Reviews
Ndzi Teke Riendzo
Last year Honest Jon's released a well-received compilation titled Shangaan Electro. The album focused on a synthesized style of ancient...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Apr/May/2011
Moldavia: Peasant Tunes from the Old Land of Hârlău
Neculai Florea, Nicolae Amarandei, Valentin Bălăşanu
Hârlău is a town in the Romanian region of Moldavia, about 70km from Iaşi. And this record is a deliberate...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: August/September/2023
They Found Asylum in the Sea
The seven-piece UK Afrobeat collective Sea Slugs have self-released three albums in four years since they formed in 2013. The...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: August/2017
The Rough Guide to Arabic Revolution
This album ranges widely over a number of countries and musical styles, clearly attempting to render music that has a...
Reviewed by Paul Hughes-Smith in issue: June/2013
African Party
Ginger Johnson and His African Messengers
He died in Lagos 40 years ago and his heyday on London's music scene is a good 50 years in...
Reviewed by Max Reinhardt in issue: Aug/Sep/2015
Nação Zumbi
It's close to 20 years since Nação Zumbi's original singer Chico Science died in a car accident, an event that...
Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: March/2016
The Willow Collection
Albums do not usually come as beautifully conceived and packaged as The Willow Collection from young Nova Scotian sisters Cassie...
Reviewed by Tim Woodall in issue: March/2017
The Somerset Sessions
Lakeman sings and plays several instruments but his great gift, drawing on the folk tradition, is for narrative. The Somerset...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: October/2023
Tanou
There are few more ancient instruments than Mali’s six-stringed, individually bowed n’dan, or ‘traveller’s harp’. Fewer still whose existence is...
Reviewed by Michael Quinn in issue: April/2024
Oy Vesna Krasna
Karolina Węgrzyn is a Polish-born singer now resident in the UK. Oy Vesna Krasna (Oh, Beautiful Spring) is her debut...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: April/2025
