The raï man returns
Khaled – Ya-Rayi (Universal AZ/UK:Wrasse Records, 2004) Here comes the latest album (and by far the best recent release) from the mighty Khaled. This is…
Acid X, funk with the smooth contemporary Rio sound
Acid X Uma Geral (ST2 Music 50036) Acid X started life as a Beatles cover band in Rio clubs. And they continue their love affair…
Tuscan roots meet Flamenco, Bossa and Celtic sounds
Livio Guardi & Wilson Montuori Diomede (independent, 2003) This creative duo of Italian guitarists plays laid back evocative music which includes influences from various Mediterranean…
Oriental lounge suits
Orient Expressions – Divan (DoubleMoon Records, 2004) One thing you might not say about lounge music is that it’s gritty; the expression somehow does not…
Oh, Suzzana
Suzzana Owiyo Mama Africa (ARC Music EUCD 1875, 2004) My first taste of Suzzana Owiyo came via the song “Kisumu 100” on World Music Network’s…
Spain’s latest flava
Amparanoia – Rebeldia con Alegria, best of (independent, 2004) Another sure-fire star of the world music scene finally gets a proper airing outside of her…
Champeta Criolla, the Afro-Colombian Sound from the Caribbean
Champeta Criolla (criollo and criolla means Creole) is an Afro-Colombian music style and dance from Cartagena and Barranquilla, in the Caribbean coast. The champeta is…
Favourites. 60 years on, an anthology of the great Brazilian Poet Chico Buarque
Chico Buarque – Favourites. 60 years on (Wrasse Records Wrass112) People often talk of Caetano as the Dylan of Brazil. But if this is true…
Mad Sheer Takes Hendrix to Samarkand
Mad Sheer Khan Samarkand Hotel, Live at Le Triton 2002 (Le Triton TRI 03507, 2003) It is hard to classify this recording. It is world…
Radical roots from Galicia
Xose Manuel Budiño – Zume de Terra (Boa, 2004) Xosé Manuel Budiño is yet another young modernizing traditionalist emerging from the corners of Europe’s culturally…