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Review of Pioneering Women of Bluegrass: The Definitive Edition

Pioneering Women of Bluegrass: The Definitive Edition

Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard

Top of the World

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Rating: ★★★★★

In 1965, Who's That Knocking? by Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard demolished forever a de facto gender barrier within the...

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: December/2022

Review of Jaku Mumor (Ancestral Spirit)

Jaku Mumor (Ancestral Spirit)

Okaidja Afroso

Chechekule Records

Rating: ★★★

Born into a family of musicians and storytellers on Ghana's Atlantic coast, Okaidja Afroso learned to sing seafaring songs as...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: December/2022

Review of KALAK

KALAK

Sarathy Korwar

Top of the World

The Leaf Label

Rating: ★★★★

Sarathy Korwar is doing for contemporary British-Asian music what Talvin Singh achieved almost 30 years ago – taking Indian rhythms,...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: December/2022

Review of Arabesque

Arabesque

The Ayoub Sisters

The Ayoub Sisters

Rating: ★★★

Spotted a few years ago by producer Mark Ronson to record a cover of ‘Uptown Funk’ at Abbey Road, the...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: December/2022

Review of Pelerinaj

Pelerinaj

Erol Josué

Top of the World

Geomuse Editions

Rating: ★★★★★

Vodou priest, actor, singer and choreographer Erol Josué spent two decades living in Paris and New York before returning home...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: December/2022

Review of Fragments

Fragments

Yoni Avi Battat

Yoni Avi Battat

Rating: ★★★

American multi-instrumentalist Yoni Avi Battat has undergone a journey of discovery to reconnect with his Iraqi-Jewish roots through the medium...

Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: December/2022

Review of Ritual

Ritual

Roberto López

Curura Musique

Rating: ★★★

Right in the middle of the rock-jazz-Latin Venn diagram there's a sweet spot reserved for Santana. Many have tried to...

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: December/2022

Review of Sonbonbela

Sonbonbela

Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band

Sublime Frequencies

Rating: ★★★★

According to a somewhat over-excited press release, the third album by Burkina Faso's Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band is...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: December/2022

Review of Nacarile

Nacarile

iLe

Sony Music Latin

Rating: ★★★

‘I was confused and lost, but at the same time, songs kept coming out of me. I kept writing,’ says...

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: December/2022

Review of Clare Sands

Clare Sands

Clare Sands

Clare Sands

Rating: ★★★★

Galway-born multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Clare Sands has been making a name for herself on the Irish and international live circuit...

Reviewed by Michael Quinn in issue: December/2022

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