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Review of Libraries on Fire

Libraries on Fire

Derek Gripper

Top of the World

Derek Gripper

Rating: ★★★★

Since Songlines first championed the South African guitarist Derek Gripper following his 2012 album One Night on Earth, his transpositions...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2016

Review of Timeline

Timeline

Suarasama

Drag City

Rating: ★★★

Suarasama, which means ‘one voice’, is a small ensemble of musicians and ethnomusicologists from North Sumatra. Formed in 1995 by...

Reviewed by John Clewley in issue: June/2023

Review of Femmina

Femmina

Gera Bertolone

Sonora Recordings

Rating: ★★

The vocalist and clarinettist Gera Bertolone hails from Sicily, and here puts together an album of original songs which blend...

Reviewed by Maria Lord in issue: January/2025

Review of Idrache (Traces of the Past)

Idrache (Traces of the Past)

Tinariwen

Wedge

Rating: ★★★★

With the members of Tinariwen scattered around southern Algeria while they take refuge from the political unrest in Mali ,...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: February/March/2025

Review of Griais

Griais

Gillie Mackenzie

Gress Recordings

Rating: ★★★

Named after her home village on Lewis in the Western Isles, Griais is Mackenzie’s first solo album. It’s a bright...

Reviewed by Billy Rough in issue: Nov/Dec/2012

Review of Viena

Viena

Värttinä

Top of the World

Westpark

Rating: ★★★★★

Having worked with Värttinä earlier in 2015, I had a sense that their new album was going to be something...

Reviewed by Fiona Talkington in issue: April/2016

Review of Midnight and Closedown

Midnight and Closedown

Lau

Top of the World

Reveal Records

Rating: ★★★★★

After a wait of nearly four years the British folk scene's bravest experimenters are back with their fifth studio album,...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: March/2019

Review of Divine

Divine

Oana Catalina Chitu

Asphalt Tango Records

Rating: ★★★

Maria Tanase is often referred to as ‘the Romanian Piaf’: both were distinctive vocalists who took a local vernacular music...

Reviewed by Garth Cartwright in issue: Aug/Sept/2013

Review of The Sound of Telemark

The Sound of Telemark

Sigmund Groven & Knut Buen

heilo

Rating: ★★★★

Drive three hours west of Oslo and nature beckons. There are farms, trees laden with red apples in late summer,...

Reviewed by Fiona Talkington in issue: April/2021

Review of Sarawoga

Sarawoga

Oliver Mtukudzi

Sheer Sound

Rating: ★★★★

Dedicated to his son Sam, who died in a tragic car accident, the Zimbabwean veteran’s latest album opens with the...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: June/2013

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