Tag Archives: world music

Various artists’ Rough Guide to the Asian Underground | Beats, Breaks and Tablas: Cultures Collide

Inigo Jones wrote this review. Featuring some of the best-known names in the Asian Underground – Ananda Shankar, Joi, Asian Dub Foundation – and a number of lesser known acts, Rough Guide’s latest compilation dares to compete with what must … Continue reading

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Sheila Chandra’s Weaving My Ancestors’ Voices, The Zen Kiss, and ABoneCroneDrone

Sheila Chandra is the best and most accomplished singer I’d never heard of. Fortunately, that has been remedied as Real World Records reissues the landmark trilogy of solo vocal albums from the 1990s by this U.K. singer of Indian descent. … Continue reading

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Elina Duni’s A Time To Remember

A new Elina Duni album is always cause for joy, and A Time To Remember is no exception. This time out she follows up her 2020 quartet recording Lost Ships with a varied program of 12 songs ranging from American … Continue reading

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Guillem Ballaz’s Substrat

I would never have seen the cultural or artistic similarities between the Sami of Norway and the people of the Spanish region of Catalonia, but Catalán musician Guillem Ballaz did. And he incorporates a couple of Sami singers including the … Continue reading

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Edward Simon’s Femeninas: Songs of Latin American Women

I first encountered the song “Gracias A La Vida” on the iconic album of the same name by Joan Baez, when one of my university Spanish teachers played it in class. It was my introduction to the sublime joys of … Continue reading

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Childsplay’s The Great Waltz

No’am Newman wrote this review. Childsplay is an occasional ensemble who derive their name from the fact that all the musicians play instruments made by the American violin maker Bob Childs. As the title of the disc suggests, all the … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Festival au Desert: Live From Timbuktu

The Festival in the Desert has been held in the arid northern region of Mali annually since 2001. In January 2012, however, just after that year’s festival, a rebellion in the region began that has since spiralled into civil war, … Continue reading

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Tinariwen’s Amatssou

I’ve been a fan of the music of Tinariwen since their 2004 sophomore release Amassakoul, and although I’ve not followed their every release I’ve always remained aware of them. I’ve reviewed several albums by some of the other bands that … Continue reading

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Glengarry Bhoys’ Mountain Road, Crookshank’s Crookshank, and Various artists’ Cold Blow These Winter Winds

This omnibus, while detailing Celtic releases of an ensemble nature, finds three releases with their own individual approach, style and sound. The result is a mix of solid Celtic rock, experimental Celtic and medieval cum renaissance strains, and a novel … Continue reading

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Scree’s Jasmine on a Night in July

Jasmine on a Night in July is the debut studio full-length from the trio that calls itself Scree. They’re led by Arab-American guitarist Ryan El-Solh in creation of a unique melding of American exotica, minimalist jazz and El-Solh’s Lebanese and Palestinian … Continue reading

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