Reviews
Do Not Obey
It's 20 years since Murat Ertel and Levent Akman founded the Istanbul-based psychedelic band Baba Zula. Firmly ensconced in that...
Reviewed in issue November/2016
Thulth
Tamer Abu Ghazaleh plays a unique role in the Arabic music world. Based in Cairo, he is a Palestinian multi-instrumentalist...
Reviewed in issue November/2016
Passages
Constantinople expands the constellation of projects begun in 1998 by Iranian-Canadian setar (lute) player Kiya Tabassian. Passages features three other...
Reviewed in issue November/2016
Uzbekistan: Spiritual and Sufi Chant
A brilliant compilation of sacred Uzbek chants from the remote and religious area of Ferghana Valley, this album shows how...
Reviewed in issue October/2016
Narrante
Golfam Khayam & Mona Matbou Riahi
This album was simultaneously released in Iran on Hermes Records and internationally on ECM. Both of these are ‘connoisseur’ labels...
Reviewed in issue October/2016
The Art of the Tanbur
Özkan, resident in Paris since 1976, has honed an unusual lute style, at a remove from Istanbul's conservatoires and musical...
Reviewed in issue October/2016
Kobani
Ferhat Tunç's latest album is nicely packaged, with the songs competently translated into English. If you are unfamiliar with the...
Reviewed in issue October/2016
Lament for Syria
A former teacher and journalist in his native Syria, Jan Ibro Khelil fled to Norway in 2010 and was granted...
Reviewed in issue October/2016
Assaf
Sometimes an artist's story overshadows almost entirely their actual music. Such is the case here, where Mohammed Assaf has become...
Reviewed in issue July/2016
The Queen of Turquoise
Born in Aleppo and a graduate of the Damascus Conservatory, saxophonist and composer Rajoub – who now lives in exile...
Reviewed in issue July/2016
