Posts in tag

world music albums

8.8Album ReviewsMusic

Nothing about the Meridean Brothers is as you would expect unless you are prepared for the unexpected. The name might suggest a collective but in the studio the ‘Brothers’ focal point is the mercurial talents of Colombian composer and multi- instrumentalist Eblis Alvarez. As an established player in Bogata’s energetic experimental scene Alvarez has always …

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4.0Album ReviewsMusic

‘Got to find a city, find myself a city to live in’ pleaded David Byrne a good while back- well if he’s still looking or fancies a change after his decades of globetrotting then Geneva may be worth a punt. There you will find Bongo Joe records, the forward thinking outer-national label headed up by …

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8.9Album ReviewsMusic

LOST albums create a mystique stoked by rumour, fandom and hype, waiting for the moment to surface and often for the bubble of expectation to burst. But some records emerge from the past almost unannounced, previously known to the very few and for the rest of us waiting to be found before we knew that …

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8.8Album ReviewsMusic

MDOU MOCTAR is at last gathering momentum; but it’s been an epic journey since 2008, when his raw emotional guitar music first began to spread across West Africa via the DIY network of traded SIM cards. Picked up by Chris Kirkley of Sahel Sounds, who sent Mdou a much-needed left-handed Strat, then released his first …

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8.5Album ReviewsMusic

SOMETIMES a record comes along that disrupts your expectations. Since their debut album in 2008, Kasai Allstars have been one of the cornerstones of Congotronics, that vibrant assemblage of polyrhythms and scrapyard instrumentation which bolted a whole new wing to the afrobeat star-liner. Buzz drums, wired-up thumb pianos, hubcap percussion and salvaged guitars mixed with …

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8.5Album ReviewsMusic

COLLABORATIONS between improvising musicians and orchestras sometimes reveal nothing but a culture clash. The performances can sound disjointed and fragmented, the musical equivalent of cut and paste. But when Toumani Diabate, the kora maestro, and his band of eminent Malian musicians shared the Barbican stage with the London Symphony Orchestra back in 2008, the connection …

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8.0Album ReviewsMusic

There is a need to begin this review with a direct quote from its band leader, saxophonist Arnaud Guichard : “This record is dedicated to all the victims of sexual violences in DRC and to Dr. Denis Mukwege and his team who work hard at restoring the pride and dignity of all the victims of …

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Album ReviewsMusic

At times it’s hard to keep tabs on the overflowing treasure chest of re-issues from the ever-giving seventies African rock and funk scenes. But here is one gem that shouldn’t be missed- it’s got pedigree, it’s got provenance but more importantly it’s a blast. Originally released in 1977 Ngozi Family’s ’45,000 Volts’ was a sharp …

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Album ReviewsMusic

There was a time where music from the Africa fell under the catch-all phrase of “world music”. Despite trendsetters such as Fela Kuti creating such lavish works which to this day still influences an incredible number of musicians, to explain tropicalia or afro-beat was to be met with heads cocked sideways and an utterance of …

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Album ReviewsMusic

If you look back at the charts of MTV Brazil’s famous ‘daily top 10 videos’ from about ten years ago(2000-2006), Jay Vaquer was present, bringing his own social criticisms through pretty visuals and through his lyrics, making ascorbic comments our modern society. However, mysteriously, Jay has all but disappeared from the radio and television and …

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