Reviews
Wotcheor!
The album cover has Jez tilting his boater and grinning into a camera like an old-fashioned MC, as if beckoning...
Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: Jan/Feb/2011
Sister Pili + 2
Moreno & L’Orchestra First Moja-One
While visiting my brother in Nairobi in 1983, we went to a nightclub and heard Batamba Wenda Morris (aka Moreno)....
Reviewed by Alastair Johnston in issue: Nov/Dec/2012
Our Garden Needs its Flowers
A very welcome reissue of an oddity from the Ivory Coast that was a huge regional hit when issued in...
Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: October/2018
The Auld Harp
Catriona McKay & Olov Johansson
The Swedish nyckelharpa (key harp) is an extraordinary instrument. Played with a bow to produce a sound with many of...
Reviewed by Tim Woodall in issue: Jan/Feb/2014
Fazendo as Pazes com o Swing
Before rock'n'roll there was swing – with big bands fronted by musicians like Benny Goodman introducing African-American syncopation and jazz...
Reviewed by Alex Robinson in issue: Apr/May/2014
…And Take the Black Worm with Me
A founding member of Irish experimental folk outfit Lankum, as well as lecturer and researcher on the history of Irish...
Reviewed by Olivia Cheves in issue: January/February/2023
Sufiyan
This is quite an extraordinary project for fans of the Turkish ney – the reed flute that is at the...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: July/2012
Reclaim Australia
While it is frequently powerful, contemporary Australian Aboriginal music is usually non-confrontational – a traditional-meets-modern combination full of heartfelt lyrics...
Reviewed by Seth Jordan in issue: October/2017
Vieilles Caniques et Nouvelles Caniques
Stanley Brinks & the Old-Time Kaniks
Indie-folk is often terrible: a ham-fisted, middle-of-the-road mush of xylophones and ukuleles that is unashamedly twee and contrivedly cute. Thankfully,...
Reviewed by Matt Milton in issue: March/2017
There is No End
When this reviewer interviewed Allen for Songlines in 2020 just before lockdown, we talked mostly about Rejoice, his collaborative album...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2021
