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Reviews

Review of A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean

A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Shika Shika

Rating: ★★★

From Radio 4's Tweet of the Day to Sam Lee's nocturna nightingale sessions, ornithology has gone mainstream. Sadly, the renewed...

Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: July/2020

Review of Da Natureza das Coisas

Da Natureza das Coisas

Danilo Brito

Top of the World

Orpheu Music

Rating: ★★★★

Choro, the popular urban music that originated in Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century, translates into English as ‘lament.’...

Reviewed by Russell Higham in issue: July/2020

Review of Betrayal of a Sacred Sunflower

Betrayal of a Sacred Sunflower

Joseph Tawadros

Top of the World

JT Records

Rating: ★★★★

The oud player and composer Joseph Tawadros has worked tirelessly over the last decade to move his instrument into new...

Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: July/2020

Review of The Path of Stones

The Path of Stones

John Doyle

Compass Records

Rating: ★★★★

A member of Solas, Usher's Well and the crack trio of McCusker, McGoldrick and Doyle, as well as an assured...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: July/2020

Review of Not Our First Goat Rodeo

Not Our First Goat Rodeo

Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Stuart Duncan & Edgar Meyer

Sony Music

Rating: ★★★★

It's almost a decade since the adventurous classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma teamed up with bluegrass fiddle/banjo player Stuart Duncan, double...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2020

Review of Saba Sounds

Saba Sounds

Guo Gan, Zoumana Tereta, Richard Bourreau

Felmay

Rating: ★★★

Here's a trio bringing bowed instruments from different lands. Guo Gan unwraps his erhu (a Chinese two-stringed spike fiddle), Zoumana...

Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: July/2020

Review of Vodou Alé

Vodou Alé

Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers

Bongo Joe

Rating: ★★★

Chouk Bwa were a revelation upon their debut album, 2015's Se Nou Ki La! (reviewed in #110), a wonderful set...

Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: July/2020

Review of Future Rust Vol 1

Future Rust Vol 1

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Future Rust Records

Rating: ★★★

New label Future Rust offers this compilation as an immersion into the subculture of the handpan, commonly called hang. The...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: July/2020

Review of Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton

Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton

Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Rating: ★★★★

This wonderful recording of Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton performing in New York in 1962 begins with a short, sweet...

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: July/2020

Review of Africa Today

Africa Today

Etuk Ubong

Night Dieamei

Rating: ★★★★

Hailed by Seun Kuti as ‘one of the best things to come out of Lagos,’ the trumpeter and composer Etuk...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2020

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