Zanzibara 1 – Ikhwani Safaa Musical Club: A Hundred Years of Taarab in Zanzibar (Buda Musique 860118, 2005) Zanzibara 2 – Various Artists: Golden Years…
Taarab of Ages
Category: Album reviews
Brazil Chill Thrill
Various Artists Brazilian Lounge(Putumayo PUTU 247, 2006) This collection might be seen as the flip side of Putumayo’s Acoustic Brazil from last year, continuing a…
More Cuban Music Despite the Embargo
The amount of Cuban music releases has decreased considerably in the United States, especially after the hardliners in the White House tightened the embargo. However,…
Haitian Music, Alive and Well
Lataye – Tou Manbre (Dadisound Productions, 2005) & Mozayik – Haitian Creole Jazz (Zoho, 2005) Some of the best Haitian music is being produced…
Chants Encounter
Vocal Baobab Yoruba Dream: Afro-Cuban Chants (ARC Music EUCD 1965, 2005) The Yoruba pantheon of deities forming the basis of the Santeria religion have their…
Songs of the Lark: Folk Sounds from the Past
The Lark in the Morning (field recording, 1955), folk songs and dance from the Irish countryside (Tradition Records) The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem (1959),…
Legendary Recordings from Spanish National Radio Archives
Various Artists – Nuestro Flamenco, Vol. 1 (RTVE Música, 2004) Antonio Mairena – Actuaciones históricas (RTVE Música, 2005) Spanish National Radio (RNE) and Spanish National…
Exploring the New Sounds of Brazil
Brazil is a country with an incredibly rich variety of music and World Music Central has received a large number of new CDs from the…
African Convergence
Nuru Kane Sigil (Riverboat Records/World Music Network TUGCD 1041, 2006) This dynamic disc was recorded in a Scottish country cottage and a Paris studio, but…
Land of Fiddlers
Scandinavia is a land of excellent fiddlers. In the past months, a new batch of recordings featuring top folk violinists from the Nordic countries…