Italian band Riserva Moac plays lively music with a party atmosphere, incorporating Balkan brass, Gypsy music, Mediterranean sounds, toe tapping dance beats, ska and…
Babilonia Party
Category: Album reviews
Dramatically Elegant Viena
Varttina – Viena (Westpark Music, 2016) Thirty years in the making, the Finnish folk group Varttina started out as a children’s music project in the…
Exhilarating and Captivating Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale – Up (Six Degrees Records, 2016) Six Degrees Records’s release of Karsh Kale’s Up is a bit like being shoved off a cliff…
Breton Energy
Startijenn – “Skeud” (Paker, 2015) “Skeud” (shadow, reflection) is the fifth album by one of the best-known bands from Brittany. The group combines traditional dances…
Baraka Honors Nargis Bandishoyeva
Baraka – Tribute to Nargis (Sketis Music SKMR-099, 2013) Ethno-jazz band Baraka dedicates this album to Pamir singer Nargis Bandishoyeva. During the Soviet era, Nargis…
Delightfully Incandescent Divanhana
Divanhana – Zukva (ARC Music, 2016) As a 2012 participant in the 12 Points Jazz Festival in Porto, Portugal and at the World Music Expo…
Bulgarian Folktronics
Oratnitza – Folktron (Fusion Embassy, 2015) Oratnitza delivers a contemporary acoustic music vision of Bulgarian traditional music. On Folktron the band performs original pieces that…
The Healing Power of Music
Manish Vyas – Atma Bhakti – Healing Sounds of Prayer (New Earth Records, 2015) Let me say at the outset you not only want Manish…
Roma Brass Meets Klezmer
Cocek! Brass Band is a 5-piece brass band led by composer, vocalist and trumpeter Sam Dechenne. The group plays original music inspired by Balkan Gypsy…
Senegal Got the Blues
The West African Blues Project brings together Senegalese vocalist and percussionist Modou Toure (son of Toure Kunda singer Ousmane Toure) and British blues guitarist Ramon…