Reviews Search | Songlines

Reviews

Review of Gamelan of Central Java XII: Pangkur One

Gamelan of Central Java XII: Pangkur One

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Felmay FY 8166

Rating: ★★

‘Pangkur’ is the keystone of the repertoire of central Javanese gamelan, a tune that anyone acquainted with the music is...

Reviewed by John Whitfield in issue: July/2010

Review of Som Sistema

Som Sistema

Da Cruz

Boom Jah Records

Rating: ★★★★★★

Bern-based Afro-Brazilian singer Mariana Da Cruz’s seventh album is an urban, global-minded set that moves freely across genres, coloured by...

Reviewed by Andy Cumming in issue: May/2026

Review of The Guesthouse Sessions

The Guesthouse Sessions

Naragonia

Trad Records

Rating: ★★★

Lockdown has proved a rich creative experience for the Belgian bal folk duo, diatonic accordionists Pascale Rubens and Toon Van...

Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: November/2021

Review of The Longshot

The Longshot

Megson

EDJ EDJ016

Rating: ★★★

Never has hard graft been so tenderly celebrated as on The Long Shot, the North¬umbrian husband-and-wife duo’s fourth album. Stu...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: Aug/Sep/2010

Review of Mulher do Norte

Mulher do Norte

Claudia Aurora

Red Orange Recordings

Rating: ★★★

There is hardly a greater challenge to any fadista than addressing the immaculate and unbeatable Amália Rodrigues’ repertoire. Amália cannot...

Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: July/2016

Review of Tomorrow Held

Tomorrow Held

Spafford Campbell

Top of the World

Real World Records

Rating: ★★★★★

Opening with minimal, subliminal guitar, very quiet and very still, an expressive fiddle soon eases in, the two shapeshifting around...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: September/2025

Review of Festival Flamenco Gitano

Festival Flamenco Gitano

VARIOUS ARTISTS

ACT Music 2 CDs

Rating: ★★

Imagine a time before the kaleidoscopic wonder of world music was available at the click of a mouse . Then...

Reviewed by Jo Setters in issue: Jan/Feb/2016

Review of Soprem Bons Ventos

Soprem Bons Ventos

Pedro Ricardo

Soundway Records

Rating: ★★★

Pedro Ricardo, Portuguese multi-instrumentalist, DJ and producer, explains that his debut album represents “an ode to the past, to those...

Reviewed by Huw Hennessy in issue: April/2023

Review of Gamelan of Java Volume One: Kraton Kasunanan

Gamelan of Java Volume One: Kraton Kasunanan

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Lyrichord LYRCD7456

Rating: ★★★

Not content with overseeing Felmay's series of recordings, John Noise Manis – aka the Italian composer Giovanni Sciarrino (manis is...

Reviewed by John Whitfield in issue: July/2010

Review of One Night on Earth: Music From the Strings of Mali

One Night on Earth: Music From the Strings of Mali

Derek Gripper

Top of the World

New Cape Records

Rating: ★★★★

Years in development, this fine recording is the result of white South African musician Derek Gripper having transposed seven kora...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Apr/May/2013

Subscribe from only £7.50

Start your journey and discover the very best music from around the world.

Subscribe

View the Current
Issue

Take a peek inside the latest issue of Songlines magazine.

Find out more