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Review of Mongolia: Kazakh Songs and Epic Traditions of the West

Mongolia: Kazakh Songs and Epic Traditions of the West

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Ocora

Rating: ★★★★

Ethnomusicologist Alain Desjacques made most of these field recordings of Kazakh, Uriangkhai and Zakhchin Mongol musicians in 1984, though some...

Reviewed by Michael Ormiston in issue: Apr/May/2011

Review of Malta's Lost Voices

Malta's Lost Voices

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Filfla Records

Rating: ★★★★

Now that's what I call a CD set. A foot-tall board-encased booklet, shaped like an old gramophone loudspeaker trumpet, is...

Reviewed by Philip Sweeney in issue: October/2011

Review of Wahala Wahala

Wahala Wahala

KOG & the Zongo Brigade

Heavenly Sweetness

Rating: ★★★★

Wahala means ‘Problem’ or ‘Trouble’, but I had no problem enjoying this album. It is high-energy and punchy, as you'd...

Reviewed by Charlotte Algar in issue: May/2019

Review of Anamkhara

Anamkhara

Kelly Thoma

Seistron

Rating: ★★★★

Piraeus-born Cretan lyra player Kelly Thoma is a pupil of Ross Daly and a part of the diverse group of...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: Apr/May/2011

Review of Songhive: Beelore & Folksong in the British Isles

Songhive: Beelore & Folksong in the British Isles

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Songhive

Rating: ★★★★

Folk music often has a special relationship with the native flora and fauna of the land from which it springs....

Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: October/2018

Review of Al Andalus

Al Andalus

Gregorio Paniagua

Harmonia Mundi/Musique d’Abord HMA 195389

Rating: ★★

This is a strange and frustrating disc. It’s a digital remastering of an analogue recording first issued more than 30...

Reviewed by Dennis Marks in issue: July/2010

Review of Swilkie

Swilkie

Iona Lane

Iona Lane

Rating: ★★

The Swilkie is a dangerous whirlpool between Orkney and the Scottish mainland. It’s where, according to Icelandic legend, the salt...

Reviewed by Julian May in issue: July/2025

Review of Céu e Mar

Céu e Mar

Leila Pinheiro & Nelson Faria

Far Out Recordings

Rating: ★★★

Leila Pinheiro has an amazing CV; over 30 years she has recorded 16 albums; she has collaborated with the likes...

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: July/2012

Review of If I Greet the Mountains

If I Greet the Mountains

Giorgis Xylouris, Stelios Petrakis, Periklis Papapetropoulos

Accords Croisés AC131

Rating: ★★★★

It’s a common cliché to compare music to landscape, but it seems particularly appropriate in the dry, rugged but heroic...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: Apr/May/2010

Review of Japanese Traditional Music: Koto and Shamisen, 1941

Japanese Traditional Music: Koto and Shamisen, 1941

VARIOUS ARTISTS

World Arbiter

Rating: ★★★

Despite the crackling sound quality, World Arbiter’s third reissue of early Japanese 78s is your only choice for a single-CD...

Reviewed by David Hughes in issue: Jan/Feb/2012

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