Reviews

Aguidavi do Jêje

Aguidavi do Jêje

Slaves from present-day Nigeria, Benin and Togo brought Candomblé to Bahia (Brazil) where it thrived, developing into Afro-Brazilian ceremonies performed...

Reviewed by Andy Cumming in issue: May/2024

Hiddo Dhawr

Sahra Halgan

Sahra Halgan is a hero of Somaliland’s music. At home, in the unrecognised Somali state’s capital, Hargeisa, she runs the...

Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: May/2024

Polonez

Lumpeks

The second album by the Polish-French quartet Lumpeks picks up right where their self-titled debut (2020) left off. Founded by...

Reviewed by Michał Wieczorek in issue: May/2024

BRSB

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band

Bacao pan out of Hamburg, lending a Caribbean touch to rap hits, although some of these covers are somewhat mainstream...

Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: May/2024

Araxes

A.G.A Trio

These tunes are steeped in sadness, arriving from Anatolia, Georgia and Armenia, the homelands of each band member. This is...

Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: May/2024

BLEU

Ann O’aro

O’aro’s voice is breathtaking, heartbreaking. Gentle, but with great power behind it that occasionally erupts in a shocking flash… Her...

Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: May/2024

Rhapsody in Blue

Béla Fleck

According to no less an authority than Jim Farrington, former Music Librarian and Director of the World Music Archive at...

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: May/2024

Hawaiian Cowboy

Slack Key ‘Ohana

‘‘Ohana’ is the Hawaiian word for ‘family’. And slack key is a form of tuning and playing guitar developed in...

Reviewed by Jeff Kaliss in issue: May/2024

Vida

Ana Tijoux

Vida is Ana Tijoux’s first album in a decade. That does not mean the Chilean rapper was hiding from the...

Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: May/2024

Bomba Pop

Amsterdam Klezmer Band

Amsterdam Klezmer Band are full of chutzpah — or, as the Dutch say, gotspe. Just two years shy of the...

Reviewed by Celeste Cantor-Stephens in issue: May/2024