Saha Gnawa – Saha Gnawa (Pique-Nique Recordings, 2025) Saha Gnawa is a Brooklyn-based ensemble that combines transfixing Moroccan Gnawa music with jazz, from New York’s…
Saha Gnawa Channels Spellbinding Gnawa Roots Into Future Sound
Category: Album reviews
Yimenga, Solo Debut by Solo Diarra
Solo Diarra – Yimenga (Global Sonics GS06125, 2025) Yimenga is the debut solo album of Burkinan multi-instrumentalist Solo Diarra. Yimenga means “Be Yourself” in Bambara.…
Desert Dreaming: Warlpiri Wisdom Meets Minimal Electronica
Crown and Country – Crown and Country (ABC Music and Akuphone, 2025) Crown and Country is an ambitious audiovisual project that fuses ancestral Warlpiri ceremony with…
I’m Just Mad About Zafarán
Zafarán – Zafarán (self-release, 2025) It doesn’t take long. Bjorn Wennas’ softly pensive guitar is joined by the heart-drenched vocals of Carmen Marsico. Dan Meyers’…
Clave Encounters: Joaquín Núñez Charts Cuba’s Rhythmic Lineage
Joaquin Núñez & Habana Safari – Ruta De La Clave (Lulaworld Records LWR051A, 2025) Irresistible Cuban rhythms meet contemporary jazz on Ruta De La Clave…
Kora Across Borders: Althea SullyCole Charts a Transatlantic Path on ‘Due West’
Althea SullyCole – Due West (self-release, 2025) Althea SullyCole’s album Due West distills fourteen years of kora study into a transcontinental journey through African diasporic…
Cafuné Spins Italian Folklore Into Folk-Rock Fantasy
Cafuné – Tra Le Corde Dei Racconti (M.P. & Records, 2025) Named after the Portuguese word cafuné, a gesture of affection involving fingers combing through…
European Harp Meets Kora on Lovely Tamoo
Sidsel Walstad and Ibou Cissokho – Tamoo (Global Sonics, 2025) Norwegian harp player Sidsel Walstad and Senegalese kora player and vocalist Ibou Cissokho forge a…
Tango in Black and White: A Polyphonic Tribute to Cáceres
Le Collectif Tango Negro Ensemble – Tribute to Juan Carlos Cáceres (Felmay Records, 2025) Le Collectif Tango Negro Ensemble honors the legacy of Juan Carlos…
Mulatu Plays Mulatu’s Ethio-jazz Brings Us Together
Mulatu Astatke — Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut Records, 2025) Mulatu Plays Mulatu is Mulatu Astatke’s first major studio album in more than a decade. Furthermore,…