Roque Montoya ‘Jarrito’ – Grands Cantaores du Flamenco, vol. 26 (Le Chant du Monde 2742389, 2016) The flamenco series Grands Cantaores du Flamenco focuses on…
Jarrito, a Master of Flamenco Styles
Category: Album reviews
Reflection of Élage Diouf’s Musical Journey
Élage Diouf – Melokáane (Pump Up The World, 2015) Quebec-based Senegalese singer-songwriter and percussionist Élage Diouf incorporates various musical traditions in his latest album titled…
Timeless Cross-cultural Qawwals
Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood and the Rajasthan Express – Junun (Nonesuch, 2015) Junun is a spectacular two-disc album that brings together Indian musical traditions,…
Yiddish Musical Journey
The influence of Yiddish and klezmer on modern, Western popular music is tremendous. Listeners have osmosed it for many decades, in music halls, theaters, the…
Wholehearted Songs of Solidarity
Ferhat Tunc – “Kobani” (KKV, 2016) Kurdish-Turkish singer-songwriter Ferhat Tunç dedicates his new album to Kobani, the northern Syrian city that was devastated by ISIS…
Twangy Feel-Good Hooks
Finnish trio Southpaw Steel’n’Twang delivers another superb set of musical pieces inspired by American roots music. The signature sound of the band is based on…
A Musical Voyage with Clear Charts and Beautiful Destinations
It is remarkable that an anthology can be as homogeneous as this. The nine acts represented hereon seem to see eye-to-eye on the foundational aspects…
Musical Eye-Opener to Refugee Crisis
Various Artists – The Long Road (British Red Cross, 2016) With proceeds going to the British Red Cross UK Refugee Support Service and with help…
Cuban Musical Roots Propelled Into the Future
Gilles Peterson’s Havana Cultura Band – Havana Club Rumba Sessions (Brownswood Records, 2016) The British DJ, record label owner and producer Gilles Peterson is mastermind…
Buoyant Afrika Mamas
Sub-Saharan African vocal harmony CDs are like cats; it’s hard to find an ugly one. That does not mean that some are not better than…