Reviews
Diyarbekiri Hokin: Armenian Songs from Dikranagerd
There have been a number of interesting releases to mark the centenary of the Armenian genocide in 2015. There was...
Reviewed in issue March/2016
If He Dies, If If If If If If
Not so much a group as a multi-media project, Jerusalem in My Heart consist of Lebanon-born Radwan Ghazi Moumneh and...
Reviewed in issue March/2016
Nostalgique Egypte
This is a charming glimpse into a vanished era of Egyptian music. The 30 years following the Cairo Conference of...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Komitas
The Gurdjieff Ensemble & Levon Eskenian
Komitas (1869-1935) will always remain one of music history's most tantalising mysteries. Born Soghomon Soghomonian in a Turkish village and...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Our Earth and Water
Georgian polyphony is one of the great vocal traditions of the world. Complex harmonies, laced with dissonance, clash and resolve...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2016
Burda: Contemporary Arabic Maqam Suite
This album showcases the remarkable talents of Egyptian-born oud player and singer Mustafa Said and his youthful Beirut-based collective, the...
Reviewed in issue December/2015
Kerwanê
Kardeş Türküler celebrate their 21st anniversary with this ‘Best Of’ compilation. They have become such a feature of the musical...
Reviewed in issue December/2015
The Rough Guide to the Best Arabic Music You’ve Never Heard
Compared to many other regions, the amount of Middle Eastern music released in the West is very small. And most...
Reviewed in issue December/2015
The Best of Soapkills
In 2009 I spent a week in Beirut lecturing on music journalism and asked each of my students to bring...
Reviewed in issue Aug/Sep/2015
Forty Martyrs: Armenian Chants From Aleppo
Last year Jason Hamacher, a punk drummer from Washington DC, released NAWA: Ancient Sufi Invocations & Forgotten Songs from Aleppo,...
Reviewed in issue Aug/Sep/2015
