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Review of Bondeko

Bondeko

Toto Bona Lokua

No Format!

Rating: ★★★★

Back in 2004, Cameroonian multi-instrumentalist Richard Bona, Congolese griot Lokua Kanza and the French-Caribbean musical adventurer Gerald Toto convened to...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: April/2018

Review of Incendo

Incendo

Blazin’ Fiddles

Blazin’ Records

Rating: ★★★★

Feisty fiddles and thrilling tunes have long been at the heart of Scotland’s mighty Blazin’ Fiddles – and their new...

Reviewed by Billy Rough in issue: April/2026

Review of Son Verdad

Son Verdad

Xiomara Fortuna

ILé Akwa Producciones

Rating: ★★★★

Xiomara Fortuna – attributed with founding the feminist movement in the Dominican Republic, an ‘out’ lesbian and a defender of...

Reviewed by Charlotte Algar in issue: May/2019

Review of Flamenco

Flamenco

Diana Navarro

Warner

Rating: ★★★

By embracing the Spanish folk song form copla and merging influences from pop, Diana Navarro joined a new wave of...

Reviewed by Russell Parton in issue: Aug/Sep/2012

Review of Sonho Real

Sonho Real

Flavia Coelho

World Village

Rating: ★★

It's ten years since Flavia Coelho moved from her native Brazil to Paris, where she created a reggae-tinged mixture she...

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: Jan/Feb/2017

Review of The Rough Guide to Fado Legends

The Rough Guide to Fado Legends

VARIOUS ARTISTS

World Music Network (2 CDs)

Rating: ★★★★

It's only natural that for every musical genre there is one voice that stands out and outshines everyone else. If...

Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: Jan/Feb/2015

Review of Targ

Targ

Bargou 08

Top of the World

Glitterbeat Records

Rating: ★★★★

Hidden away between the mountains of north-west Tunisia and the Algerian border lies the Bargou valley, an isolated area that...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: April/2017

Review of Jiuta & Kotouta

Jiuta & Kotouta

Ensemble Yonin No Kaï

Ocora Radio France

Rating: ★★★★

Ensemble Yonin No Kaï were formed in 1957, when each of the four members was awarded a gold medal at...

Reviewed by Charlie Cawood in issue: June/2019

Review of Band of Gypsies 2

Band of Gypsies 2

Taraf de Haidouks & Koçani Orkestar

Crammed Discs

Rating: ★★★

Ten years ago Romania's super fast Gypsy fiddling stars Taraf de Haidouks teamed up with Macedonian brass band the Koçani...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: June/2011

Review of Sway

Sway

Gérald Toto

No Format!

Rating: ★★★★

Gérald Toto has kept us waiting seven years for a new solo album. The French-Antillean multi-instrumentalist does not disappoint with...

Reviewed by Dan Hobson in issue: November/2018

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