Reviews
The Rough Guide to Women of the World
In contrast to many of the Rough Guides, which focus on one specific genre or artist, this was perhaps an...
Reviewed by Lucy Hallam in issue: June/2019
The Rough Guide to the Roots of Country Music
In the 1920s and early 30s the term ‘country music’ had yet to be invented, so any description applied to...
Reviewed by Kevin Bourke in issue: December/2019
Where the River Bends is Only the Beginning
This is the 12th volume in ten years in Glitterbeat’s Hidden Musics series, all recorded by Ian Brennan in his...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: April/2024
Banquet of Boxes – A Celebration of the English Melodeon
Lots of jokes come my way because people know I like squeeze box music. Recently someone sent a cartoon showing...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: Aug/Sep/2011
Excavated Shellac: An Alternative History of the World’s Music
What should you give someone who listens to a broad swath of ‘global music’? How about a 100-track compilation of...
Reviewed by Jeff Kaliss in issue: May/2021
The Nefes of the Bektâshî Sufi Brotherhood in Istanbul and the Balkans
This album explores peripheries, spirituality and history. Arising from the seventh Bîrûn workshop in Ottoman music organised by neyzen (a...
Reviewed by Thomas Graves in issue: October/2019
The Soul of the Congo – Treasures of the Ngoma Label (1948-1963)
In the last ten years, Belgian record label Planet Ilunga has been on a mission to share a remarkable treasure...
Reviewed by Lucy Hallam in issue: January/February/2024
Next Spring
This meeting of the ud, ney and kora is contemplative and exploratory – an experiment in their shared sensibilities and...
Reviewed by Olivia Haughton in issue: Apr/May/2015
Azaadi: Freedom
Samia Malik's album is autobiographical, bringing out the personal from the political via a series of original English and Urdu...
Reviewed by Amardeep Dhillon in issue: October/2017
Serenin: From the Black Sea to the Ligurian Sea
Despite appearances this is not a generic fusion but a bridge between specific traditions soundly based on historical and environmental...
Reviewed by Francesco Martinelli in issue: April/2021
