Tag Archives: world music

Vimma’s Tornadon Silmässä

A listener, especially one who doesn’t speak Finnish, could be excused for mistaking the music on Vimma’s Tornadon Silmässä for standard World music folk pop. The pretty voice of Eeva Rajakangas and the catchy, often lilting melodies of main composer … Continue reading

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Rabor’s Beyond The Outskirts

Rabor is a Moscow-based ensemble that currently makes ambient folk music based on old Russian folk ritual music. I say currently because until fairly recently they were part of the dungeon synth music scene, of which I knew absolutely nothing … Continue reading

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Shono’s Kolkhozoy Traktor

In this globalized world is there anything as common as a band that blends the traditional folk songs of its culture with modern rock? Or as wonderful when it’s done right, which is what Shono does. Shono, which means Wolf, … Continue reading

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Mohammad Motamedi & Rembrandt Trio’s Intizar: Songs of Longing

As soon as I started listening to “Intizar,” the first and title track on this beautiful album by the Rembrandt Trio and the Iranian classical singer Mohammad Motamedi, I thought I was hearing a santur, the Iranian hammer dulcimer. Then … Continue reading

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Shebeen’s The Pebbled Shore

Pat Simmonds wrote this review. Shebeen is based around the piping of Robbie Byrne who, according to his Web site, is an ex-Scots Guard Highland Piper and folk musician. The CD arrived with an accompanying note but no cover and … Continue reading

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Sharon Shannon’s Out the Gap, and Spellbound: the Best of Sharon Shannon

Ever wonder where the other Waterboys got to after Mike Scott left for New York? Did you suspect that the wonderful arrangements on their Fisherman’s Blues and Room to Roam owed a lot to the contributions of ensemble members – … Continue reading

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Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi’s The Wolf and the Lamb

Klezmer music has a long and fascinating history, and it’s continuing to add to that history as a living art form. The violinist, composer and ethnographer Yale Strom has been one of its leading proponents, with his band Hot Pstromi, … Continue reading

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Skatalites’ From Paris With Love

Big Earl Sellar wrote this review. As soon as the snow melts around these parts, out come the ska discs in my house. Actually, most of the year there’s some ska lurking in the background, but Spring puts me in … Continue reading

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Magalí Sare & Manel Fortià’s ReTornar

Two Catalonian jazz/folk musicians take us on a tour of the Iberian peninsula, with an excursion or two into Latin America, in their boundary-ignoring second album together ReTornar. Magalí Sare has an immensely supple and emotive vocal instrument, and she … Continue reading

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Flying Tomatoes’ Rags to Racenicas, Atomic City Rhythm Rascals’ Atomic City Rhythm Rascals, Birol Topaloglu’s Aravani, Mukka’s Skip Lizard, Pinewoods Band’s South by Southeast, and Stömp’s Machine Without Horses

One cannot live by English and Celtic music alone, so there needs to be music outside those traditions that’s interesting too. For me, that music is that of the Central European region. And what I like best is the dance … Continue reading

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