Various Artists Acoustic Brazil (Putumayo PUT 234-2, 2005) Putumayo’s 1999 release Brasileiro was also mostly acoustic though more upbeat, and the label has presented other…
Brazil Plugged Out
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.
The Who and What of Rachid Taha
Rachid Taha Tekitoi (Wrasse Records WRASS 126X, 2004) The title of Rachid Taha’s latest album translates as “Who Are You?”, though “what are you?” might…
African Beat, Amerind Soul, Indomitable Spirit
Various Artists Garifuna Music – Field Recordings From Belize (ARC Music EUCD 1913, 2005) The music on this disc, raw and fiercely non-commercial though it…
They Were Some Very Good Years
Bembeya Jazz National The Syliphone Years (Stern’s Africa STCD 3021-22, 2004) The West African nation of Guinea pretty much had to start from scratch after…
Reggae’s Poetry Man Releases Concert DVD
With his suit, spectacles and fedora, Linton Kwesi Johnson looks more like a dapper West Indian sleuth than one of the most renowned figures in…
Get Yer Fra Fra’s Out
Fra Fra Sound Kulembanban (Munich Records BV BMCD 443, 2004) Recording a tribute to a long-deceased man considered the father of Afro-Surinamese music isn’t likely…
Central Asian Persuasion
Various Artists The Rough Guide to the Music of Central Asia (World Music Network RGNET 1129 CD, 2005) The countries represented on this CD- Kazakhstan,…
Keeping the Peace
R. Carlos Nakai Quartet People of Peace (Canyon Records CR-7069, 2004) R. Carlos Nakai, Native American flute master, is one busy guy. He’s put out…
Welcome to the Family
Boubacar Diebate My Family (Boubacar Diebate [no number], 2004) It’s got to be tough enough to be a Senegalese kora player and singer based in…
Healing Water
Marta Gómez Cantos De Agua Dulce: Songs of the Sweet Water (Chesky Records JD281, 2004) I heard one of this disc’s songs on a global…