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Review of Nishabourak

Nishabourak

Hamid Motebassem and George Crotty Trio

Link Music Lab Records

Rating: ★★★★

This collaborative album is born of a musical meeting at Toronto's Experimental Link Series event. The series focuses on celebrating...

Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: September/2025

Review of True Born Irishman

True Born Irishman

Daoirí Farrell

Top of the World

Daoirí Recordings

Rating: ★★★★

On the strength of this thrillingly resonant collection from the Dublin-based singer and bouzouki player, it's not too hard to...

Reviewed by Kevin Bourke in issue: Jan/Feb/2017

Review of Steer by the Stars

Steer by the Stars

Skipinnish

Skipinnish Records

Rating: ★★★

As one of the strongest live acts on the trad scene for the last couple of decades, and following the...

Reviewed by Billy Rough in issue: Jan/Feb/2020

Review of Giorgos Katsaros

Giorgos Katsaros

Giorgos Katsaros

Mississippi Records

Rating: ★★★★★

This is both a fabulous historical document and a musical treat from the rebetika heyday of Greek émigrés to the...

Reviewed by Maria Lord in issue: January/2025

Review of Future Trad Collective

Future Trad Collective

Future Trad Collective

Vertical Records

Rating: ★★★

The Future Trad Collective's music has the aura of a mighty jam session. The creation of three musicians who all...

Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: June/2011

Review of Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts

Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts

Omar Souleyman

Sublime Frequencies

Rating: ★★★★

Once in a while, an artist from the outside punches a dirty great hole through the usually impenetrable wall of...

Reviewed by Nige Tassell in issue: Jan/Feb/2012

Review of Lady Sings the Balkan Blues

Lady Sings the Balkan Blues

Mostar Sevdah Reunion

Top of the World

Snail Records

Rating: ★★★★

Mostar Sevdah Reunion are a Bosnian institution. Emerging out of the ruins of war-torn Bosnia in 1998, tending the traditions...

Reviewed by Robert Rigney in issue: March/2023

Review of The Peasant Girl

The Peasant Girl

Viktoria Mullova

Onyx

Rating: ★★★★

Don't be put off by the contrived photo on the cover of this eclectic double CD: much love has gone...

Reviewed by Michael Church in issue: Nov/Dec/2011

Review of Beginner’s Guide to India

Beginner’s Guide to India

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Nascente NSBOX065

Rating: ★★★★

This sprawling introduction to the music of the Indian subcontinent is compiled by British Asian presenter Lopa Kothari – of...

Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: July/2010

Review of The Vortex Sessions

The Vortex Sessions

Benjamim Taubkin & Adriano Adewale

Núcleo Contemporâneo

Rating: ★★★

For the past decade and a half, Benjamim Taubkin's São Paulo-based Núcleo Contemporàneo label has been quietly nurturing some of...

Reviewed by Brendon Griffin in issue: March/2013

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