Reviews
I Will Not Stand Alone
Kayhan Kalhor & Ali Bahrami Fard
Iranian kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor is one of the world's most sublime musicians. If he's not a better-known name, it's...
Reviewed in issue March/2012
A Window to Color
Mamak Khadem has been woefully neglected by UK world music promoters and producers. She started her performing career as lead...
Reviewed in issue March/2012
Turkey: The Ceremony of the Konya Dervishes
Konya Whirling Dervishes Ensemble
The ritual of the so-called whirling dervishes is the best-known Sufi ceremony in Turkey. During the sema, the dervishes, dressed...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2012
Meçhul: Singles & Rarities
Comparisons with Fats Domino or Elvis Presley don’t really do justice to the impact of Erkin Koray on Turkish music....
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2012
Golden Beirut: New Sounds From Lebanon
Two years ago, I spent a week in Beirut lecturing to journal¬ism students. In the evenings, after classes were done,...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2012
Maqaam d’Amour
Aïcha Redouane, originally of Moroccan descent, has become a house¬hold name in the performance of music from the eastern part...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2012
Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts
Once in a while, an artist from the outside punches a dirty great hole through the usually impenetrable wall of...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2012
The Rough Guide to Sufi Music
Six years ago, I attended the grandly titled World Performing Arts Festival in the Pakistani city of Lahore, and was...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2011
Romeo & Leila
After the success of her critically acclaimed album of last year, Ghalia Benali Sings Oum Kalthoum, her 2006 album Romeo...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2011
Music of Georges I Gurdjieff
The Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble
This is a fabulous collection of Armenian and Middle Eastern folk music with a fascinating story behind it. The tunes...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2011
