Robin Denselow
Femi Kuti: No Place for My Dream - review
(Wrasse) On the cover there's a striking photo of an African woman walking past a vast garbage heap, while on the album itself there are 10 new songs (and an instrumental) in which Femi Kuti continues his musical attacks on corruption, oppression and squ
Sam Amidon: Bright Sunny South - review
(Nonesuch) Sam Amidon is a folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and reworker and arranger of songs, whose intriguing new album mixes sparse, no-nonsense treatments of traditional material with unexpected jazz themes and experiment. Now based in London, he
Natacha Atlas: Expressions: Live in Toulouse - review
(Mazeeka) Natacha Atlas has changed direction again. In her days with Transglobal Underground she mixed furious Arabic pop, beats and belly-dancing, then switched to acoustic styles with the subtle and magnificent Ana Hina . Her last album, Mounqaliba
Pink Martini - review
Pink Martini have become an international phenomenon by mixing glamour and sophisticated easy-listening with multilingual songs and the unexpected.
Bombino - review
Omara "Bombino" Moctar was this week in the UK for just one concert to promote his new album, Nomad, before heading off to Europe and then the US. The choice of venue was significant: the Village Underground in Shoreditch was packed with a young, enthusi
Spider John Koerner: What's Left of Spider John - review
(Hornbeam) Now in his mid-70s, Spider John is a gangling guitarist and singer-songwriter from Minneapolis who deserves to be revered as one of the great American folk heroes. He worked with and influenced the young Bob Dylan (who wrote about this "exciti
Debashish Bhattacharya and friends: Beyond the Ragasphere - review
(Riverboat/World Music Network) Here is a boldly original fusion experiment from the virtuoso Indian instrumentalist who designed his own slide guitars so they could match the intricacies of the sitar. Now, Debashish Bhattacharya has expanded his range w
Mokoomba: Zimbabwe's new sound
Abundance Mutori was just 14 when he began playing with the other members of Mokoomba. It was in 2002, when they were at school together at Mosi-Oa-Tunya High in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and he remembers that their biggest problem was getting hold of ins
Bella Hardy: Battleplan - review
(Noe) Bella Hardy is a fine, no-nonsense interpreter of traditional music and an excellent songwriter, and on this album the two modes collide. There are new songs that echo folk songs, and traditional songs reworked to sound contemporary, and they succe