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Reviews

Review of Draft

Draft

Hairetis Harper

Same Difference Music

Rating: ★★★★

Despite growing up in the small town of Anogia on the island of Crete, also home to such famous Greek...

Reviewed by Russell Higham in issue: May/2021

Review of Cera Perdida

Cera Perdida

Frente Cumbiero

Top of the World

Salgaelsol & Biche

Rating: ★★★★

Since their inception a decade ago, Bogotá-based Colombian cumbia pioneers Frente Cumbiero have been a force to be reckoned with....

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: May/2021

Review of Djourou

Djourou

Ballaké Sissoko

Top of the World

Nø Førmat!

Rating: ★★★★

For this, his 11th album, the Paris-based kora maestro Ballaké Sissoko collaborated with a clutch of genre-diverse French and African...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: May/2021

Review of Talûş

Talûş

Gilad Weiss | Melisa Yıldırım

Khalkedon Music

Rating: ★★★

Yıldırım is a young Turkish musician specialising in the kamancha (spiked fiddle), called kabak kemane in Anatolia where a dried...

Reviewed by Francesco Martinelli in issue: May/2021

Review of Čihkkojuvon

Čihkkojuvon

Gájanas

Bafe’s Factory

Rating: ★★★

These pages are sprinkled with bands that blend pop, hip-hop, reggae and jazz with traditional influences, but prog and hard...

Reviewed by Wif Stenger in issue: May/2021

Review of Cavalluccio

Cavalluccio

Lalala Napoli

La Curieuse

Rating: ★★★★

Behind Lalala Napoli is the gifted veteran French accordionist and singer François Castiello of former Bratsch fame, who uses the...

Reviewed by Ciro De Rosa in issue: May/2021

Review of Por Onde Fica a Primavera

Por Onde Fica a Primavera

João Diogo Leitão

Respirar de Ouvido

Rating: ★★★★

Some instruments seem to be tailor-made for specific music genres. The Portuguese guitar, for instance, is undeniably a pivotal piece...

Reviewed by GonÇalo Frota in issue: May/2021

Review of Invisible Music

Invisible Music

Polly Paulusma

Wild Sound/One Little Independent

Rating: ★★★

The late, great writer Angela Carter would almost certainly have relished the fact that Polly Paulusma once lived in London’s...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: May/2021

Review of Venti

Venti

Francesco Loccisano and Marcello De Carolis

ItalySona

Rating: ★★★★

The chitarra battente (literally ‘beating guitar’) is an Italian variation of the instrument, closer to a lute or mandolin, with...

Reviewed by Francesco Martinelli in issue: May/2021

Review of The King of Ramps (The Music of Melvin Wine)

The King of Ramps (The Music of Melvin Wine)

Ben Townsend

Questionable Records

Rating: ★★★

Old-time fiddler and banjo player Ben Townsend pays homage to a revered master of West Virginia fiddling, Melvin Wine, on...

Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: May/2021

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