Reviews

Discover Japanese Taiko

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Taiko is a term that covers an array of Japanese drums (known as wadaiko). Since the mid-20th century, taiko has...

Reviewed by Darran Smith in issue: May/2017

Cante

Nuno Corte-Real

Cante is a form of traditional polyphonic singing from the south of Portugal, namely from the region of Alentejo, usually...

Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: Aug/Sept/2020

Fàs

Breabach

Popular Scottish band Breabach return with their first album in four years having used the enforced periods of gigging inactivity...

Reviewed by Rob Adams in issue: December/2022

Mariza

Mariza

If Mariza's last album, 2015's Mundo, was her most ‘crossover’ sounding set to date, with its unique combination of pop...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Aug/Sep/2018

Juyungo: Afro-Indigenous Music from the Northwestern Andes

VARIOUS ARTISTS

In the Ecuadorian city and surrounding region of Esmeraldas, the descendants of Africans who escaped slavery, and Indigenous peoples such...

Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: April/2025

Yemamaya

LUIZGA and iZem

With Yemamaya, Portugal-based Brazilian singer-songwriter LUIZGA collaborates across a full-length set with French producer iZem, pulling together tracks from an...

Reviewed by Andrew Taylor-Dawson in issue: December/2025

In Light

Batila

Congolese producer Batila’s latest release, In Light, offers up a soothing soundscape that connects the listener to the rich textures...

Reviewed by Chinonso Ihekire in issue: May/2026

Desfado

Ana Moura

By the time Ana Moura released her fourth album in 2009, Leva-me aos Fados, she had gone as far as...

Reviewed by Gonfalo Frota in issue: June/2013

L'Amazone: Le Chant des Fleuves

VARIOUS ARTISTS

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

Galiza

Kepa Junkera

Kepa Junkera is a wonderful player of trikitixa, the traditional dance music of the Basque country, which he squeezes out...

Reviewed by Julian May in issue: June/2014