Reviews
Melting Pot
If you think of steel pan music as nothing but boring standards by a bored-looking busker, then Melting Pot will...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Transitional Times
Bai Konté, the grandfather of Dawda Jobarteh, was responsible for some of the classical kora repertoire still played today and...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Cuba in America 1939-1962
We tend to think of the pre-revolutionary period in terms of Americans in Cuba, and the associated clichés: gangsters, gambling,...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Karkadé
Egyptian-born Mohamed Abozekry is the latest in an illustrious line of oud players from the Arab world who have graced...
Reviewed by Daniel Brown in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Prince of the Violin
Sami al-Shawwa (1885-1965) introduced the Western violin to Cairo, devising new techniques for it and reinvigorating the art of modal...
Reviewed by Martin Stokes in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Canta Cartola
Cartola was perhaps the most exhilarating of all samba songwriters. Not the kind of samba like the frantic dance...
Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
New Voices
One of the finest of Finnish accordionists, Markku Lepistö plays with all the elegance and grace of a chamber musician...
Reviewed by Fiona Talkington in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Yumi Kagura
Kagura is an ancient form of Japanese Shinto sacred music and dance, which accompanies the ritual chanting of mythological tales....
Reviewed by Charlie Cawood in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Madjafalao
Le Tout-Puissant Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
One of the great West African big bands of the 1970s, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo were Benin’s answer to Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Recados de Fora
Angolan singer Bonga made his first album in 1972. Now, at the age of 74, his 30th album is yet...
Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
