Music, World

Various artists - The Rough Guide to World Lullabies

Globe-spanning collection of bedtime songs

(World Music Network) Despite the fact that so many plug into i-Pods daily, it seems folk still enjoy going old school, and serenading their babes with a restful lullaby. For List readers who may have tiny ones in their immediate or extended family…

Lucas Santtana - Sem Nostalgia

Playful, laid-back guitar work from the Brazilian musician

(Mais Um Discos) Publicity can backfire, as with comparing songwriter Lucas Santtana to bossa nova innovator João Gilberto. Where Gilberto distilled everything through a ‘cool’ Brazilian sensibility, Santtana represents more 21st century, universal…

Wesseltoft Schwarz - Duo

Norwegian ‘nu-jazz’ guru and techno producer make ambient jazz-meets-dance

(Jazzland) The combination of piano and laptop computer would once have been pretty much the exclusive preserve of the free improv end of jazz, but Norwegian ‘nu-jazz’ guru Bugge Wesseltoft and techno producer Henrik Schwarz bring their collaboration…

Orkestra del Sol's Top Trumps

Balkan, gypsy and polka sounds in a musical face-off

Orkestra del Sol’s Top Trumps show is an inspired concept for a live music performance. Flyers bearing each band member’s vital statistics are handed out prior to the gig, so that audience members can pick a favourite from the nine musicians. The…

Various artists - Cumbia! Bestial

(Chusma records) Americans have been dancing in time with the Colombian cumbia music style, with its easy slide side-to-side moves in 2/4 time since the 60s, it really hit the international club scene in the 21st century. Cumbia! Bestial offers a…

Hammock House - Africa Caribe

Classic original DJ-friendly Latin music of 70s and 80s plus remixes

(Fania-Código) Brooklyn DJ/producer Hammock House, aka Joaquín ‘Joe’ Claussell, wittily adds vital 21st-century underpinning to Latin classics created for Fania, the New York label responsible for the hottest, most pertinent Latin music of the 70s…

Vieux Farka Touré - The Secret

Tracks that decorate rather than eclipse Malian blues and father's legacy

(Six Degrees) Anyone watching the 2010 South African World Cup opening concert will have seen Vieux Farka Touré showing he is no longer merely walking in father Ali’s footsteps. This album sees Vieux recording in Brooklyn and Bamako, developing…

Amjad Ali Khan to perform set of morning ragas on sarod at EIF 2011

Edinburgh 11am concert accompanied by Ravi Shankar's evening ragas

The sarod may not be as familiar an instrument to western audiences as the sitar made famous by Ravi Shankar, but virtuoso player Amjad Ali Khan is happy to establish its proper context. 'Ravi Shankar's teacher was a sarod player,' says Khan on the line…

Theatre, music and dance highlights from the 2011 Edinburgh International Festival

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Semiramide and King Lear among picks

The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) has been a benchmark for quality and innovation in the performing arts since its inauguration nearly 65 years ago. This year artistic director Jonathan Mills builds his programme around the multi-faceted…

Review - Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Tue 28 Jun

Beninese Afrobeat with brass, percussion, guitar, bass and drums

Nine good men and true fill the stage of Glasgow’s most beautiful (internally) venues in a Django like return to European conscience. Presumed missing or dead, or both, in their home country of Benin, West Africa, the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo were hunted…

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo set for Glasgow Jazz festival date

West African afro-beat band tour their new album Cotonou Club

The influential West African band have set a series of tour dates circling the UK this summer, visiting Glasgow for the first time in the 30-plus years that they have been a band. Having formed in the late 60s, they have accumulated a collection of…

Mulatu Astatke set for Glasgow Jazz Festival

Ethio-jazz pioneer visits Scotland for the first time

An alto saxophone line snakes slowly over shimmering vibraphone and sensuous Latin percussion. Horns create a dreamy, exotic mood as Ethiopian modes meet Western scales. A buzzing guitar or grooving organ might come in, bringing a touch of slow-burning…

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - The 1st Album (1973)

Sensationally funky West African music from a 16–piece with brooding organ melodies

(Analog Africa) In 1970s West Africa, various creative ensembles emerged in the former French trading post of Cotonou, Benin; notably the vibrant Orchestre Poly-Rythmo. Their distinctive earthy grooves mined a musical axis involving neighbouring…

Susana Baca - Afrodiaspora

(Luaka Bop) Grammy award winning Afro-Peruvian singer Susana Baca was an early signing to Talking Head David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label and her latest, long-awaited album sees her explore rhythms of the African-Latin diaspora. Her attractive, clear…

Various Artists - Songlines Music Awards 2011

Varied and fluent tracks from world music awards shortlist

(Songlines) Kicking off with Femi Kuti’s throbbing Afrobeat anthem ‘Dem Bobo’, this is a superbly varied, fluent sequence of top tracks from the 16 nominees for the 2011 Songlines Music Awards. The foremost international music magazine stepped into…

5 Reasons to Go See. . . Khaira Arby

She’s Mali’s biggest star Arby is known in Mali as ‘The Nightingale of the North’, and her music reflects the cultural diversity of the Sahara region. ‘Timbuktu is a multicultural city and has been for many hundreds of years. I sing in several…

Mariza - Fado Tradicional

Stunning fifth album from Portguese fado singer

(EMI) Mariza, with her iconic, bleached short hairstyle has become an international star since reviving classic Portuguese fado, placing her country and its compelling port songs on the musical map. This new release is her best ever, a 12-song…

Seun Anikulapo Kuti & Egypt 80 - From Africa with Fury: Rise

The youngest Kuti maintain's the family's vibrant Afrobeat legacy

(Knitting Factory Records/ Because Music) The youngest son of Fela Kuti and step-brother of the fiery Femi, Seun Kuti records and tour with a rejuvenated version of his father’s old band Egypt 80 with whom he has played since pre-teens. This is…

Kronos Quartet to curate Glasgow mini-festival in May 2011

Highlights include Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Jon Rose and Matmos

Not every new music quartet can count Nine Inch Nails and Nelly Furtado amongst their list of collaborators, nor put live performances with David Bowie and Allen Ginsberg under their achingly-creative belt. The Kronos Quartet, are not your average…

Five reasons to go see Seun Kuti & Egypt 80

The African Soul Rebels visit the Usher Hall

1. He’s part of the afrobeat dynasty. Nigerian musician Seun Kuti plays sax, chant-sings and dances – not unlike his legendary father Fela, pioneer of the funky Nigerian afrobeat sound. ‘What inspires me is Africa today’, says Seun. ‘The same things…

Boubacar Traoré: Mali Denhou

Malian musician still holds the power that raises him above many other 'Saharan sound' artists

(Lusafrica) Back in 1990, Malian singer and guitarist Boubacar Traoré recorded Mariama, a debut that captured the bittersweet yearnings of love. Most who heard it became instant fans and those who saw him play in a tiny club in Newcastle (the closest…

Sergent Garcia: Una y Otra Vez

The internationalist French musician returns with another highly enjoyable LP

(Cumbancha) Whether Sergent Garcia is a stylist extraordinaire or king of pastiche, a five-year wait sees him deliver an irresistible batch of 14 original songs. The fertile Colombian scene is springboard for ‘Time and Time Again’, fuelled by post…

Orkestra del Sol: Lung Capacity

More globe-trotting party tunes from the many-limbed Edinburgh group

(Sol) Gyspified, klezmeric, samba-soaked party tunes: anyone who’s heard the Orkestra’s previous two albums will be well prepared for what’s in store on this third instalment. As ever, the band’s infectious live energy is 90% present here – there’s…

Benda Bilili!

A documentary on the Congolese rhythm'n'blues band Staff Benda Bilili

Kinshasa is the largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s rated as one of the most dangerous cities in the world in terms of crime with a spiraling homeless problem that includes over 20,000 children under the age of 18 living rough…

Aurelio - Laru Beya

Sublime and original fusion of sounds and often poignant musical stories

(Stonetree/Real World) When Belizean singer Andy Palacio died tragically three years ago, people feared his placing of Garifuna language music onto the global scene, via the extraordinary album Wátina would end. Palacio must be beaming at the sound…