Reviews

Quachatta

Samech

This Polish-Jewish four-piece takes its name from the Hebrew letter Samec, a circle that represents infinity. The band’s website tells...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: Nov/Dec/2012

Junk Funk

Sotho Sounds

In a previous Songlines I reviewed Spoek Mathambo's Father Creeper, an extraordinary album that thrillingly reinvented South African township music...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Nov/Dec/2012

Nordic Woman

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Nordic Woman’s hauntingly beautiful opening flute melody could hail from any number of musical origins, but what follows is a...

Reviewed by Olivia Haughton in issue: Nov/Dec/2012

Tentemozo

Os Cempes

Due to certain stylistic similarities, Galician music is often lumped together with Celtic music and presented as two branches of...

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: Nov/Dec/2012

Diouke

Diouke

Everything was going so well: the dexterous kora kumbengo (harp-lute) on opening track ‘Lima;’ the integration of cello and accordion...

Reviewed by Olivia Haughton in issue: Nov/Dec/2012

Under One Sun

Brina

Brina_is Subrina Ward, a Jamaican singer married to Kieran Murray, a multi-talented Scot who collaborated with her and other musicians...

Reviewed by Neil Foxlee in issue: Nov/Dec/2012

Oratnitza

Oratnitza

Interpreting traditional songs using contemporary elements, this self¬titled debut album from a Bulgarian quartet is energetic and infectious. Reaching out...

Reviewed by Alexandra Petropoulos in issue: Nov/Dec/2012

In Good Company

Bill Evans

Within the first couple of minutes of listening to the first track on In Good Company, bluegrass aficionados and banjo...

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: October/2012

Reflections of Palestine

Ramzi Aburedwan

One of the good news stories to come out of the despair of the first Intifada was how music guided...

Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: October/2012

Koima

Sidi Touré

The West first heard the guitarist and singer Sidi Touré, from Gao in northern Mali, in 1996 when Stern’s released...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: October/2012