Reviews
Callings of the Owed
Emerging from Cairo’s experimental underground, Mi3raj is a duo comprising poet/vocalist Mohamed Tarek Moussa and producer/muti-instrumentalist Abdelrahman Shaat. Their hypnotically...
Reviewed by Daniel Spicer in issue: April/2026
Afrosoul 2
This disconcerting compilation leaps from one idea to another, trying to find something fresh. An array of African acts unsuccessfully...
Reviewed by Alastair Johnston in issue: July/2014
Future Rust Vol 1
New label Future Rust offers this compilation as an immersion into the subculture of the handpan, commonly called hang. The...
Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: July/2020
Tres Mil Uno
Marcela Arroyo, Andreas Engler & Daniel Schläppi
The title of this intriguing collection, Tres Mil Uno (3001), perhaps indicates that Argentinian-born, Swiss-based singer Marcela Arroyo, Swiss violinist...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: March/2017
Batuk Freak
A mixture of canny production, assured rapping and tough- to-extricate earworms make this debut album from Brazilian rapper Karol Conka...
Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: June/2014
Tango, Noche y Guitarra
Paris-based Argentinian guitarist Rudi Flores takes standards and classics from tango, chamamé, valse and milonga, and replaces all the busy...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: Aug/Sep/2014
Power Punch!!!
An apt title indeed! Owiny Sigoma Band have aimed high and stolen the electronic Afro-roots crown. Their music has become...
Reviewed by Max Reinhardt in issue: July/2013
Faran
Faran is an Israeli instrumental group playing their own compositions on traditional Middle Eastern instruments, including oud (lute), kamancheh (spike...
Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: October/2014
Al-Zarqa
While the Cairo-born musician Ali Khattab is described as a flamenco guitarist, it's better to think of him simply as...
Reviewed by Jan Fairley in issue: Nov/Dec/2011
Days Distinctive
It may be coincidence, or an emerging anthropological trend, but this is the third CD to have been released in...
Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: Apr/May/2012
