Reviews
Madjafalao
Le Tout-Puissant Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
One of the great West African big bands of the 1970s, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo were Benin’s answer to Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Recados de Fora
Angolan singer Bonga made his first album in 1972. Now, at the age of 74, his 30th album is yet...
Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Bird's Nest
Their 2012 debut Waterbound and self-titled second album from two years later were both judged ‘Instrumental Album of the Year’...
Reviewed by Kevin Bourke in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Lam Phloen Grade A Guy
Composer, producer and savvy businessman Doi Inthanon (named after Thailand's tallest mountain) has created a huge catalogue of songs and...
Reviewed by John Clewley in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
¡Vamos a Guarachar!
David Byrne injected irony into cumbia. Argentina's shanty-town bands injected sleaze and spunk. Now, Tucson's Orkesta Mendoza have taken Latin...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Stop the Parade
Sophie Solomon stages a tableau of Russian melodrama and sorrow for her welcome return to the studio after seven years....
Reviewed by Tommie Black-Roff in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
The Seas Between Us
Growing up in Perthshire, Sophie Ramsay was immersed in the traditional songs and music of Scotland. Her latest album, consisting...
Reviewed by Billy Rough in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Lodestar
In 1959 Shirley Collins collected songs with Alan Lomax in the US. But she loved the songs of the English...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
Bobo Yéyé: Belle Epoque in Upper Volta
Archive releases don’t come better than this: 37 tracks chronicling the little-known Burkina Faso scene in the 1970s. Long overshadowed...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
The Calais Sessions
Various Artists, Featuring the Musicians of the Calais ‘Jungle’
One weekend in September 2015, a group of international musicians based in the UK visited the now-demolished refugee and migrant...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Jan/Feb/2017
