Reviews

Nova Era

Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra (BGKO)

The quality of musicianship on this latest offering from the extraordinary Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra is never in doubt; the...

Reviewed by Simon Cross in issue: April/2021

Collection of Traditional Musics 32

The Band of Gică Diricel from Dobroteşti, Teleorman

This band come from Teleorman County in the south of Romania, about 90km west of Clejani, home of Taraf de...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: March/2023

Piobaireachd/Pipe Music

Fraser Fifield

Deeply rooted in the classical sound of the Great Highland bagpipe, the piper and multi-instrumentalist Fraser Fifield’s latest release is...

Reviewed by Billy Rough in issue: December/2021

One and All

Fisherman’s Friends

Forget the lockdown postman and shanty TikTok craze, haul away and pass round the grog, open your gullet and get...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: October/2022

Smoke & Oakum

The Longest Johns

Scottish postman Nathan Evans was the ‘Wellerman’ who kicked off TikTok’s shanty craze, but Bristol’s Longest Johns are not far...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: March/2022

A Year of Swimming

Derek Gripper

From the off, the latest release from the incredible instrumentalist drops you into his utterly unique African guitar cosmos. For...

Reviewed by Douglas Macgregor in issue: May/2020

Bumblin’ Creed

Padang Food Tigers & Sigbjørn Apeland

Padang Food Tigers operate a craft industry in ambient sound-worlds. Bumblin’ Creed is the third full album to emerge from...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: December/2016

In Trad We Trust

Sväng

This irrepressible Finnish harmonica quartet have delighted and astonished us for 17 years, producing eight albums ranging music from Sibelius...

Reviewed by Fiona Talkington in issue: January/2021

Crossover

Emma Donovan & The Putbacks

A mainstay of the Australian indigenous music scene over the last 20 years, singer Emma Donovan grew up in a...

Reviewed by Seth Jordan in issue: April/2021

Bless Up

Ernest Ranglin & Avila

The veteran Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin helped to give birth to reggae, playing on early recordings that defined the genre...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Aug/Sep/2014