Reviews
Zydeco: Black Creole French Music & Blues 1928-1972
Zydeco is Creole French for something lacking spice – food or gossip – and only came into common use in...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Fine Bloom
Free the Honey is a quartet that plies its trade with a tight-knit, nearly telepathic ease. Jenny Hill (vocals, fiddle,...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
100% Dynamite
Subtitled Ska, Soul, Rocksteady & Funk in Jamaica, this pioneering compilation was a hit when first released almost 20 years...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Renascence
Given her status as the queen of the Mande griots, it comes as a shock to realise that this is...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Weight of the World
There's a lot to like about this adventurous duet album by Rachel Baiman and Christian Sedelmyer. The former is a...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
La Grande Dame de la Chanson Creole
The French chanson tradition has shone a spotlight on many great singers through the years, singers as varied as the...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Racines
The Ivory Coast reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly continues his penchant for melding Jamaican and West African styles, going a...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Finding Anyplace
There are quite a few groups currently out there whose music has one foot in the chamber ensemble and one...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Latin DNA
It's hard to dislike Dorancé Lorza & Sexteto Café as this is passionate and earnest music with a true love...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Ubuntu: The Common String
In 1979 Dizu Plaatjies created the South African percussion ensemble Amampondo in Cape Town. Initially they were a street-busking group...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
