Reviews
To Scratch Your Heart: Early Recordings from Istanbul
One of many surprisingly delightful Middle Eastern releases of the last two years was Honest Jon’s compilation of remastered Iraqi...
Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: October/2010
Casa Guilhermina
Rosalía totally changed the flamenco game, redefining the genre for the 21st century. Of course, she promptly crossed the border...
Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: January/February/2023
Scented Maiden
With his long silk robes, Buddha-bead bracelet and serene expression, Guo Gan wouldn’t look out of place in a Zhang...
Reviewed by Rowan Pease in issue: October/2012
Returning Minimalism: New Works for Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar
A bird sings and insects hum in the background. A metallophone begins playing a rapid three-beat pattern. Another, played with...
Reviewed by John Whitfield in issue: June/2012
Afro-Latin: Via Kinshasa
The hard part about putting together a killer compilation of music is not selecting the tracks, it's getting the licensing...
Reviewed by Alastair Johnston in issue: October/2011
Beginner’s Guide to South Africa
The title’s something of a misnomer. While this extended trawl of the last 30 plus years of South African music...
Reviewed by Nige Tassell in issue: Aug/Sep/2010
Nino Biton
Nino Biton is not merely a retro student of the past masters of Andalusian music. The 59-year-old Jerusalemite oud (lute)...
Reviewed by Barry Davis in issue: October/2012
Zama Zama
A Zulu expression, roughly translating as let‘s try our luck’, might not seem the likeliest choice of title for a...
Reviewed by Sue Wilson in issue: March/2010
Guo Gan ‘Swordmen’ Trio
Over the last two decades, Paris-based erhu virtuoso Guo Gan has established himself as one of the leading ambassadors of...
Reviewed by Charlie Cawood in issue: October/2022
