A Report from the Rainforest World Music Festival – July 11-13, 2008 It was hard to grasp even as the plane carrying me further and…
Sarawak and Don’t Look Back
Author: Tom Orr
Tom Orr is a California-based writer whose talent and mental stability are of an equally questionable nature. His hobbies include ignoring trends, striking dramatic poses in front of his ever-tolerant wife and watching helplessly as his kids surpass him in all desirable traits.
Old, Gold and Still Bold
The Rough Guide to Calypso Gold (World Music Network RGNET 1213, 2008) I was okay with calypso morphing into soca back in the ‘80s, but…
Good Golly Mali
The Rough Guide to the Music of Mali (World Music Network RGNET 1208, 2008) It’s been said numerous times and hardly bears repeating that Mali…
A Quibble-less Quebec Quickie
Putumayo Presents Quebec (Putumayo PUTU 279, 2008) I visited Quebec several times as a youngster with my Canadian father, and despite my tender years was…
Fine China
Sa Dingding Alive (Wrasse Records WRASS 213, 2007) I’d be the most terrible of liars if I said I possessed anything resembling a comprehensive knowledge…
More Than One Way To Rock
Rachid Taha Rock el Casbah: The Best Of (Wrasse Records WRASS 215, 2007) While there’s not a release by Algerian/French vocalist Rachid Taha that isn’t…
Variations on a Cuban Theme
Yusa Haiku (Tumi Music TUMI 143, 2008) I had to do a bit of memory jogging and digging through my collection when I received this…
In Gods We Trust
The Ipanemas Call of the Gods (Far Out Recordings FARO 127 CD, 2008) Like it or not, a band called the Ipanemas is bound to…
Going Goema
Barry Van Zyl & The Bo Kaap Collective Goema Music From Cape Town, South Africa (ARC Music EUCD 2133, 2008) Woefully uneducated as I am,…
Call It What You Will
Arvel Bird/Will Clipman/Mary Redhouse/William Eaton Ananeah (Singing Wolf Records SWF 90304-2, 2006) I’ve long been keen on Native American-based music that breaks the mold of…