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Review of Umculo Umuthi

Umculo Umuthi

Sun Xa Experiment

Digging Thoughts

Rating: ★★★

With lead singer Buyisiwe Njoko armed with shakers, whistles and the proclamatory vuvuzela, and an album title translating as ‘Music...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: May/2021

Review of Kiteky

Kiteky

Electric Vocuhila

Another Record/Capsul Records

Rating: ★★★★

This latest album from the French four-piece Electric Vocuhila, comes hot on the heels of a residency spent in Madagascar...

Reviewed by Lucy Hallam in issue: December/2022

Review of Storied Sounds

Storied Sounds

Tuulikki Bartosik

RootBeat Records

Rating: ★★★★

Accordionist and composer Tuulikki Bartosik made quite an impression with her previous album, Chatterbox, with Hannah James. Her latest project,...

Reviewed by Fiona Talkington in issue: October/2016

Review of No Place for My Dream

No Place for My Dream

Femi Kuti

Top of the World

Wrasse Records

Rating: ★★★★★

The ninth album by Femi Kuti, son of the legendary Fela, sees him retain his crown as the true messenger...

Reviewed by Peter Adjaye in issue: July/2013

Review of Dimbambe: Identité

Dimbambe: Identité

Mario Combo

Bright Moon Production

Rating: ★★★

Affable yet determined, velvet-smooth yet troubled. Such colourful, perhaps contradictory epithets could describe the Cameroonian Mario Combo and his fourth...

Reviewed by Daniel Brown in issue: Jan/Feb/2016

Review of African Journey

African Journey

Glenn Keiles

Right Recordings

Rating: ★★★

Glenn Keiles is an established composer and producer who first opened a studio in Brixton, London in 1982, spending the...

Reviewed by Diane Coetzer in issue: October/2022

Review of In the Parting

In the Parting

Cup O'Joe

Cup O’Joe Music

Rating: ★★★★

Cup O'Joe are the three Agnew siblings from County Armagh who have been making waves on the live circuit since...

Reviewed by Michael Quinn in issue: June/2020

Review of Souvenance

Souvenance

Anouar Brahem

ECM Records (2 CDs)

Rating: ★★

You would expect the events of late 2010 that sparked the Arab Spring to have had a profound effect on...

Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: Apr/May/2015

Review of Simigwa

Simigwa

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley

Mr Bongo

Rating: ★★★★

On the opening track of this album, which was originally released in 1975, the Ghanaian bandleader Gyedu-Blay Ambolley recites a...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: November/2018

Review of What If

What If

The Jerry Douglas Band

Rounder Records

Rating: ★★★★

With its searingly fast tempo and hard-swinging arrangement, ‘Cavebop’ sets the bar high for What If, which is perhaps the...

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: November/2017

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