Reviews
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
Clap & Applause
From K-drama on Netflix to K-beauty in Boots, South Korea has been on a remarkable rise to prominence in the...
Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: November/2020
The Innocent Left
Following on from their 2008 debut, Shadow and Half Light, and 2010’s Up From The Deep, the duo’s third album...
Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: Jan/Feb/2013
