Category Archives: Music

Dave Evans’s The Words In Between

No’am Newman wrote this review. The year 1971 found me as a dewy-eyed teenager sitting agog at the Bristol Troubadour. I had just discovered that my adopted home city had a strong “folk scene,” and that good music was always … Continue reading

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Kristi Stassinopoulou’s Echotropia, and Ziroq’s Ziroq

Judith Gennett wrote this review. Mix Värttinä, Ofra Haza, and Manu Chao in a bucket and set it on an Athens street and what do you get? Kristi Stassinopoulou’s Echotropia. Released in Europe in 1999, it has gotten almost unanimously … Continue reading

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De Amsterdam Klezmer Band’s Limonchiki

Judith Gennett wrote this review. Looking for a spicy klezmer band? From Holland, De Amsterdam Klezmer Band might be the band for you. Assigned to Knitting Factory’s alternative sub-label, their music is at times so spiced up with Eastern European … Continue reading

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Romashka’s Romashka

In a little over a year, Romashka have built a reputation as one of the most exciting and energetic bands in New York City’s world music scene. Before converging on Brooklyn, the band’s eight members cut their musical teeth in … Continue reading

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Adam Good’s Dances Of Macedonia and the Balkans

Judith Gennett wrote this review. Adam Good is a Berklee-educated tambura player living in New York City. “Dedicated entirely to the Macedonian Izvorno style,” Dances of Macedonia and the Balkans is just that: a CD spotlighting Balkan dance tunes. Good … Continue reading

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Anouar Brahem’s After The Last Sky

Each of Anouar Brahem’s albums, going back more than 30 years now, has a different feel, a different vibe. Although the Tunisian oud master and composer’s music is centered on Arabic folk music and classical maqams, since the early 1990s … Continue reading

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La Baula’s Cançons a l’Ombra

The new Catalonian roots music ensemble La Baula’s debut album Cançons a l’ombra (Songs in the Shadow) is a listener friendly collection of traditional songs collected from various sources. La Baula is a big group. Members include Roger Andorrà, Pau … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Folk and Great Tunes from Belarus

Here is yet another outstanding release in CPL-Music’s Folk and Great Tunes series. This one brings us a variety of contemporary folk music from Belarus, which is, sad to say, one of those former Soviet republics that most of us … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Nouse Luonto: Lauluja Monimuotoisuudestat

“The birds gifted us their song thousands of years ago. Now it is our responsibility to ensure the vitality of their song.” Those words from Heikki Laitinen, a musician, researcher, and emeritus professor of folk music, state the theme of … Continue reading

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Mathias Eick Quartet’s Lullaby

Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick has played on some of my favorite ECM titles of recent years, particularly Sinikka Langeland’s spine-tingling Wind And Sun and Manu Katché’s Playground, and he has quite an extensive discography as a leader as well as … Continue reading

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