The Congos – Give Them the Rights (Young Tree Records YTR-1221CD, 2005) Andrew Bassie Campbell – Mr. Bass Man All Stars (Young Tree Records YTR-1224CD,…
Young Tree’s Reggae Roots Run Deep
Category: Album reviews
Baka Beyond Back Beyond Baka
Baka Beyond Rhythm Tree (March Hare Music MAHACD 20, 2004) Though their recent releases have taken on a distinct Afro-Celtic air, Baka Beyond began as…
Tracing Her Cuban Roots
Jessie Márquez Sana Locura (independent, 2004) Puerto Rican singer Jessie Márquez is a well known Latin music performer in the Pacific Northwest of the United…
The Fire of the Sitar
Irshad Khan and Anindo Chatterjee Fire, Grace, Passion (New Dawn Productions, 2004) Ustad Irshad Khan, a master of the sitar (and the bass sitar, surbahar)…
A Rousing Revival
Hugh Masekela Revival (Heads Up International HUCD 3093, 2005) South African horn player/singer/composer Hugh Masekela hardly needs an introduction. He’s been a world music legend…
The Ancient Sounds of Vasconia
Xarnege Musica de contrabanda (Xarnege PYR 001-KD) Xarnege is a band formed by Basque and Gascon musicians from Spain and France. They explore the music…
Sorrow and Struggle
Rim Banna The Mirrors of My Soul (Kirkelig Kulturverksted, FXCD288, 2005) From the same folks who brought you Lullabies from the Axis of Evil, Kirkelig…
The Grand Old Man of Venezuelan Song
Simón Diaz Mis Canciones [My Songs] (World Village 468042, 2005) I don’t live in Venezuela, so I’m in no position to argue with the contention…
Harmonized Peyote Songs
Gerald Primeaux, Sr. A Tradition Continues… Harmonized Peyote Songs (Canyon Records CR6377, 2004) On A Tradition Continues… Harmonized Peyote Songs, released on Canyon Records, Gerald…
Ritualistic Alchemy of the East and West
Mercan Dede – Su (RH Pozitif Müzik, 2004/Escondida Music, 2005) Mercan Dede’s Su is a collection of densely layered compositions in a hypnotically ritualistic alchemy…