Reviews

22 Strings

Seckou Keita

After his sublime album, Clychau Dibon, with Welsh harpist Catrin Finch that won Best Cross-Cultural Collaboration in the 2014 Songlines...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2015

Other Side of the Rock

Shane Howard

Singer-songwriter Shane Howard is a quiet legend in Australia. Born of Irish-Catholic heritage and raised in rural Victoria, he’s one...

Reviewed by Seth Jordan in issue: July/2013

The Unbroken Surface of Snow

Andrew Cronshaw

Andrew Cronshaw released the beautiful Ochre back in 2005 [reviewed in #27]; seven years later comes The Unbroken Surface of...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: March/2012

Gwandena

Timpana

Is dilution helpful for diffusion? Are synths and dance beats the best/only way to expand the audience from grey-beards to...

Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: January/February/2023

Mike Marshall & The Turtle Island Quartet

Mike Marshall & The Turtle Island Quartet

With this latest entry in his Adventure Music catalogue, mandolin maestro Mike Marshall and the renowned Turtle Island Quartet have...

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: June/2014

The Paris Session

The Touré-Raichel Collective

Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré and Israeli keyboardist Idan Raichel have followed up their 2012 debut with an equally richly...

Reviewed by Howard Male in issue: Nov/Dec/2014

Nostalgique Armenie: Songs of Love, Hope, Exile and Improvisations (1942-1952)

VARIOUS ARTISTS

This is a homage to the music of the Armenian diaspora. The liner notes state that the Caucasus is the...

Reviewed by Neil van der Linden in issue: May/2018

Afrika Muye Muye!: Tanzanian Rumba and Muziki Wa Dansi (1968-1970)

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Put together by music historian and archivist Rob Allingham with research and translation help from Werner Graebner, Afrika Muye Muye!...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: March/2024

Usvyaty: Russian Music from Pskov Region in Modern and Archival Recordings

VARIOUS ARTISTS

This is a curiosity. We get relatively few recordings from Russia and as the title says, these are field recordings...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: December/2023

Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth-Boogie in 1980s South Africa

VARIOUS ARTISTS

‘Bubblegum’ was the catch-all term given to Western-influenced popular music in 1980s South Africa, although the term is highly misleading,...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2018