Tag Archives: world music

Various artists’ Rough Guide to the Cuban Music Story

Q. Does the world really need yet another “various artists” collection of Cuban music? A. If it’s as good as this one, yes. I didn’t expect to like this, one of dozens of similar CDs to hit the market since … Continue reading

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Cosmic Voices of Bulgaria’s Mechmetio

A women’s Bulgarian choral group was one of the major phenomena of world music in the 1990s. Cosmic Voices of Bulgaria is a similar group, with a fresh recording of lively and varied choral music as it’s only made in … Continue reading

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Abdouli Diakite and Mamadou Sidibe’s Jebebara: The Bamana Djembe; and various artists’ Tambacounda Senegal: Live Sogoni

Big Earl Sellar wrote this review. It’s always an embarrassing enterprise for me, reviewing audio discs. I mean, how does one convey in words the music of an artist? Or, in the case of these two, how do I write … Continue reading

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Beyond the Pale’s Routes

Beyond the Pale, formed in 1998 in Toronto, is a young quintet making lively klezmer-based music. The fact that they’ve played more than 200 gigs in their three years together has paid off in a top-notch debut recording. Routes is … Continue reading

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Maria Kalaniemi & Sven Ahlbäck’s Ilmajousi / Luftstråk

Two musical innovators, Finnish accordionist Maria Kalaniemi and Swedish fiddler Sven Ahlbäck, have pooled their considerable talents to produce a recording of subtle delights. The 36-year-old Kalaniemi, who has top billing here, has rapidly risen to the top ranks of … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Rough Guide to Samba and Rough Guide to Merengue & Bachata

I have yet to encounter a Rough Guide collection that is less than excellent in terms of selection, production and presentation, and these two new CDs maintain the series’ tradition of quality music. Rough Guide to Samba Samba is subtitled … Continue reading

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Ardavan Kamkar’s Over the Wind

Ardavan Kamkar is a member of a large Iranian Kurdish musical family. In his early 30s, he has risen to prominence as a soloist on the santur, a Persian hammer dulcimer. Over the Wind, recorded in 1998 in Teheran, is … Continue reading

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Takashi Hirayasu & Bob Brozman’s Nankuru Naisa

Since Jin Jin, the previous project by Hirayasu and Brozman, was one of my favorite recordings of 2000, it was difficult to not approach their second release with too-high expectations. Jin Jin had a fresh, spontaneous and utterly charming aura … Continue reading

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Cándido Fabré y su Banda’s La Habana Quiere Guarachar Contigo and Jóvenes Clasicos del Son’s Fruta Bomba

It’s not just veterans and pensioners like the Buena Vista Social Club and Los Jubilados who are making excellent Cuban music these days, as these two recordings from Tumi Music attest. Cándido Fabré is widely recognized from Latin America to … Continue reading

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Bag o’ Cats’ Out of the Bag

Out of the Bag is a mixed bag of loosely Celtic-based instrumental World music. This Scottish quintet blends a number of disparate musical elements into an effective musical melange. Elements in the mix include Indian strings and percussion, Scottish pipes, … Continue reading

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