Samba Toure Songhai Blues: Homage to Ali Farka Toure (World Music Network/Riverboat Records TUGCD1054, 2009) The words were right there, in smallish print on the…
Don’t Need No Cure For The African Blues
Category: Album reviews
Exploring the Foundations of Rumba and Vallenato
Jesse Cook The Rumba Foundation (Koch Records, 2009) Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook was interested in recording an album that captured the history of rumba. Back…
Sarazino’s Grooves
Sarazino Ya Foy! (Cumbancha, 2009) Ya Foy!, meaning "no problem" in the West African language of Baule, certainly sums up Sarazino’s latest out on the…
Intuitive Slide Guitars
Doug Cox and Salil Bhatt Slide to Freedom 2: Make A Better World (Northern Blues, 2009) Slide to Freedom 2: Make A Better World brings…
Tavares Feels It
Sara Tavares Xinti (World Connection FQT-CD-1818, 2009) After summarizing her career up to that point on last year’s Alive in Lisboa CD/DVD set, Portugal’s Sara…
Hasn’t Skipped a Beat
The Rough Guide to Afrobeat Revolution (World Music Network RGNET 1222CD, 2009) Tony Allen – Secret Agent (World Circuit WCD082, 2009) I’m not a trend…
Walking Along the Cutting Edge
Abbas Premjee Elements (Fire Records, 2008) Elements, released in Pakistan in 2008, is the debut CD of composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Abbas Premjee. Exploring North…
Soul Satisfaction
Otis Redding The Best: See & Hear (Shout Factory, 2009) Shout Factory has released a two-disc set by Otis Redding, one of the influential legends…
Extraordinary Folktronica
Valravn Koder på snor (VME, 2009) Self described as Danish/Faorese folktronic, Koder på snor, the second release by the group Valravn, is a musical fantasy…
A Slice of Spain
Various Artists Putumayo Presents: España (Putumayo, 2009) Putumayo’s most recent release focuses on the music of Spain. The compilation’s producer has chosen to focus on…