Reviews

Karaim Music Map

Karolina Cicha & Company

This is the first full album of Karaim music, ever, apparently. The Karaim are a diasporic community of contentious origin,...

Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: December/2021

ABAN

The Garifuna Collective

Touring around Europe and the US heavily in recent months, the Garifuna gang from Belize sound much more traditionally folkloric...

Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: November/2019

Hillevi

Emma Ahlberg Ek

Concept albums are a rare thing in folk music but Hillevi is a fine example; it is the result of...

Reviewed by Tony Gillam in issue: Jan/Feb/2019

Ew’aa

Tashkezar

Conceived while playing Andalusian and Russian songs at a party, London-based collective Tashkezar expanded their repertoire with their 2016 debut...

Reviewed by Paul Bowler in issue: December/2023

N'Darila

Kankou Kouyate

Member of esteemed Bamana jeli (griot) lineage from the village of Garana in Segu, Mali, Kankou made her debut in...

Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: September/2025

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

Brazilian Beat

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Putumayo's latest instalment of Latin music does not intend to be a definitive collection of new Brazilian music. It is...

Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: Apr/May/2012

Westward

Éilís Kennedy

One half of Irish duo Lumiere, with Pauline Scanlon, Éilís Kennedy hails from Dingle, Co Kerry in the west of...

Reviewed by Rachel Cunniffe in issue: June/2017

Luoteniegut

Áššu

Joik vocalist Ulla Pirttijärvi is among northern Finland’s strongest Indigenous voices. Pirttijärvi combines her powerful singing with West African influences...

Reviewed by Wif Stenger in issue: June/2025

Rejoice

Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela

Two old friends, giants of the African music scene, fuse influences from West and South Africa in this historic, compelling...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: April/2020