Reviews
Afghan Music in Exile: Mashhad 2022
VARIOUS ARTISTS | Various Artists
Since the Taliban's return to power in 2021, many of Afghanistan's musicians were forced into exile to avoid arrest, torture...
Reviewed by Alexandra Petropoulos in issue: July/2023
Bring It On
Estonia's folk music is noted for its lyrical richness and depth of local and national feeling, rather than for highly...
Reviewed by Kim Burton in issue: July/2023
Kind of Folk, Vol 4 Iberia
Norwegian drummer Terje Isungset is best-known for wowing the world with his ice music, but he's also part of the...
Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: July/2023
Atma (The Soul)
UK-based sitar player Roopa Panesar's latest album, Atma (meaning soul) is said to be ‘theperfect album for a troubled world.’...
Reviewed by Jameela Siddiqi in issue: June/2023
Entoto Band
Entoto Band are a Netherlands-based group directed by guitarist Joep Pelt and fronted by Ethiopian singer Helen Mengestu and Eritrean...
Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: June/2023
amaXesha
The story of Southern Africa's ‘contemporary urban folk’ music can be told in five acts: Madala Kunene, Buddy Masango, Vusi...
Reviewed by Bongani Madondo in issue: June/2023
Accomplice Two
A mutually inspired quest for excellence pervades AccompliceTwo. The much-anticipated follow-up to 2018's Accomplice One features Australian guitar wizard Tommy...
Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: June/2023
Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost
For Jon Wilks’ fourth album he has broadened the sonic palette of 2021's spare Up the Cut, adding Jackie Oates’...
Reviewed by Glenn Kimpton in issue: June/2023
Sufi Trance of the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus
Ensemble Al-Kindi & Sheikh Hamed Daoud
This album from the formidable Ensemble Al-Kindi is their first release since the untimely death of their founder Julien Jâlal...
Reviewed by Alexandra Petropoulos in issue: June/2023
Naamu
For years, bass player Teun Creemers has played behind illustrious West African artists like Harouna Samake (Salif Keita’s kamelengoni player)...
Reviewed by Daniel Brown in issue: June/2023
