Reviews
Narrante
Golfam Khayam & Mona Matbou Riahi
This album was simultaneously released in Iran on Hermes Records and internationally on ECM. Both of these are ‘connoisseur’ labels...
Reviewed in issue October/2016
The Art of the Tanbur
Özkan, resident in Paris since 1976, has honed an unusual lute style, at a remove from Istanbul's conservatoires and musical...
Reviewed in issue October/2016
Kobani
Ferhat Tunç's latest album is nicely packaged, with the songs competently translated into English. If you are unfamiliar with the...
Reviewed in issue October/2016
Lament for Syria
A former teacher and journalist in his native Syria, Jan Ibro Khelil fled to Norway in 2010 and was granted...
Reviewed in issue October/2016
Assaf
Sometimes an artist's story overshadows almost entirely their actual music. Such is the case here, where Mohammed Assaf has become...
Reviewed in issue July/2016
The Queen of Turquoise
Born in Aleppo and a graduate of the Damascus Conservatory, saxophonist and composer Rajoub – who now lives in exile...
Reviewed in issue July/2016
Ashofak Baden
Singer Nadin Al Khalidi saw a selfie of a Yazidi couple in northern Iraq that they had posted on social...
Reviewed in issue July/2016
The Sun Will Rise (A Cappella)
Mahsa Vahdat is one of few female singers living in Iran to record regularly outside the country, largely through the...
Reviewed in issue July/2016
Offlines Project
The musical influences of Turkey, Israel, Iraq, Iran and many other places can be heard in this intelligent collaboration from...
Reviewed in issue June/2016
Andalusian Love Song
David Broza & The Andalusian Orchestra Ashkelon
The most striking thing about this release is that it celebrates the often-overlooked Sephardic Jewish tradition of music that has...
Reviewed in issue June/2016
