Reviews

Assolist

Efruze

These sentimental tracks come from the golden, pre-Arabesk, age of Turkish gazinos, venues where mixed crowds would come, eat and...

Reviewed by Robert Rigney in issue: October/2021

Azerbaijani Gitara

Rüstəm Quliyev

As well as a hot contender for this year’s Most Charmingly Naff Cover Photo award, the inside of this album...

Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: January/2021

Unearth Repeat

Sam Sweeney

Following on from his Island Records’ debut, The Unfinished Violin, England's premier fiddler releases a small band album with a...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: May/2020

La Gouache

R.wan

In 2000, Parisian band Java gave traditional bal-musette (French accordion music) a 21st-century makeover, adding the lyrics of Erwan Séguillon...

Reviewed by Lucy Hallam in issue: March/2021

Zona Zero

Remna

Remna Schwarz dedicates this album to his father José Carlos Schwarz, a legendary figure in Bissau-Guinean culture as a poet,...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: October/2019

Amser

Fernhill

Fernhill are a musical jackdaw: the band fly far and wide over the historical and cultural landscape of Wales –...

Reviewed by Julian May in issue: October/2014

Spirit of Malombo

Julian Bahula

To appreciate Julian Bahula's contribution to South African music, you don’t need to know that he was a tireless anti-Apartheid...

Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: Jan/Feb/2015

Hawaiki

Taimane

Rising Polynesian uke star Taimane Gardner is a hapa-Samoan (part-Caucasian, part-Samoan) player raised in Hawaii. A musical prodigy, she was...

Reviewed by Seth Jordan in issue: January/February/2023

Nha Vida

Ceuzany

If you can get past the cover, which resembles a Stock, Aitken & Waterman 12” from the late 80s, this...

Reviewed by Brendon Griffin in issue: Jan/Feb/2014

Work Hard

King Ayisoba

Recorded in 2020 and 2021 in Ghana and The Netherlands, Work Hard arguably presents Ghana's kologo maestro King Ayisoba (born...

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: April/2023