Reviews
_f01.jpg)
Barbara (1955-1961)
Sixteen years after the death of one of France’s most prestigious singer-songwriters, Monique Cerf (aka Barbara), this is a typically...
Reviewed by Philip Sweeney in issue: Nov/Dec/2013
Mounqaliba
Natacha Atlas’ last album Ana Hina [reviewed in #52] was an extremely well judged step away from the Middle Eastern...
Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: October/2010
Once Upon a Time in Senegal: The Birth of Mbalax 1979-1981
Youssou N’Dour is Africa’s biggest star and the mbalax sound he helped shape remains Senegal’s musical heartbeat 30 years after...
Reviewed by Katharina Lobeck Kane in issue: Aug/Sep/2010
Opium Moon
This multi-talented group, comprising violinist Lily Haydn, santur (zither) player Hamid Saeidi, bassist Itai Disraeli and percussionist MB Gordy, have...
Reviewed by Marwan Shamiyeh in issue: November/2018
Amanké Dionti
Ablaye Cissoko & Volker Goetze
In the 60s everyone from Yehudi Menuhin to the Beatles wanted the sound of the Indian sitar on their records....
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Apr/May/2013
Don't Worry, Be Gypsy
There's always been a high correlation between Bulgarian musicians of all callings and immense virtuosity, and the correlation becomes even...
Reviewed by Kim Burton in issue: May/2023
Khyber Mail
It is hard to really know what to say about this disc, as it is so much of its time;...
Reviewed by Maria Lord in issue: October/2011
Ballads of the Broken Few
Seth Lakeman featuring Wildwood Kin
The sound of Devon singer-songwriter and fiddler Seth Lakeman is well-known to many. This is his eighth studio album since...
Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: November/2016
Ancient Sufi Invocations & Forgotten Songs From Aleppo
When Jason Hamacher, a punk drummer in Washington DC, read William Dalrymple's From the Holy Mountain, he contacted the author...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Aug/Sep/2014
Kinshasa Succursale
Recorded in 2008, the story of Kinshasa Succursale has the trappings of a film script. Congolese-Belgian rapper-cum-dandy Baloji had turned...
Reviewed by Daniel Brown in issue: Jan/Feb/2012
