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Reviews

Review of They Say Humans Exist

They Say Humans Exist

Jacob Young, David Rothenberg & Sidiki Camara

Oslo Session Recordings

Rating: ★★★

Three musicians from three continents got together in a studio in the woods outside Oslo for two days of collective...

Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: October/2020

Review of Umanyanyatha: Songs from the Soul of Zimbabwe

Umanyanyatha: Songs from the Soul of Zimbabwe

Vusa Mkhaya

ARC Music

Rating: ★★★

Born in Zimbabwe but resident in Austria for more than 20 years, Vusa Mkhaya made his name in world music...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: October/2020

Review of The Rise Up

The Rise Up

Mehmet Ali Sanhkol & Whatsnext?

Dünya

Rating: ★★★★

Mehmet Ali Sanlikol already sings, plays ney, zurna and oud, but that doesn’t discourage this Turkish-American from penning The Rise...

Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: October/2020

Review of Roamin’

Roamin’

Danny Keane

Top of the World

MVKA

Rating: ★★★★

Danny Keane has spent the last decade abseiling across the face of world music, working with Anoushka Shankar, Nitin Sawhney...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: October/2020

Review of Semitics

Semitics

47SOUL

Cooking Vinyl

Rating: ★★★

It’s been said 47SOUL are a band rooted in the Palestinian diaspora. Surely ‘uprooted’ would be more to the point....

Reviewed by Robert Rigney in issue: October/2020

Review of Got to Be Tough

Got to Be Tough

Toots and the Maytals

Tiojan Jamaica

Rating: ★★★★

The first Toots and the Maytals release in over ten years is a big deal for reggae enthusiasts. The 77-year-old...

Reviewed by Clyde Macfarlane in issue: October/2020

Review of Real Music for Unreal Times: Vol 2

Real Music for Unreal Times: Vol 2

Kumea Sound

Future Rust Records

Rating: ★★★

Limitations can spark creativity and the global lockdown necessitated by COVID-19 has been nothing if not a limit to musicians....

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: Aug/Sept/2020

Review of Afwoyo

Afwoyo

Milégé

Naxos World

Rating: ★★★

Here's an album of nine tracks that's taken nine years in the making. That's not to suggest obsessive production values,...

Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: Aug/Sept/2020

Review of Glsah Sanaanea with Shiran

Glsah Sanaanea with Shiran

SHIRAN

Top of the World

Batov Records

Rating: ★★★★★

Albums of music from Yemen emerge rarely in the West; albums of Yemeni women singers are rarer still and we...

Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: Aug/Sept/2020

Review of Shalhevet

Shalhevet

Divahn

Divahn

Rating: ★★★

Divahn are a five-piece female group based in New York. The name comes from Persian divan or diwan, which has...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: Aug/Sept/2020

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