Reviews
He is #1
The Malawi Mouse Boys take their name from how they make their living when not playing music – selling mice...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2012
Hidden
Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight
She may have one of the most famous surnames in folk but one thing’s for certain: this isn’t, by any...
Reviewed by Matthew Milton in issue: October/2012
African Woman
Sia Tolno was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Life for her was no bed of roses: her father was a...
Reviewed by Peter Culshaw in issue: Aug/Sep/2014
Chienne de Vie
This rather engaging combo was formed by two Vincents – one surnamed Allard and the other Sanchez – who left...
Reviewed by Philip Sweeney in issue: March/2016
Madjafalao
Le Tout-Puissant Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
One of the great West African big bands of the 1970s, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo were Benin’s answer to Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Hakili Kélé
The veteran Malian griot Mah Damba believed she had recorded her final album when she made 2010's À l'Ombre du...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Jan/Feb/2020
Uhamiaji
When a press release states that an album will redefine the boundaries of whatever style it purports to represent, you...
Reviewed by Howard Male in issue: November/2017
Simnadé + 4
When this recording was first released as an LP on the Rogue Records label in 1989 it heralded the exciting...
Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: December/2020
Matjale
The percussionist Thabang Tabane grew up playing in Molombo, a band from Mamelodi township on the outskirts of Pretoria, led...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: November/2018
Creation
For years this was a real rarity. Recorded back in 1979 by the Jamaican singer Freddie McKay, Creation has been...
Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: September/2024
