Category Archives: Music

Nils Økland Band’s Gjenskinn

The advance for Gjenskinn arrived on a Friday in mid-February and I spent most of the weekend listening to it on repeat. It’s music that perfectly complements things like taking a rainy walk on a cold February day. This is … Continue reading

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Haas Kowert Tice’s You Got This

I got an earful of what a great fiddler Brittany Haas has become at the 2013 Celtic Colours festival in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She played several sets of innovative fusion music with her sister, cellist Natalie Haas, fiddler … Continue reading

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Väsen and Hawktail in concert

OK, so I haven’t been paying close attention, but I signed on to go see Väsen and Hawktail on a damp February night in Oregon. Because I’ll pretty much always go see the contemporary Swedish roots musicians of Väsen when … Continue reading

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Hajda Banda’s Hajda!

Hajda!, the debut album by Hajda Banda (Гайда Банда) is a captivating journey into the rich musical traditions of the Podlasie region in eastern Poland, the western parts of Belarus, and Polesye on the Polish-Ukrainian-Belarusian border. The album showcases the … Continue reading

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Liv Andrea Hauge Trio’s Ville Blomster

This trio’s first studio album opens with what could be a classical solo piano piece, a lilting parlor waltz with a hint of jazz in a couple of blue chords. But over its five minutes it slowly opens up into … Continue reading

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Tutupatu’s IV

The debut album from Madrid-based Tutupatu is a blend of psychedelic krautrock, ambient synthesizer music, free jazz, and experimental noise. I’ve never really listened to krautrock before, and I’m still not sure it’s my thing, but the three out of … Continue reading

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Russian World Music Chart: The best folk albums in Russia in 2023

The Russian World Music Chart launched in the fall of 2021 with the aim of attracting the attention of the world music community to the latest Russian folk music. An international jury of music writers, world music broadcasters, bloggers and … Continue reading

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Commentary: A Q&A with Daryana Antipova and Tatiana Naryshkina of Russian World Music Chart

I first became aware of Daryana Antipova and Tatiana Naryshkina in 2020 when the German label CPL Music pitched their compilation album Folk & Great Tunes From Russia, containing a couple of tracks by the Siberian traditional folk ensemble Vedan … Continue reading

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Hysterrae’s Hysterrae

This debut self-titled album by Hysterrae is a captivating and innovative exploration of world music, blending the traditional with the contemporary. The collaborative effort of four acclaimed Italian and Iranian world music artists from different ethnic and musical backgrounds, along … Continue reading

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Marthe Lea Band’s Herlighetens Vei

Stretching jazz in different directions is a common goal of the members of the Marthe Lea Band, and this Norway-based quintet certainly does just that on its sophomore date Herlighetens Vei. With sounds and influences as wide-ranging as Ugandan and … Continue reading

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