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Review of Saith VII

Saith VII

Ar Log

Sain Wales

Rating: ★★★★

In 1976 Ar Log came together to represent Wales at a festival of Celtic music in Brittany. There they met...

Reviewed by Julian May in issue: December/2018

Review of Beginners Guide To Brass

Beginners Guide To Brass

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Nascente

Rating: ★★★

You name it, Nascente has a compilation out celebrating it. Now the veteran UK label has given the brass band...

Reviewed by Lemez Lovas in issue: Nov/Dec/2011

Review of SMOD

SMOD

SMOD

Because

Rating: ★★★★

Turn ‘Les Dirigeants Africains’ up loud. Do those bouncy Malian rhythms sound familiar? The growling vocals, sweet-but-biting lyrics and the...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: June/2011

Review of Tientalaw

Tientalaw

Zani Diabaté & Les Héritiers

Top of the World

Sterns

Rating: ★★★★★

Zani Diabaté's first name may not be as instantly recognisable as his last (many of the Diabaté dan are griots)...

Reviewed by Alastair Johnston in issue: October/2012

Review of Beginner's Guide to English Folk

Beginner's Guide to English Folk

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Nascente

Rating: ★★★★

There's no shortage of folk compilations out there – be they strange folk, nu-folk, psych-folk or angry folk. When I...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: March/2013

Review of Fun An Altn Klezmer Heft: Beautiful Music from Old Manuscripts

Fun An Altn Klezmer Heft: Beautiful Music from Old Manuscripts

Susi Evans & Szilvia Csaranko

Shades of Folk

Rating: ★★★★

Susi Evans is a dynamic clarinettist from Shekoyokh and this is her second duo album with Hungarian-born, German-based accordionist Szilvia...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: June/2023

Review of Eyoun el Alb

Eyoun el Alb

Nagat

wewantsounds

Rating: ★★★★

Born in 1938 in Cairo, Nagat El-Saghira made her first public performance at the age of seven – her diminutive...

Reviewed by Charlie Cawood in issue: October/2023

Review of Weaving My Ancestors’ Voices

Weaving My Ancestors’ Voices

Sheila Chandra

Real World Records

Rating: ★★★★

There's something plainly refreshing about witnessing an artist following their own path, uninhibited. Chandra's trilogy of albums – first released...

Reviewed by Anita Bhadani in issue: August/September/2023

Review of Rumba Africa

Rumba Africa

Syran Mbenza

Top of the World

Hysa Productions

Rating: ★★★★★

Emerging from the Congo, and flourishing even during that painful era when the country was renamed Zaire, African rumba became...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: February/March/2026

Review of Zaire 74: The African Artists

Zaire 74: The African Artists

Various Artists

Top of the World

Wrasse Records 2 CDs

Rating: ★★★★

The ‘Rumble in the Jungle,’ as the 1974 Heavyweight Championship boxing bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman was known,...

Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: July/2017

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