Category Archives: Music

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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Various artists’ Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra Records 1963-1973

Roots music, particularly blues, folk and even bluegrass, were the basis of huge chunks of ’60s rock and other popular music. Nowhere is that more evident than in this superb new Rhino collection of music from Elektra. Subtitled The Golden … Continue reading

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