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Reviews

Review of Karaim Music Map

Karaim Music Map

Karolina Cicha & Company

Karolina Cicha

Rating: ★★

This is the first full album of Karaim music, ever, apparently. The Karaim are a diasporic community of contentious origin,...

Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: December/2021

Review of Aado

Aado

Kadialy Kouyaté

Naxos World

Rating: ★★★

According to the old Lovin’ Spoonful song, there’s 1,352 guitar pickers in Nashville – a number that is surely dwarfed...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: December/2021

Review of Qalaq

Qalaq

Jerusalem in My Heart

Constellation Records

Rating: ★★★

Born in Beirut at the outset of a civil war that devastated his country and set the pattern for decades...

Reviewed by Russell Higham in issue: December/2021

Review of Asimétrico

Asimétrico

El Remolón

Fértil Discos

Rating: ★★★

It’s a pity the name ‘trance’ has already been taken for a music genre, as it is the perfect descriptor...

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: December/2021

Review of Gate of Klüna

Gate of Klüna

Kuunatic

Glitterbeat Records

Rating: ★★★

This is a strange and fascinating album that may challenge Songlines readers who prefer their world music on the soft,...

Reviewed by James Catchpole in issue: December/2021

Review of El Aleph/Electroacustica

El Aleph/Electroacustica

Leandro Ragusa

Leandro Ragusa

Rating: ★★

About 20 years ago – as a new cultural nationalism swept through Argentina – tango became cool again, emerging from...

Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: December/2021

Review of Home in This World: Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads

Home in This World: Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Elektra

Rating: ★★★★

With planet Earth facing myriad apocalypse-inducing crises, Home in This World: Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads, is a timely project....

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: December/2021

Review of Boula

Boula

Bonga Jean-Baptiste

Top of the World

Buda Musique

Rating: ★★★★

Gaston Jean-Baptiste – he prefers ‘Bonga’ – is a Haitian drummer, multi-instrumentalist and painter of vivid, colourful canvasses that capture...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: December/2021

Review of Shanu

Shanu

Monoswezi

Riverboat Records

Rating: ★★★★

Fifth album from Monoswezi’s highly adventurous fusion of Scandinavian jazz and African roots, Shanu sees the band introducing a new...

Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: December/2021

Review of The Empress

The Empress

The McDades

Free Radio Records

Rating: ★★★

Siblings Shannon, Solon and Jeremiah McDade have been steeped in folk music from childhood, playing in a family band with...

Reviewed by Li Robbins in issue: December/2021

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