Reviews
Traces of Âşık
Ulaş Özdemir is a Turkish singer and saz (lute) player, who has appeared on several discs in Songlines over the...
Reviewed in issue August/2017
From Van to Yerevan
This album is the result of the meeting of two female exponents of a tradition known as the aşık (in...
Reviewed in issue August/2017
Manushan
Manushan is named after a legendary mountain in Iran near the Caspian Sea where, according to folklore, nomadic Gypsies from...
Reviewed in issue August/2017
Letters from Iraq
Rahim AlHaj learned to play the oud (lute) as a schoolboy in Iraq and went on to study under Munir...
Reviewed in issue July/2017
The Band Beyond Borders: Fertile Paradoxes
When guest Kaushiki Chakraborty launches into a three-and-a-half octave taan, the rapid virtuoso hallmark of her mesmeric Hindustani vocals, listeners...
Reviewed in issue July/2017
Untouched Folk Songs from the Balkans
Muammer Ketencoglu & Balkan Journey
Anyone who is into Balkan music – tricksy rhythms, wild sax and accordion playing – is going to enjoy this....
Reviewed in issue July/2017
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
