Music and World

Tamikrest - Adagh

2 Mar 2010

(Glitterhouse) Tinariwen first brought us the Tamashek music of the Toureg people of the Saharan desert. They blew everyone away, even the Rolling Stones, who a year or so later invited them to open their gig. Tamikrest are the next generation, and…

Sierre Leone Refugee All Stars - Rise and Shine

25 Feb 2010

Cumbancha Forming a band in West African refugee camps is a potent story and the resulting music – think reggae, dub, African ritual chant and more – is terrific. Here the All Stars go home to Freetown, Sierra Leone to record some songs, then head…

Ali and Toumani - Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté

17 Feb 2010

(World Circuit) Malian bluesman Ali Farka Touré was a towering musical figure who has left a legacy of groundbreaking albums. In 2005 he and kora (harp-lute) player Toumani Diabaté won a Grammy for their collaboration In The Heart of the Moon. The…

Razia - Zebu Nation

17 Feb 2010

(Cumbancha) As far away as Madagascar is, the irresistible rhythms of the music of newcomer Razia make it feel a lot closer. Razia is a beautiful person in looks, heart and mind and uses her strikingly fresh voice for well crafted dance songs with a…

Kailash Kher & Kailasa - Yatna (Nomadic Souls)

1 Feb 2010

(Cumbancha) Cumbancha are an intrepid label who have brought a host of brilliant musicians to the world, including the late Brazilian artist Andy Palacios. Now they capture the infectious sounds of Kailash Kher, a household name in India for singing…

Asere - Junio Groove

15 Jan 2010

(Astar) A thrilling disc from the Cuban group Asere, fruitfully moving on from recent work with the celebrated percussionist/producer Billy Cobham. Taking Cuba’s classic son music by the scruff, they re-earth it, filling it with sensuous pleasure as…

Coca Tenorio - Todo Transito

15 Jan 2010

www.cocatenorio.com Women singers composing their own great songs can be hard to find especially one who, as the title of her album Todo Transito (Everything in Movement) suggests, divides her time between the tropical coast of Esmereldas, Ecuador…

Ghana Special - Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968–81

4 Dec 2009

(Soundway) A thrilling soundscape of 33 tracks from Ghana between the ‘golden age’ of 1968–81, this maps the optimism and energy of new independence from British colonialism heralded by cutting-edge modern Afro-sounds and Ghanaian blues. Presented in…

VA – Fabriclive 49: - Buraka Son Sistema

4 Dec 2009

(Fabric) This is impressive: out of the 28 tracks on offer here, only six last longer than three minutes – something worth praising in an inherently repetitive genre. Buraka Son Sistema oversee the melding of various dance styles with lively African…

Huw Warren - Hermeto +

13 Nov 2009

(Basho Records) Welsh pianist Huw Warren is one of the most consistently intriguing and persistently undervalued musicians on the UK scene. Whether leading his own imaginative projects, co-founding Perfect Houseplants or working with musicians from…

Mayra Andrade - Stória Stória

13 Nov 2009

(Sterns) Mayra Andrade is an award winning singer of the world music scene, charming fans with both her gorgeous voice and captivating performances. With Stória Stória this Cape Verdean continues moving towards Brazil, with an appetising roll call of…

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Gurrumul

13 Nov 2009

(Dram) Hear the song ‘Bapa’ (Father) on this multi-award winning album by one time singer with Yothu Yindi, Australia’s first ever aboriginal rock band, and you’ll know exactly why, despite being sung in native Australian Yongu dialect, this has made…

Natalie Merchant, The Chieftains and Ry Cooder set for Celtic Connection 2010

30 Oct 2009

Celtic Connections launched with a suitable level of expectation this fortnight – and it doesn’t look set to disappoint. Comprising 1500 artists, 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, workshops, free events and late-night sessions, the programme of events will…

Rupa and the April Fishers - Este Mundo (This World)

15 Oct 2009

With their second album, Rupa and the April Fishers establish themselves at the cutting edge of world music. Their unusual name, top-quality musicianship and linguistic versatility, fused by the eclectic ideas of a second generation brought up on world…

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula

15 Oct 2009

Following on from Segu Blue, his award-winning debut album, Kouyate offers us a denser sound with his wife Amy Sacko’s glorious voice well to the fore. Championing the language of his own Malian ethnic group, he charges the sound with the energy of live…

Music In The Digital Age

Technology's impact on the artform

2 Oct 2009

To paraphrase the Creme Egg adverts, when it comes to music, how do you hear yours? Streaming over the internet? Nicking stuff from torrents on the web? A bag full of goodies from Fopp? Crates of obscure vinyl from your local specialist…

Efterklang - Performing Parades

2 Oct 2009

Parades is a great album. Originally released in 2007, it transformed marginal Danish avant rock outfit Efterklang – a more off-kilter Arcade Fire who combine massed voices with modern classical instrumentation – into a marginal Danish avant rock outfit…

International Guitar Night

23 Sep 2009

A trio of truly outstanding guitar talents join forces. Lulo Reinhardt (grandson of the great Django Reinhardt) specialises in gypsy jazz; Itamar Erez combines European classical, jazz and world styles all brought together by IGN founder Brian Gore for…

Odemba OK Jazz

23 Sep 2009

Scottish debut from African collective for a night of hypnotic guitars, horns, driving rhythms and dancefloor jazz. This twelve-piece are led by guitarist Dizzy Mandjeku in this special gig to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of the King of…

Labels of Love - Firecracker Recordings profile

23 Jul 2009

Based in Leith, Edinburgh Roster Linkwood (Nick Moore, from Bristol but based in Leith), Fudge Fingas (Gavin Sutherland, from Edinburgh), Vakula (from Ukraine), Intrusion (one half of the Detroit/Chicago-based duo Echospace), House of Traps (Lindsay…

The Big Tent Festival

23 Jul 2009

‘There is a real sense of belonging and connection to something at the Big Tent Festival,’ explains the event’s programme director Mike Small. ‘The message is more “come join us” than “gimme your money”.’ Set up in July 2005, the…

Keletigui et ses Tambourinis: The Syliphone Years

9 Jul 2009

Look no further: the sultry, sensual dance sounds the summer demands can be found right here. Sterns are riding high on the back of their recent digital remastering of Mali’s Rail Band (Salif Keita, Mory Kante) and TPOK Jazz, and now give the same…

Mara Aranda & Solatge: Dèria

9 Jul 2009

Valencian singer Mara Aranda joins forces with Solatge in her latest post-L’Ham du Foc venture. Her voice is as spirited as ever as she sings stories of smugglers, mermaids and muleteers, re-vamping ancient Mediterranean-Spanish songs for the 21st…

Lionel Loueke

25 Jun 2009

Guitarist Lionel Loueke came to jazz via an early immersion in African music in his homeland of Benin, a grounding that has contributed to the distinctive style that caught the ears of Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard, both of whom have called on…

Sara Tavares - Xinti

25 Jun 2009

(World Connection) Portuguese singer Sara Tavares writes amazing songs, delivering them with one of the most shape-shifting voices around, a fusion of the gentle and wistful with subtly buoyant rhythm. Xinti which means ‘feel’, tells its own…

Baaba Maal: Television

28 May 2009

Why Baaba Maal is not on primetime radio is frustrating. Television, his first album for eight years, is so seductively sensual at times it’s almost chill out in style. It establishes him as a man with finger on the pulse of the musical times. Catchy…

Ojos De Brujo

16 Apr 2009

If flamenco isn’t really your thing, then you should probably turn away now. But come on, everyone needs a bit of flamenco in their life. Hip hop is also here in abundance too, consummating with each other to produce an exotically interesting mix.

Oumou Sangare - Seya

5 Mar 2009

WORLD Oumou Sangare shows why she is one of the most significant African female musicians alive in this stunning set in which she marries gutsy lyrics about arranged marriage and polygamy to her seductively zippy Wassoulou music. Sangare’s…

Children’s Classic Concerts – Crash, Bang, Wallop!

5 Mar 2009

Back in December, Owen and Olly arrived as the new presenters of Children’s Classic Concerts like a brick through a window. The young percussionists are not only talented musicians themselves, but know how to bring other fun guys to the party. Their…

Hitlist - Music

19 Feb 2009

● Shhh! Zoey Van Goey and My Latest Novel take on the task of performing a live musical interpretation of a classic film in one of the Glasgow Music and Film Festival’s more imaginative events. The Arches, Glasgow, Sun 22 Feb. (Rock & Pop) ● Butcher…

Amadou & Miriam

19 Feb 2009

When asked to define Jazz, Duke Ellington declared that there were only two kinds of music: good music and bad. Nevertheless, pigeonholes have proved a necessary evil in the pursuit and commoditisation of music, and rarely have the categories been as…

Novalima - Coba Coba

5 Feb 2009

WORLD FUSION This third release for the Lima-London collective Novalima furthers the adventures in Latin form, Afro-Peruvian percussion and electronic tweaks that spawned 2005’s award-winning Afro. Coba Coba, however, bears all the hallmarks of a…

Thievery Corporation - Radio Retaliation

2 Oct 2008

WORLD LOUNGE Leaders of the horizontal protest Thievery Corporation remain resolutely political in their approach and there is really no mistaking who programmed this set of sophisticate dub lounge. The breadth of styles treated to their signature…

Fraser Fifield Band - Traces of Thrace

17 Jul 2008

It is tempting to assume that the fascinating meeting of musical minds reflected here is in some way down to the on-the-road developments worked out on their Tune Up tour featuring Fifield’s band and the Nedyalko Nedyalkov band from Bulgaria earlier…

Orkestra Del Sol - The Moveable Feast

22 May 2008

WORLD, JAZZ AND BEYOND (SolMusic Recordings) Fast, fun and furious Edinburgh-based ten-piece Orkestra Del Sol let loose a riot of rebellious global street music for this, their second full-length offering. With considerable talent, energy and…

Tinariwen

8 May 2008

Formed in 1982 in Muammar al-Gaddafi’s camps of Tuareg rebels, Tinariwen mix their traditional music Tishoumaren (‘music of the unemployed’), with electric guitars to create world music at its most thrilling aided by a distinct 70s rock edge.

Toumani Diabate - The Mandé Variations

14 Feb 2008

WORLD (World Circuit) Toumani Diabate is one of those great Malian musicians that cannot be knocked. The album Kaira was his first: a beautifully melodic 40-minute kora solo, released in 1989. Since then he has been a collaborators dream, working with…

Spiritual South

31 Jan 2008

For some, the term ‘world music’ still conjures up images of tie dyed tunics and florescent face paint. But this stigma is fading as revellers bring to the dancefloor an ever-greater familiarity with a myriad of musical genres. Flying the flag for world…

Vieux Farka Toure

15 Nov 2007

WORLD Arches, Glasgow, Sun 25 Nov When Vieux Farka Toure played at WOMAD this year, world music fans were intrigued to see how he would fare. When his father, the great Malian music oracle Ali Farka Toure died in 2006, he left behind a musical…

Vieux Farka Toure - album review

World

1 Nov 2007

You might think that if Vieux Farka Toure entered the music business he would be doomed to failure. As the son of Malian music legend, the late Ali Farka Toure, he would be working in his father’s shadow and probably end up petering out, à la Julian…

Orchestra Baobab

18 Oct 2007

WORLD Faced with dwindling audiences in the 80s, the members of Orchestra Baobab slid away from the forefront of their native Senegalese music scene, and went their separate ways. World Circuit Records have always dreamt of reuniting the band…

Manu Chao

4 Oct 2007

Manu Chao might just about be a household name in the UK, thanks in the main to 2001’s ubiquitous Próxima Estación: Esperanza, but he has not conquered the hearts and minds of Brits to the same degree as listeners in Europe and Latin America. This…

Colombiafrica

20 Sep 2007

WORLD Voodoo Love Inna Champeta Land (Riverboat Records) The title and artwork evoke early Dr John, but this exuberant album was brewed in a much bigger melting-pot than New Orleans. Like the original bluesmen travelling to London to record with their…

Samba Sane & Diwan

23 Aug 2007

Irresistible Afrobeats and jazzy grooves from Senegal. Vocalist Samba Sene moved to Scotland seven years ago and sings in English, French and his native Wolof, backed up by the five-piece Diwan. This is jazzed up world music to get the dancefloor…

Orkestra Del Sol

7 May 2007

WORLD They say this was the launch of Orkestra Del Sol’s new EP The Road to Thermosa, but copies of it were being dished out free at the front door to anyone who did a silly dance for the staff. It was that kind of a night, and one suspects the EP…

Idan Raichel Project, The - album review

The Idan Raichel Project

27 Nov 2006

WORLD The brainchild of Israeli keyboardist and producer Idan Raichel, his Project sees a group of over 70 albums contribute to this one cross-genre record. Already a huge pop success in his home country, Raichel seems to almost make a point of…

Kultur Shock - album review

Kultur Shock

11 Nov 2006

WORLD ESOTERIC Insane Seattle-based collective Kultur Shock have been gathering Bosnian, Bulgarian, Japanese and American members for almost ten years now with the sole intention of mashing up the music of their homelands in hitherto unrealised…

Big Big World

The world at your feet

17 Oct 2006

This month, Big Big World returns to Glasgow. The well-established, and, to be fair, excellent series of live shows showcases talent from all around the world, this year’s attraction coming from Scotland, Iran, Canada, Cuba, India, the US and all over…

Omar Sosa-Dhafer Youssef Trio

28 Sep 2006

The Scottish Arts Council’s Tune Up touring scheme has thrown up some very intriguing collaborations in its short but influential history, many of them emanating from Big Big World promoter Billy Kelly in Glasgow. His latest offering brings together not…