March/2023

Review of ¡Dale Duro al Bombo!

¡Dale Duro al Bombo!

Ruca y el Quinde de Barbacoas

Discos Pacífico

Rating: ★★★

If you’re a fan of Nidia Góngora, especially her work in Canalón de Timbiquí, then you’re sure to love this....

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: March/2023

Review of Alto da Maravilha

Alto da Maravilha

Russo Passapusso & Antonio Carlos e Jocafi

Top of the World

Máquina de Louco

Rating: ★★★★★

It's hard to believe that Alto da Maravilha was recorded remotely during the pandemic, such is the alchemy on show...

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: March/2023

Review of Istehlal

Istehlal

Mohamad Zatari Trio

Zehra

Rating: ★★★★

This polyglot trio creates an eastward-leaning fusion that's somehow both timeless and, at the same time, emblematic of the cultural...

Reviewed by Daniel Spicer in issue: March/2023

Review of Amrat

Amrat

Rasha Nahas

Cooking Vinyl

Rating: ★★★

There is something about discovering one's native tongue after a brief fling abroad with a foreign language. Whether out of...

Reviewed by Robert Rigney in issue: March/2023

Review of O Paraíso

O Paraíso

Lucas Santtana

Nø Førmat!

Rating: ★★★★

Bahian artist Lucas Santtana read David Wallace-Wells’ The Uninhabitable Earth, yet remains largely upbeat. Paradise is potentially here and now,...

Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: March/2023

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