Reviews
Lindé
After years of playing with Ali Farka Touré, Afel Bocoum seemed well placed to take over the great man’s mantle...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: October/2020
MistO-MistO
The press release talks of a ‘primordial soup,’ the cover art suggests something cosmic and funky in a Fela Kuti...
Reviewed by Howard Male in issue: Jan/Feb/2016
A História do Nordeste
The story of Luiz Gonzaga could have come straight out of a novel by Brazilian writer Jorge Amado: at 18...
Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: Jan/Feb/2019
Tikounen
Can you have too many Touareg guitar records? Not when they’re as potent as this second album from Kel Assouf,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2016
Ageless Garden
Mehmet Polat is from Urfa in Turkey, overlooking the Euphrates, so looking towards Syria and Iraq rather than Istanbul. He...
Reviewed by Neil van der Linden in issue: June/2018
Ponda
With Ponda, Cameroonian pianist and singer Patrick Bebey delivers a record that seamlessly fuses jazz, African tradition and Western folk...
Reviewed by Andrew Taylor-Dawson in issue: February/March/2025
The Music of the Gypsy Lăutari of Bucharest
The Inédit label comes out of the Maison des Cultures du Monde in Paris and showcases high-quality traditional music. No...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: April/2021
Jasmine Flower
The Paris-based erhu (two-stringed fiddle) player Guo Gan is part of a burgeoning generation of traditional East Asian musicians who...
Reviewed by Charlie Cawood in issue: Aug/Sept/2013
Djitoumou
The name might be unfamiliar to you, but Mali’s Idrissa Soumaoro has an impressive musical pedigree, having performed with Ali...
Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: Aug/Sep/2010
