Reviews
Tanou
There are few more ancient instruments than Mali’s six-stringed, individually bowed n’dan, or ‘traveller’s harp’. Fewer still whose existence is...
Reviewed by Michael Quinn in issue: April/2024
Oy Vesna Krasna
Karolina Węgrzyn is a Polish-born singer now resident in the UK. Oy Vesna Krasna (Oh, Beautiful Spring) is her debut...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: April/2025
Ethiopiques 31
One assumed that the Ethiopiques catalogue had run its course, as it’s now almost a decade since the last volume...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: April/2026
The Rough Guide to Barbecue Bob
Proving that rappers and hip-hop artists weren’t the first African-American musicians to adopt street names was Robert Hicks: he cooked,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Aug/Sep/2015
Traces of You
This album is certainly Anoushka’s most personal to date, as most of the tracks are inspired by, or in memory...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: Nov/Dec/2013
O Ptácích a Rybách
BraAgas are a Czech female quartet (plus bassist Jan Hrbek) who featured on the bonus CD of Czech music with...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: Jan/Feb/2019
Kanabory Siyama
When the great kora (harp-lute) player Kaouding Cissoko died in 2003, he was replaced in Baaba Maal's band by Diabel,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: June/2012
Of Lovers, Gamblers and Parachute Skirts
Taraf de Haidouks exploded out of Romania as soon as communism ended, introducing Balkan Gypsy music to the West; their...
Reviewed by Garth Cartwright in issue: March/2015
Tunes from the Trenches: Songs from the First and Second World Wars
This kit-bag full of old songs springs from John Kirkpatrick's feeling that we get nearer to what the soldiers felt...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: December/2015
Carvings
Norwegian guitarist and singer Juni Habel caused a quiet stir with her debut, with some quarters likening her to Nick...
Reviewed by Chris Wheatley in issue: April/2023
