Tag Archives: world music

Gordon Grdina’s The Marrow with Fathieh Honari

Canadian Grdina is a Vancouver-based guitarist, composer, improviser, and master oud player who is incredibly active in improvisational and experimental music of many kinds, most of it based around Middle Eastern and specifically Persian themes. On The Marrow he and … Continue reading

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Slavyanochka Ensemble’s Molodoi Tud Wedding, and Vereya’s Soitua Maa

Here are two recent recordings by women’s vocal ensembles from different regions of Russia. In these reviews I compare them to other Eastern European women’s vocal groups. I offer the comparisons only as an aid for Western listeners. The comparisons … 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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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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Carola Ortiz’s Cantareras

Other than the Galician and Asturian piping music of Carlos Núñez, my first exposure to the non-Spanish language music of Spanish Iberia came with Eliseo Parra’s lively 2002 album Viva Quien Sabe Querer. Even though I have reviewed quite a … Continue reading

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Toc de Crida’s Toc de Crida

Toc de Crida sounds kind of like your favorite Celtic folk rock band just returned from a long holiday in Mallorca. In fact that’s where they’re from, the Spanish island in the warm, sunny Mediterranean. On their debut self-titled album … Continue reading

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Napfonat’s Égből, Fényből

Napfonat is an energetic and enigmatic female a cappella band from Hungary whose debut album, Szól a világ released by Hangvető in May 2021, was shortlisted for the 2022 Fonogram-Award among the five Best Folk and World Music Albums of … Continue reading

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