Reviews
Healing Rituals
Syrian-French flautist Naïssam Jalal has been somewhat overlooked as a composer and bandleader, but with this album – her ninth!...
Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: August/September/2023
Guajiro Sonero
José Alberto, nicknamed ‘The Nightingale’ to distinguish him from the other José Alberto, ‘The Canary’, is from Bayamo in Eastern...
Reviewed by Kim Burton in issue: December/2023
Don’t Waste Your Ancestors’ Time
Guitarist and Lokkhi Terra member Phil Dawson has carved out a distinct career working with everyone from Mulatu Astatke to...
Reviewed by Andrew Taylor-Dawson in issue: February/March/2025
Joropo Music from the Plains of Colombia
Música Llanera is the music of the vast open expanses of the Colombian plains around the Orinoco River, up in...
Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: Nov/Dec/2011
No Place for My Dream
The ninth album by Femi Kuti, son of the legendary Fela, sees him retain his crown as the true messenger...
Reviewed by Peter Adjaye in issue: July/2013
La Vendange
La Très Illustre Compagnie du Chat Noir
This weird and wonderful project is the brainchild of three Dutch musicians – Marijn de Valk, Rik Bosch and Daan...
Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: June/2014
Nueva Antología
Originally released two decades ago, this dazzling double album was, for many, the introduction to Compay Segundo immediately prior to...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: June/2018
A Country’s Soul: 1945-1957
The great, groundbreaking monarch of Portuguese fado hasn’t really been given her due in » terms of disc space in...
Reviewed by Jon Lusk in issue: June/2013
Gilles Peterson Presents: Havana Cultura – New Cuba Sound
Clubbers and Cubanophiles alike will leap on this double set from the zeitgeist-riding Gilles Peterson. Financed by Havana Rum and...
Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: Jan/Feb/2010
The Servants' Ball
This exuberantly entertaining album came about after double bass player Ben Nicholls, reading about Sussex concertina player Scan Thester, found...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: April/2020
