Album reviews | World Music Central

Don Arbor - Hope is Hard To Kill covr artwork. Don standing by a wall, holding his guitar.

Album reviews

Don Arbor’s ‘Hope Is Hard To Kill’ Enlists Stef Burns And Mads Tolling

Ryan Emmert November 11, 2025 No Comments Don Arbor

Don Arbor – Hope is Hard To Kill (self-release, 2025) San Francisco Bay Area singer-songwriter Don Arbor will release Hope Is Hard To Kill on…

The Yenbett album cover by Noura Mint Seymali features a red background with a black-and-white photo of Seymali at center, performing and holding her ardin. The image is framed in a decorative, arch-shaped border. The album title appears in Arabic at the top, with Seymali’s name in Arabic script below.

Album reviews

Desert Grooves and Electrifying Energy : Noura Mint Seymali’s Yenbett

Noura Mint Seymali – Yenbett (Glitterbeat Records, 2025) Visionary Mauritanian vocalist and ardin player Noura Mint Seymali returns with Yenbett. The album opens with two…

The album cover for Be The Sky by Philip Glass and Tenzin Choegyal combines traditional Tibetan artistic motifs with modern geometric designs. Centered within a mandala-like structure, a Tibetan lute (dranyen) rests at the heart of a maze of interlocking shapes. Surrounding the central design, swirling clouds and stylized waves. The palette includes blues, golds, reds, and greens. On the left, bold vertical text presents the album title and artists’ names, accompanied by Tibetan script. The upper panels feature close-up sections of the main artwork, including a golden handprint and intricate symbolic patterns.

Album reviews

Tenzin Choegyal Unveils Be The Sky: a Call Toward Renewal, Courage, and Harmony

Tyler Bennet November 8, 2025 No Comments Dalai Lama Philip Glass Tenzin Choegyal Tibetan music world fusion world music

Tenzin Choegyal – Be The Sky (2025) Tibetan-Australian artist Tenzin Choegyal is set to release his new album Be The Sky (ནམ་མཁའ་རང་གི་ངང་དུ་ཞོག།) in Australia on…

Various Artists Made in Aktobe Romani, German and Korean Songs from Kazakhstan cover artwork. A collage of 3 photos featuring the three sets of artists.

Album reviews

Aqtöbe And Stirred: Diaspora Songs With Local Gravity

Tyler Bennet November 6, 2025 No Comments German music Gypsy music Korean music world music

Various Artists – Made in Aktobe: Romani, German and Korean Songs from Kazakhstan (Antonovka Records, 2025) Antonovka Records’ 2025 release Made In Aktobe: Romani, German…

Album reviews

Sevdah With a Twist: Igor Božanić Turns Up the ‘Žega’

JGurski November 5, 2025 No Comments Igor Božanić sevdah world music

Igor Božanić – Žega (POP Depression, 2025) With Žega, singer-songwriter Igor Božanić introduces an innovative musical vision he calls sevdah noir, a fictional landscape where…

Various Artists - Musique Inuit – Inuit Music cover artwork. A photo of 3 Inuit men.

Album reviews

Ocora Readies ‘Musique Inuit’—Jean Malaurie’s Arctic Field Recordings

Angel Romero November 3, 2025 No Comments Inuit music world music

Various Artists – Musique Inuit – Inuit Music (Ocora, 2025) Ocora Radio France released Musique Inuit – Inuit Music – From Thule to the Bering…

The Kasambwe Brothers – The Kasambwe Brothers cover artwork.A phot of the three musicians with their musical instruments.

Album reviews

Malawi’s The Kasambwe Brothers Claim Their Moment

Angel Romero November 2, 2025 No Comments Malawi Malawian music The Kasambwe Brothers world music

The Kasambwe Brothers – The Kasambwe Brothers (MASS MoCA Records, 2025) A kick drum stitched from bottle tops, a babatone that functions like a well-worn…

The cover of Album n°1 by Les Abranis features a monochromatic landscape framed by two rows of stone columns stretching into the distance. Broken chains lie scattered across the ground, with a human figure collapsed in the foreground. Above, a large black eagle spreads its wings over the band’s name.

Album reviews

Les Abranis’ Coveted 1983 ‘Album No. 1’ Returns

Madison Quinn October 29, 2025 No Comments Algerian music Kabyl Les Abranis world music

Les Abranis – Album No. 1 (WeWantSounds, 2025) WeWantSounds has reissued Les Abranis’ sought-after 1983 LP Album No. 1, also known as Id Ed Was,…

L. Shankar, Vikku Vinayakram, V. Selvaganesh and S. Swaminathan - Over The Stars cover artwork. a collage of photos of the four artists.

Album reviews

Shakti Veterans L. Shankar & Vikku Vinayakram Reunite On Over The Stars

Angel Romero October 28, 2025 No Comments Indian classical music Indian music L. Shankar S. Swaminathan V. Selvaganesh Vikku Vinayakram world fusion world music

L. Shankar, Vikku Vinayakram, V. Selvaganesh and S. Swaminathan – Over The Stars (XDot 25 Music, 2024). L. Shankar and Vikku Vinayakram, two original members…

The album cover for Âmes des Bois by La Déferlance features a mirrored landscape divided by a reflective body of water. Across the center, white silhouettes of people holding instruments and dancing move in a line, their reflections inverted below. The background combines soft coral, teal, and indigo hues, with crescent moons in opposite corners and a forested silhouette framing the scene.

Album reviews

Echoes of the Woods: La Déferlance Intertwines Quebec’s Past and Present in Song

Angel Romero October 26, 2025 1 Comment Canadian music La Déferlance Quebecois music world music

La Déferlance – Âmes des bois (Club MID, 2025) La Déferlance continues to shine on Âmes des bois (Souls of the Woods), an excellent album…