Reviews
Glad Christmas Comes
‘Glad Christmas comes’ is the opening line from ‘December’ in John Clare’s poem The Shepherd’s Calendar. Carthy and Boden sing...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: January/February/2024
Junk Funk
In a previous Songlines I reviewed Spoek Mathambo's Father Creeper, an extraordinary album that thrillingly reinvented South African township music...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Nov/Dec/2012
Not Leaving Quietly
Joe Broughton’s Conservatoire Folk Ensemble
A track on a folk album led by a bassoon! That’s a rare pleasure. In ‘Hole in the Wall/Nabo’, the...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: October/2021
Ayalgalar: Melodies
This is the fourth and highly listenable release by Tyva Kyzy. They were the first and only women's group in...
Reviewed by Michael Ormiston in issue: May/2020
Malagasy Blues Song
Music and spirituality are intertwined in Madagascar. Lala Njava learned her warm, sonorous singing technique from the resident shaman in...
Reviewed by Alex Robinson in issue: Nov/Dec/2013
Lam Phloen World-Class: The Essential Banyen Rakkaen
Banyen Rakkaen of Thailand is a pioneering singer who raised the profile of molam music from the north-east region –...
Reviewed by John Clewley in issue: May/2019
Merčedes Kolo
The Finnish harmonica band Sväng have made a series of photographs on different modes of transport – motorbike sidecar, railway...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: July/2019
The Indigenous Afro-Jazz Sounds of Philip Tabane and his Malombo Jazzman
Guitarist Philip Tabane burst onto the South African jazz scene in the mid-60s with a guitar-flute-drums trio that blended modern...
Reviewed by Daniel Spicer in issue: Aug/Sep/2021
El Quinto Cardón
Supergroup Los Cinco Cardones met playing music in Los Cabos, the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula – a...
Reviewed by Fred Waine in issue: October/2025
Kaléidoscope
It's easy to feel the pulse of Afrobeat — funky, percussive grooves and jazzy arrangements often paired with conscious, passionate...
Reviewed by Jordan Barnes in issue: April/2017
