Reviews
A Dance More Sweetly Played
It’s rare, as a reviewer, to be sent an album you’ll have on repeat. A Dance Sweetly Played is such...
Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: February/March/2025
Temple of Hope
How can a sense of beauty be found amid fear and cruelty? Saba Alizadeh, on his third album now, continues...
Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: February/March/2025
Songs of the Rising Sun
WSPAK is Polish duo Adrianna (Ada) Kafel-Woźniak and Aleksandra (Ola) Pura-Cidyło from Białystok in the north-east of the country. They...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: February/March/2025
End of the Middle
Richard Dawson’s ability to squeeze complex multi-character storytelling into stripped-back folk songs has seen the Newcastle native earn the title...
Reviewed by Olivia Cheves in issue: February/March/2025
Ponda
With Ponda, Cameroonian pianist and singer Patrick Bebey delivers a record that seamlessly fuses jazz, African tradition and Western folk...
Reviewed by Andrew Taylor-Dawson in issue: February/March/2025
Entre Tus Flores
Miramar – Reinaldo ‘Rei’ Alvarez, Laura Ann Singh and Marlysse Simmons – are a Puerto Rican-US trio specialising in bolero,...
Reviewed by Huw Hennessy in issue: February/March/2025
Tears of Injustice
Mdou Moctar, dubbed ‘the Hendrix of the Sahara’ for his blistering electric guitar riffs, has, on this acoustic companion piece...
Reviewed by Russell Higham in issue: February/March/2025
Slåtter på Kontrabass
The title is simple – Folk Tunes for Double Bass – but the concept is not. For solo double bass…...
Reviewed by Fiona Talkington in issue: February/March/2025
Moda Antiga
On this, her third album, the Cape Verdean singer hailed as a worthy successor to the great Cesária Évora focuses...
Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: February/March/2025
Lükata-Tõmmata, Hargiga-Roobiga
Jaan Rand / Katariin Raska, Leanne Barbo & Natali Ponetajev
Jaan Rand (1879–1944) was a versatile Estonian folk musician from Kirbla in western Estonia. A master of the jaw harp,...
Reviewed by Mateusz Dobrowolski in issue: February/March/2025
