Reviews
Balafon Evolution
Hailing from Côte d’Ivoire but now based in Berlin, we first came across the balafon player Aly Keïta as part...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: April/2026
Rebelión Tropical: The Very Best of Fruko & Joe Arroyo
These tremendous songs from the Colombian legends – bass player, percussionist, producer and song-writer, Julio Ernesto Estrada Rincon (aka Fruko)...
Reviewed by Sue Steward in issue: June/2011
Songs from the Bardo
Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal & Jesse Paris Smith
Dealing with dying is a major aspect of both the sacred and secular. Songs from the Bardo is a small...
Reviewed by Michael Ormiston in issue: December/2019
Richard Galliano Au Brésil
Forró is Brazil's wildest, wackiest and most wonderful rhythm. The musicologists trace its form to the Portuguese court and its...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: October/2014
Fireside Stories
Fireside Stories is an album that could break your heart. First and foremost, it's astonishingly beautiful. With expertly finger-picked guitar,...
Reviewed by Dan Hobson in issue: April/2023
Fifteen
For their first new album in six years, The Wailin’ Jennys celebrate a 15-year-long relationship with a nine-track collection of...
Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: March/2018
Hajda!
This is the debut of a new band focussing on the traditional music of Polesia, a region of eastern Poland,...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: June/2024
Djamila
Here's a second album from Mamadou Kelly, a guitarist and singer from the Malian area of Goundam and Niafunke –...
Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: November/2015
The Best Of
When he was just 19 years old, John McCusker gave up his place studying the violin at the Royal Scottish...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: April/2023
Solo & Indrė
Cross-cultural kora and string collaborations have been rather in vogue for the last couple of years, and for good reason:...
Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: Jan/Feb/2016
