Reviews
The Playhouse Sessions
‘How should I behave when I have a violin in my hand?’ asks the dazzling Norwegian violinist Bjarte Eike in...
Reviewed by Fiona Talkington in issue: January/February/2023
Tradition 2.1
Embedded in ‘Iskitzeko Aldian’, the track right at the heart of this album, is part of a radio broadcast from...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: March/2015
Nuba Nova
Hamdi Benani, Mehdi Haddab & Speed Caravan
Mehdi Haddab’s rai-punk outfit Speed Caravan have somewhat escaped my attention since their brilliant 2008 debut Kalashnik Love, but this...
Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: Aug/Sep/2021
L'Amazone: Le Chant des Fleuves
The Amazon has been imagined as a tree, its trunk passing from Brazil through Colombia and into Peru, with branches...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: April/2020
Dedication to Sylvia Rexach
Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Sylvia Rexach was the face of her island's first all-female combo, Las Damiselas, back in the 1950s....
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Independence Ska and the Far East Sound
The Skatalites' brief original existence from 1963 to 1965 surely marks them out as one of the most influential bands...
Reviewed by Garth Cartwright in issue: October/2017
Maravilhas Contemporâneas
The significance of this reissue lies not in the fame of its creator, who died in 2017, but the interesting...
Reviewed by Charlotte Algar in issue: April/2019
Painted Lady
After a decade playing traditional music with melodeon maestro John Spiers, and many years fronting folk big band Bellowhead, Jon...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: November/2016
Le Cri du Cyclope
French-Lebanese percussionist Wassim Halal was originally trained in Lebanese dabke music. His first album, Revolutionary Birds, with Mounir Troudi and...
Reviewed by Marwan Shamiyeh in issue: March/2019
