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Review of Mãe Carinhosa

Mãe Carinhosa

Cesaria Evora

Lusafrica

Rating: ★★★★

Over her 20-year career, the Cape Verdean legend recorded a vast amount of songs that never quite made it onto...

Reviewed by Alex Robinson in issue: July/2013

Review of Les Années Milan

Les Années Milan

Richard Galliano

Milan 2 CDs

Rating: ★★★

French accordionist Richard Galliano's work for the Milan label includes lots of Astor Piazzolla numbers, to which he supplies bright,...

Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: July/2017

Review of Riverscape

Riverscape

Fabrizio Paterlini

Memory Recordings

Rating: ★

This new album from Italian pianist Paterlini is true to form in following the ambient pattern that has seen him...

Reviewed by Maria Lord in issue: March/2024

Review of Night Reign

Night Reign

Arooj Aftab

Verve

Rating: ★★★★

Aftab’s 2021 album Vulture Prince transcended art music obscurity to enjoy blanket broadsheet coverage. It won the Pakistani-American artist a...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: August/2024

Review of Bosa Maria

Bosa Maria

Mostar Sevdah Reunion

Snail Records

Rating: ★★★★★

Twenty five years on from their debut, the finest and best-known exponents of Bosnian sevdah are still in a class...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: January/2025

Review of Rammana

Rammana

Salin

Top of the World

Salin

Rating: ★★★★★

I first heard about Salin from Haitian jazz artists in Montréal who told me she was the best drummer in...

Reviewed by Devon Léger in issue: June/2025

Review of Gaudencia

Gaudencia

MC Yallah & Debmaster

Hakuna Kulala

Rating: ★★★★

After listening to an MC Yallah record it's tempted to conclude that every other rapper in the game is slacking....

Reviewed by Rosie Esther Solomon in issue: September/2025

Review of Jardin d’ailleurs

Jardin d’ailleurs

Gaëlle Bagot & Juan Manuel Nieto

VeevCom

Rating: ★★★

The piano-clarinet duet format, with vocals sung mainly in French, would not be my first choice, but this new release...

Reviewed by James Catchpole in issue: February/March/2026

Review of Synthesize the Soul: Astro-Atlantic Hypnotica from the Cape Verde Islands 1973-1988

Synthesize the Soul: Astro-Atlantic Hypnotica from the Cape Verde Islands 1973-1988

Various Artists

Ostinato Records

Rating: ★★

Fans of Cape Verdean music will be familiar with its typical lack of drums and use of gently strummed cavaquinho,...

Reviewed by Jon Lusk in issue: June/2017

Review of The Rough Guide to Arabic Jazz

The Rough Guide to Arabic Jazz

VARIOUS ARTISTS

World Music Network

Rating: ★★★★★

Some shocking musical crimes have been committed in the name of Arabic jazz: the number of unremarkable CDs of unbridled...

Reviewed by Bill Brdley in issue: October/2014

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