Reviews
Georgia: Sacred & Secular Vocal Polyphony
Georgian polyphony is one of the most glorious sounds in the world – a dozen or so singers (usually male)...
Reviewed in issue July/2012
Chante Adonis
Both the singer Abed Azrié and the poet Adonis (the pen-name of Ali Ahmad Said Esber) are typical of a...
Reviewed in issue July/2012
Trio
The tanbur is a longnecked, fretted string instrument with a hemispheric body. It came to epitomise classical music for the...
Reviewed in issue June/2012
Mare Nostrum
Jordi Savall is a leading specialist in early music, the styles of the 12th to 18th century. In those times...
Reviewed in issue June/2012
The Sublime Porte: Voices of Istanbul 1430-1750
The Sublime Porte is another concept album by Jordi Savall, issued just prior to Mare Nostrum, making use of much...
Reviewed in issue June/2012
Princesses of Arab Song
If any serious young Arab singer were going to devise the most challenging recording project imaginable, they'd probably come up...
Reviewed in issue June/2012
Sabîl
Ahmad Al Khatib & Youssef Hbeisch
Time was when Palestinian musicians only got an airing if they snuck in on the dull-but-politically-worthy ticket. How things have...
Reviewed in issue Apr/May/2012
The Alaev Family & Tamir Muskat
The Alaev Family are something of a discovery. Originally from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, this Central Asian Jewish family...
Reviewed in issue Apr/May/2012
Kurdish Alevi Laments
This is a tough listen, like eavesdropping on private, tragic moments in the life of a family. It's made even...
Reviewed in issue Apr/May/2012
