Nana Simopoulos – Skins (Na Records NR-9206-2, 2016) Nana Simopoulos is a talented American multi-instrumentalist and composer who bridges the borders between world music and…
Nana Simopoulos’ Pathway to World Jazz
Category: Album reviews
Klezmer Americana
Yom – Songs for the Old Man (Buda Musique, 2016) French Klezmer clarinetist and composer Yom dedicates Songs for the Old Man to his father.…
Explosive Fertility of Haiti’s Musical Legacy
Various Artists – Tanbou Toujou Lou: Meringue, Kompa Kreyou, Vodou Jazz & Electric Folklore from Haiti (1960-1981) (Ostinato Records, 2016) Occasionally some crank will go…
The Heart Speaks In Songs
Corinne Bailey Rae’s new album The Heart Speaks In Whispers belongs to a crop of what we may call artistry devoid of “collective era”; it…
Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate’s Pleasurable Ride
Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate – Monistic Theory (Cumbancha, 2016) It struck me at the time of their first recording Faya (2014) that you couldn’t…
Blazing a New Path for Mali’s Musical Landscape
Oumar Konate – Maya Maya (Clermont Music, 2016) Following up on his 2014 release of Addoh, Malian guitarist and vocalist Oumar Konate has hit the…
Savagely Hip M.A.K.U. Soundsystem
M.A.K.U. Soundsystem – Mezcla (Glitterbeat Records, 2016) Done your stretches? Done your deep breathing exercises? Well, you’re going to need them when you get an…
Mayotte Afro-Rock
M’Toro Chamou – “Punk islands” (2016) Singer-songwriter, guitarist and composer M’Toro Chamou hails from Mayotte, an island located in the Indian Ocean near Comoros which…
Masters of Magyar Folk
Buda Folk Band – Saját gyujtés (Fono, 2015) Buda Folk Band demonstrates that it’s one of the finest Hungarian contemporary folk music bands. The string…
Transnational Recreations of Gloomy Sunday Song
Various Artists – Hungarian Noir – A Tribute to the Gloomy Sunday (Piranha, 2016) Odd submissions are just part and parcel to music reviewer, but…