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Reviews

Review of The Old Fabled River

The Old Fabled River

Alasdair Roberts og Völvur

Drag City

Rating: ★★★★

For this project, Alasdair Roberts was invited by fiddler Hans Kjorstad to Oslo to reinterpret songs from Roberts’ back catalogue...

Reviewed by Glenn Kimpton in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

Review of Slåttesong

Slåttesong

Erlend Apneseth & Margit Myhr

Heilo Music

Rating: ★★★★

“It’s great to be at a point where it’s the music that’s in focus and not where it comes from.”...

Reviewed by Fiona Talkington in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

Review of Mo Ashibi Magic: Live in Tokyo 1999

Mo Ashibi Magic: Live in Tokyo 1999

Takashi Hirayasu & Bob Brozman

Respect Records

Rating: ★★★★

Okinawan singer, guitarist and sanshin player Takashi Hirayasu and world music nomad Bob Brozman came together in 1999 to record...

Reviewed by James Catchpole in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

Review of Timeline

Timeline

jamani duo

jamani duo

Rating: ★★★

This is an innovative recording from a Canadian husband-and-wife duo who quirkily insist on writing their name in lower case....

Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

Review of Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble

Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble

Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble

Flowfish Records

Rating: ★★★

It took the Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble until their fifth album and tenth year to go eponymous. It takes time to know...

Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

Review of We’re OK. But We’re Lost Anyway

We’re OK. But We’re Lost Anyway

Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp

Bongo Joe

Rating: ★★★

Is this title an exercise in assured bravado and chutzpah for this Geneva-based band’s fifth album, or is it a...

Reviewed by Max Reinhardt in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

Review of Devil’s Fiddle

Devil’s Fiddle

Cezary Duchnowski & Radical Polish Ansambl

Bôłt Records

Rating: ★★

The idea of fiddlers selling their soul to the devil for special musical gifts or being linked to the supernatural...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

Review of ‘Sai-thaiñ ki Sur

‘Sai-thaiñ ki Sur

Khasi-Cymru Collective

Naxos World

Rating: ★★★

The connection between Wales and the Khasi Hills of north-east India may not be immediately obvious, but it’s the key...

Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

Review of Na Zala Zala

Na Zala Zala

Rey Sapienz & The Congo Techno Ensemble

Nyege Nyege Tapes

Rating: ★★★★

This is the debut album from Rey Sapienz, who grew up surrounded by the tragedy of the second Congo War...

Reviewed by Max Reinhardt in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

Review of Picaflor

Picaflor

Martin Bruhn

Top of the World

Shika Shika

Rating: ★★★★

If this album had been credited to Los Hijos de Bruhn you’d be in no doubt that this is the...

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: Aug/Sep/2021

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