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Review of The Devil Rides Again

The Devil Rides Again

Adrian Raso & Fanfare Ciocarlia

Asphalt Tango Records

Rating: ★★★★

There is no doubt that Fanfare Ciocarlia remain among the fastest and most precise brass bands in the world. And...

Reviewed by Ula Nowak in issue: August/2025

Review of Wa

Wa

Kamilya Jubran & Werner Hasler

Everest Records

Rating: ★★★

This really is like no other Middle Eastern recording you are likely to encounter and it is best to say...

Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: April/2020

Review of Smile of Sun: Folk Music from Lorestan

Smile of Sun: Folk Music from Lorestan

Nezam Rajabzadeh

Etnisk Musikklubb

Rating: ★★

Lorestan is an area of western Iran with its own language and culture; it's a region celebrated for its kamancheh...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: October/2014

Review of Relke Meto

Relke Meto

Happy Mphande

Digital Indigenous

Rating: ★★

Malawian musician Happy Mphande's Relke Meto opens with the title-track, a percussion-heavy beat that sets the tempo for the rest...

Reviewed by Jack McBrams in issue: March/2023

Review of Rwanda Sings With Strings

Rwanda Sings With Strings

The Good Ones

Top of the World

Glitterbeat

Rating: ★★★★

On the surface, the fifth album by Rwandan duo The Good Ones is a departure from the usual modus operandi...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: September/2025

Review of Gaudencia

Gaudencia

MC Yallah & Debmaster

Hakuna Kulala

Rating: ★★★★

After listening to an MC Yallah record it's tempted to conclude that every other rapper in the game is slacking....

Reviewed by Rosie Esther Solomon in issue: September/2025

Review of Haf

Haf

Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18

Bubblewrap Collective

Rating: ★★★★

A third album in little more than a year from the Welsh samba ensemble is an impressive enough achievement, even...

Reviewed by Kevin Bourke in issue: April/2026

Review of Such Times

Such Times

Steve Tilston

Riverboat Records

Rating: ★★★

Steve Tilston made his first album, An Acoustic Confusion, in 1971, gaining a place in a cohort of exceptional guitar-playing...

Reviewed by Julian May in issue: April/2021

Review of Roots Travellers

Roots Travellers

Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan

World Village

Rating: ★★★

‘Gypsy’ is a term mistakenly given to Indian migrants who arrived in Constan¬tinople around 1,000 years ago: the locals, having...

Reviewed by Garth Cartwright in issue: March/2011

Review of The Vortex Sessions

The Vortex Sessions

Benjamim Taubkin & Adriano Adewale

Núcleo Contemporâneo

Rating: ★★★

For the past decade and a half, Benjamim Taubkin's São Paulo-based Núcleo Contemporàneo label has been quietly nurturing some of...

Reviewed by Brendon Griffin in issue: March/2013

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