Potent SeneRap with a feminist message
Alif Dakamerap (Out here records 2004) It’s a fact that hip-hop & rap has taken hold in a big way in West Africa. Notably…
Leave Your Grass Skirt at Home
Ooklah the Moc – Rearrange Your Positive (Ghetto Circus Records CG2, 2004) The Lambsbread – Sing Praise (Adin-nin Records ADOO3, 2003) Much as some people…
Tumbling oud, rumbling basslines
Azzddine Ouhnine with Bill Laswell – Massafat (Barraka Recordings/Barbarity 023, 2004) I can’t honestly claim to be totally enamored of some releases on the Barraka…
Concert of the Season, T.N.Seshagopalan
T.N.Seshagopalan (TNS) is a mercurial musician; on a good day his indefatigable spirit and untiring intellect carries him through to the heights of unfettered expression.…
World Music Trade Show WOMEX at Zeche Zollverein successfully completed
Essen, Germany – With the ceremonial granting of the WOMEX Award 2004 to Marc Hollander and Crammed Discs for 25 years of visionary grass roots…
Ildo Lobo, Cape Verde’s Greatest Male Singer, Passed Away
Cape Verde – Ildo Lobo died of a heart attack in the morning of October 20th, 2004, at his home in Praia, the capital of…
Bel, Bel…
M’Bilia Bel – Belissimo (Sterns AfricaTCD1098, 2004) M’Bilia first came to prominence in the 1970s as vocal sidekick and wife of the top Zairian [Congolese]…
Ecstatic Voices
Ladysmith Black Mambazo Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain, The Very Best of (Wrasse Records WRASS 139, 2004) There can be no doubt that the collective voices…
Stringed to perfection
Three violins playing in perfect synchrony are always a delight to the ears. When the artistes are Sneha, Ramya and Kaushik it is like the…
Cold Blow these Winter Winds: A Celtic Celebration of Christmas
Danbury, Connecticut, USA – Cold Blow these Winter Winds (Green Linnet #1229) is a new holiday album featuring a star-studded line-up of traditional musicians from…