Baaba Maal On the Road – Edition "Bootleg" Live Acoustic (Palm Pictures, 2008) There is a whole array of simply wonderful African singers out there…
Baaba Maal Unplugged
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena's Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena's Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
Not My Song
Given half a chance most musicians out there in the big, wide musical nebula would give their right arm to have one of their songs…
A Woman of Substance
Lila Downs Shake Away (Manhattan Records/EMI, 2008) It’s clear from the opening track of Shake Away that Lila Downs is no shy, polite songbird. This…
Contemporary Nunavut Winds
Tanya Tagaq Auk/Blood (Ipecac Records, 2008) After the 2005 release of her first debut CD Sinaa, Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq continues to dazzle audiences…
Magically Mesmerizing World Fusion
Mawwal This Is All There Is There Is No Other Place (Ancient Records, 2008) Following up on their debut CD entitled Black Flies, Mawwal is…
Influential Greenwich Folk Musician/Composer Artie Traum Dies at 65
Guitarist, composer, arranger and producer Artie Traum died on Sunday, July 20, 2008 after a battle with cancer. Mr. Traum passed away at his home…
A Breath of Fresh Mongolian Grasslands
Hanggai – Introducing Hanggai (World Music Network, 2008) I’m always elated to hear a group of musicians rediscovering a lost or faded musical tradition, and…
Issa’s Musical Charms
Issa Bagayogo Mali Koura (Six Degrees, 2008) Fans who have been sadly staring into space awaiting Malian singer and n’goni player Issa Bagayogo‘s his next…
The Best of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys – Best of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys (Rounder Records, 2008) The double CD set of Best of…
Rich History of the Beginnings of the Tango
Tango Voices Songs from the Soul of Buenos Aires and Beyond Compiled and Edited by Donald Cohen Wise Publications New Yorker attorney, history and music…