Reviews
Live at Ronnie Scott’s, Birmingham
Irakere featuring Chucho Valdés
Remastered at Abbey Road from an analogue recording sourced from the British Library, this live set dates back to 1995,...
Reviewed by Brendon Griffin in issue: July/2013
Manbarani
Natik Awayez won't be known to many readers. Born in Iraq, he has lived in Bulgaria (studying philosophy), Yemen, Sweden...
Reviewed by Jo Setters in issue: April/2021
Rastafari: The Dreads Enter Babylon 1955-83
A dreadlocked mane, popularised eternally by Bob Marley, is an iconic image for Jamaican music. But would Rastafari have become...
Reviewed by Clyde Macfarlane in issue: November/2015
Anchor
Norma Waterson & Eliza Carthy with The Gift Band
Norma Waterson and her daughter Eliza Carthy have sung together ever since Eliza first grasped language. Perhaps that is one...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: July/2018
Rainbow Crow
Is meandering a crime when it comes to music? There's a difference between inventive improvisation and going round in circles....
Reviewed by Howard Male in issue: Jan/Feb/2018
Fongo
Peruvian cumbia (or chicha) is the hedonistic cousin of its Colombian counterpart, adding electric guitar and organ to make a...
Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: June/2013
Love Hurts
Finnish folk quartet ENKEL return with their third studio album, a mix of traditional and contemporary numbers. All four women...
Reviewed by Chris Wheatley in issue: December/2022
Bold As Light
I’m not sure whether meeting Stephan Micus would be a revelatory or mind-numbing experi¬ence. For sure, he must have one...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: Apr/May/2011
Toubalbero
After a trio of exquisitely textured all-acoustic albums for the Chicago-based indie label Thrill Jockey, the 59-year-old Malian singer and...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: May/2018
Election Special
Cooder has mined a rich vein of vernacular Americana in recent years, culminating with last year’s wonderful Pull Up Some...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: October/2012
