Reviews
Guitar Improvisations & Tashi Dorji
These two albums were originally issued solely on cassette by Headway Recordings, a now-defunct local label in Asheville, North Carolina,...
Reviewed by Keith Howard in issue: March/2024
Endless Path
Mahsa Vahdat & Coskun Karademir
A while ago, the Secret Ensemble from Istanbul invited Iranian singer Mahsa Vahdat to make a recording, the critically acclaimed...
Reviewed by Neil van der Linden in issue: March/2018
Funky Highlife
A 1975 release on the Essiebons label from Ghana, this is an album of occasionally funky but mostly sweet highlife,...
Reviewed by Alastair Johnston in issue: Jan/Feb/2013
Orquesta Akokán
Son and salsa are soulful and sultry, but mambo has got the edge when it comes to having a laugh....
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: June/2018
Vodou Drums in Haiti 2
Vodou – voodoo to most of us – is the hybrid religion that took shape in Haiti as slaves merged...
Reviewed by Garth Cartwright in issue: June/2017
Octave Fiddle – Baritone Violin
A fiddler of considerable skill and dexterity, Gavin Pennycook is also distinguished by his choice of instrument here: the baritone...
Reviewed by Matthew Milton in issue: July/2014
Tangos... & Something More
How to revivify tango? It's been a pressing question ever since Astor Piazzolla's death in 1992. Grupo Encuentros, established by...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: March/2020
We Are Many
Soothsayers – essentially, the duo of trumpeter Robin Hopcraft and saxophonist Idris Rahman working with a shifting ensemble of musicians...
Reviewed by Garth Cartwright in issue: January/2021
Amplexo
What does it currently take to stand out from the massive crowd of new fadistas that keeps growing by the...
Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: April/2022
Hover
This second album from esteemed fiddle player Bryony Griffith brings together an outstanding collection of both known and less-common English...
Reviewed by Rachel Cunniffe in issue: March/2019
