Reviews
Zabad, Twilight Tide
I'm used to the word sebil in Turkish meaning ‘Fountain’, but in Arabic it means also ‘Road’ or ‘Way’: both...
Reviewed in issue July/2017
The Wax Cylinder Recordings
The reign of the wax cylinder was very short – a mere 20 years around the turn of the last...
Reviewed in issue June/2017
Kişlar Lâl Oldu (Winter Has Fallen Silent)
The strange couple at the heart of this recording is that of Hacıoğlu's silky tenor singing voice, and the divan...
Reviewed in issue June/2017
Sounds of the East
A surprising collection of field recordings and re-arrangements of traditional pieces, Sounds of the East follows on from Beronja's Sounds...
Reviewed in issue June/2017
Kuşların Çağrısı (Call of the Birds)
Many of Iranian singer Mahsa Vahdat's projects have been reviewed in Songlines. I came across the honeyed melancholy of her...
Reviewed in issue June/2017
Fihi Ma Fihi
The brainchild of Melbourne-based musicians Murat Yucel and Alisha Brooks (of Unified Gecko and Baro Banda), Bashka's debut album features...
Reviewed in issue April/2017
Yeni Dunya
Honed on the streets of Istanbul, the message of Light in Babylon comes out loud and clear, across time and...
Reviewed in issue April/2017
Young Iranian Female Voices: Songs in the Mist
This is a result of ten young Iranian female singers having gone to record in Norway. Women singers performing in...
Reviewed in issue April/2017
Andalusia of Love
I thought I had become a bit tired of Marcel Khalife's musical activities. Popular as ever throughout the Arab world,...
Reviewed in issue April/2017
Prince of the Violin
Sami al-Shawwa (1885-1965) introduced the Western violin to Cairo, devising new techniques for it and reinvigorating the art of modal...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2017
