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Reviews

Review of Kan Ya Makan (Once Upon a Time)

Kan Ya Makan (Once Upon a Time)

Nesrine

Top of the World

ACT Music

Rating: ★★★★

Four years after an adventurous solo debut which took us on an exhilarating journey through the Arabic world, Franco-Algerian singer,...

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

Review of Songs of the Roma

Songs of the Roma

Simon Thacker & Justyna Jablonska

Top of the World

Slap the Moon Records

Rating: ★★★★

This exploration of the rich Gypsy heritage of Balkan music is the second album by Scottish guitarist Simon Thacker with...

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

Review of Don’t Waste Your Ancestors’ Time

Don’t Waste Your Ancestors’ Time

Phil Dawson ٤-tet

Funkiwala

Rating: ★★★★

Guitarist and Lokkhi Terra member Phil Dawson has carved out a distinct career working with everyone from Mulatu Astatke to...

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

Review of Nouskaa Sisaret

Nouskaa Sisaret

SINIMUSO

SINIMUSO

Rating: ★★★★

The criss-crossing of culture from the desert dunes of Mali with forested quiet spaces in Finland is where refreshingly bold,...

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

Review of Looking for the Thread

Looking for the Thread

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart

Thirty Tigers

Rating: ★★★★

This unexpected but very welcome silver lining collection first came together as a pandemic lockdown writing experiment. US singer-songwriter Carpenter...

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

Review of Z’amalgame

Z’amalgame

Force Indigène

Noramokaj

Rating: ★★★★

In name, Z’amalgame suggests a coming-together, a melding of components and forces into a new, fortified whole. This Réunionese album,...

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

Review of QAF

QAF

Ghawgha

OK World Records

Rating: ★★★

This record gives voice to the stories and sentiments of the dislocated. Ghawgha fled her native Afghanistan, undertaking an odyssey...

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

Review of Echoes of Resistance

Echoes of Resistance

Raz & Afla

Wah Wah 45s

Rating: ★★★★

Has it really been two years since the release of Raz & Afla’s The Cycle? It must be, because here’s...

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

Review of Mapambazuko

Mapambazuko

Ale Hop & Titi Bakorta

Top of the World

Nyege Nyege Tapes

Rating: ★★★★★

Nyege Nyege are known for avant-garde releases. This record is no different. Titi Bakorta and Ale Hop join forces to...

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

Review of A Assembleia Extraordinária

A Assembleia Extraordinária

Rod Krieger

Rod Krieger

Rating: ★★★

Rock gaúcho, rock from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, always had a penchant for the music of the British invasion....

Reviewed in issue February/March/2025

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