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Reviews

Review of Call of the Blues

Call of the Blues

Michael Messer's Mitra

Top of the World

Knife Edge Records

Rating: ★★★★

After meeting at a festival in Mumbai in 2013, the British guitarist Michael Messer and Manish Pingle, who plays the...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: May/2016

Review of The Butterfly Dream

The Butterfly Dream

Sa Dingding

Wrasse Records

Rating: ★★★

Little has been heard of the Chinese electro-fusionist since her 2010 album Harmony – which followed a BBC Radio 3...

Reviewed by David Hutcheon in issue: May/2016

Review of Of What We Spoke

Of What We Spoke

Threaded

Threaded

Rating: ★★★

Threaded are a classically trained English folk trio from the Midlands and this beautifully designed CD is their first release....

Reviewed by Tony Gillam in issue: May/2016

Review of Old Adam

Old Adam

Fay Hield

Soundpost Records

Rating: ★★★★

Hield's third album follows the success of The Full English project, and while the previous Looking Glass and Orfeo explored...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: May/2016

Review of Why the Mountains are Black: Primeval Greek Village Music 1907-1960

Why the Mountains are Black: Primeval Greek Village Music 1907-1960

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Third Man Records (2 CDs)

Rating: ★★★

In early 1980s Epirus (Greece), I learned of a University of Washington musicologist engaged in fieldwork for a PhD on...

Reviewed by Marc Dubin in issue: May/2016

Review of Two Friends, One Century of Music

Two Friends, One Century of Music

Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil

Multishow (2 CDs)

Rating: ★★★

In August 2015 the two great names of tropicália – Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil – performed an all-acoustic set...

Reviewed by Alex Robinson in issue: May/2016

Review of Maya Maya

Maya Maya

Oumar Konaté

Clermont Music

Rating: ★★★

Hailing from Gao and living in Bamako, Oumar Konaté is part of a new generation of young Malian artists making...

Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: May/2016

Review of Traditional Greenlandic Music Vol 1-5 (1906-1989)

Traditional Greenlandic Music Vol 1-5 (1906-1989)

VARIOUS ARTISTS

ULO (5 CDs)

Rating: ★★★★

This impressive edition was compiled by the ethnomusicologist Michael Hauser and Karsten Sommer, a well-known figure in Greenland's music industry....

Reviewed by Merlyn Driver in issue: May/2016

Review of African Fabrics

African Fabrics

Daniel Haaksman

Man Recordings

Rating: ★★★★

Daniel Haaksman isn’t a novice when it comes to adding a dancehall sensibility to traditional styles. He has previously worked...

Reviewed by Alex De Lacey in issue: May/2016

Review of Bedlam

Bedlam

Kelly Oliver

Folkstock Records

Rating: ★★★

Kelly Oliver is a musician growing in ambition and confidence. Her first album This Land was very much a solo...

Reviewed by Julian May in issue: May/2016

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