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Review of Arcs & Rivers

Arcs & Rivers

Joel Lyssarides & Georgios Prokopiou

Top of the World

ACT

Rating: ★★★★★

I’ve encountered the bouzouki in a number of different contexts: rebetika, laïko, Irish traditional music and various eastern-Mediterranean crossover ensembles,...

Reviewed by Maria Lord in issue: December/2024

Review of Niepraudzivaya

Niepraudzivaya

Hajda Banda

Top of the World

Karrot Kommando

Rating: ★★★★

Hajda Banda are one of the best traditional bands to have emerged in Poland in recent years. Led by Belarusian...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: May/2025

Review of Masters of Our Roots

Masters of Our Roots

Albita and Chucho Valdés

InnerCat Entertainment

Rating: ★★★★

A masterclass of 20th century Cuban-American showbiz, this has all the vintage allure of a night at Havana's Tropicana, or...

Reviewed by Philip Sweeney in issue: September/2025

Review of Chigiyo Music Kings 1987–1998

Chigiyo Music Kings 1987–1998

Zig-Zag Band

Analog Africa

Rating: ★★★

Way back at the dawn of the 1980s, the slow’n’rootsy style of Zimbabwean chimurenga, as played by the mighty Thomas...

Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: January/2026

Review of Air Senegal

Air Senegal

Ben Aylon

Rhythm Space

Rating: ★★★★

The Israeli-born Aylon won a Best Artist nomination in the Songlines World Music Awards for his 2021 album Xalam. That...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: April/2026

Review of Route & Roots

Route & Roots

Abaji

Absilone/Socadisc

Rating: ★★★

Lebanese-born singer-songwriter Abaji is now based in France but draws his music from a wide range of sources, following his...

Reviewed by Francesco Martinelli in issue: June/2016

Review of Som Riu

Som Riu

Txarango

Discmedi

Rating: ★★★

This is the third album by an octet from the Barcelona region. They have risen, in half a dozen years,...

Reviewed by Philip Sweeney in issue: October/2014

Review of Terre Rouge

Terre Rouge

Vishtèn

Vishtèn Music

Rating: ★★★

At the opening weekend of this summer's Mendocino Music Festival in California, two bands from eastern Canada made an interesting...

Reviewed by Jeff Kaliss in issue: November/2015

Review of Everybody Wants to Be Like Mary

Everybody Wants to Be Like Mary

ADAM

Unroofed Records

Rating: ★★★★

Scottish folk music is no stranger to electronica – going back to the original ‘techno piper’, the late Martyn Bennett...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: February/March/2025

Review of Epourall

Epourall

Ciac Boum

Le Grand Barbichon

Rating: ★★★★

The new album from western French folk band Ciac Boum is a new direction for them. Bigger, stranger arrangements, tapping...

Reviewed by Devon Léger in issue: January/2025

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