Category Archives: Music

Various Artists’ Women of Rembetica

Brendan Foreman penned this review. Rembetica, the music of the Greek underground, has often been referred to as the “Greek blues.” With its sensual sounds and often unconventional, if not subversive, subject matters, including class struggle, forbidden love and drug use, … Continue reading

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Llan de Cubel’s IV   

Brendan Foreman wrote this review. As the popularity of the music of Ireland and Scotland increases, there has been a renewed interest in similar traditional musics of Europe, particularly those areas which can be conceived as “Celtic” in any way. One … Continue reading

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Kepa Junkera’s Bilbao 00:00h

Brendan Foreman penned this review. Throughout their history, the Basque people have steadfastly remained a vocal and major cultural force of the Iberian peninsula, despite centuries of abuse under Spanish rule. And, unfortunately, it seems that this abuse — like that … Continue reading

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Hugh Shields’ Tunes of the Munster Pipers: Irish Traditional Music from the James Goodman Manuscripts 

It isn’t often that a new book of tunes comes along that could successfully change the whole way we look at Irish music, but this book has that potential. Over 500 tunes are compiled in it, as recorded by James … Continue reading

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Inti-Illimani’s Amar de Nuevo 

Brendan Foreman penned this review. Since the Sixties, when the original members met as students in Chile’s Santiago Technical University, Inti-Illimani (pronounced “intee-E-gee-mane”) has been one of the most widely known Chilean bands across the world. Throughout their long and fruitful … Continue reading

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Inti-Illimani’s The Best of Inti-Illimani

Brendan Foreman penned this review. As I noted in my review of their fantastic 1999 release, Amar de Nuevo, Inti-Illimani is a veteran Chilean musical group who has managed to weather the severities of Chile’s politics since the late 1960s (being more … Continue reading

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 Beginish’s Beginish

Naomi de Bruyn penned this review. Beginish is a potent Irish traditional group which was born from four musicians who are successful in their own right, and have a long history of collaborating with one another. This history of collaboration is … Continue reading

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Kalman Balogh and the Gypsy Cimbalom Band’s Gypsy Jazz

Brendan Foreman penned this review. As played by this fine ensemble, gypsy jazz is an high-spirited, infectious conglomeration of swing, klezmer and assorted Eastern European traditional musics with ample room for jazzy soloing and even the odd scat here and there. … Continue reading

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Athenians’ Greek Songs, Dances and Rembetiko 

Brendan Foreman wrote this review. This CD is one of the latest in Rounder’s economy label, EasyDisc.Consisting of several excellent examples of Greek traditional music sampled from several previous Arc recordings, it features the vastly proficient playing of The Athenians. This … Continue reading

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Allen Lowe’s American Pop from Minstrel to Mojo: On Record 1893 to 1957

Brendan Foreman penned this review. Reading Allen Lowe’s book American Pop from Minstrel to Mojo: On Record 1893 to 1957, I found myself agreeing with the late Tupac Shakur’s vision of the afterlife. Heaven would simply be a large night club filled … Continue reading

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