Reviews
Music from the East
Ammar El Sherei (AKA Omar El Shariyi), born in Upper Egypt in 1948, was considered a pioneer in the 1970s...
Reviewed by Charlie Cawood in issue: April/2025
Racines
As the album’s French title would suggest, tenor saxophonist JB Moundele here explores the traditional West African ‘roots’ of jazz,...
Reviewed by Tom Spargo in issue: April/2025
At the Kafana
London-based shunTA! trot out a number of faithful old warhorses either originating in south-eastern Europe or adopted by musicians hailing...
Reviewed by Kim Burton in issue: April/2025
Atlanti Kaw
Now based in Belgium, the Burkinabé guitarist Sina Kienou and European vocalist Soledad Kalza met at a festival in 2019...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: April/2025
Ajo Rebirth
Wura Samba (Wura meaning ‘gold’ in Yoruba) from Nigeria and his nine-piece “drumming and percussion” band return with Ajo Rebirth,...
Reviewed by Lucy Hallam in issue: June/2025
Cançons a l’Ombra
La Baula are a new Catalan group committed to collecting and spreading the traditional songs from their region. The title...
Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: June/2025
When They All Looked Up
For her first album of new material in six years Kate Rusby has recorded, mostly, songs of her own. These...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: June/2025
El Sonido Bastardo
Madrid’s Danzón El Gato occupy a similar sonic space to US band Khruangbin, melding psychedelic rock influences with a plethora...
Reviewed by Paul Bowler in issue: June/2025
Peripheries of Nahavand
Salek is a Tehran-born, Canada-based ensemble leader and tar player versed in the mores of Iran’s dastgāh system of music,...
Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: June/2025
For Those Left Behind
Recorded in the shadow of Lesotho’s Famo gang violence, For Those Left Behind is a defiant, dizzying triumph. The five-piece...
Reviewed by Hillary Palesa Morusi in issue: August/2025
