Reviews
Midnight and Closedown
After a wait of nearly four years the British folk scene's bravest experimenters are back with their fifth studio album,...
Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: March/2019
Divine
Maria Tanase is often referred to as ‘the Romanian Piaf’: both were distinctive vocalists who took a local vernacular music...
Reviewed by Garth Cartwright in issue: Aug/Sept/2013
Sarawoga
Dedicated to his son Sam, who died in a tragic car accident, the Zimbabwean veteran’s latest album opens with the...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: June/2013
La Llorona
While she could play the tragic heroine with a bleeding heart with the best of them, Chavela Vargas was also...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: April/2018
Udondolo
It is unsurprising that black South African music in recent years has lacked the game-changing potency it enjoyed when soundtracking...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: March/2021
Live at the Royal Albert Hall
Between 1972 and 1997, The Penguin Cafe Orchestra cut a unique and much¬loved swathe through that musical realm where folk,...
Reviewed by Tim Camming in issue: October/2010
The Sea is My Brother
The fourth studio album from Devon folk duo David Harbottle and Freya Jonas is a concept album about the sea....
Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: May/2019
Yellow Fever/Na Poi
It’s now 16 years since Fela Kuti died and his legendary status continues to grow. The problem with legends, though,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2013
Dancing Tunes
In their 1990s heyday, the Mancunian roots band combining Caribbean rhythms with traditional British folk songs were a global fixture...
Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: May/2021
Live in New York 2010
The great Malian singer Khaira Arby died in 2018, so archive recordings have now become even more valuable. This 2010...
Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: July/2021
