Benji Kaplan is an American, a New Yorker to be precise, but listening to his music you would never know that. He plays as if as...
Ever since the legendary Jazz trumpeter first coined the phrase “World Music” to describe the new idiom in which he was expressing his music in Sweden,...
Kiran Ahluwalia occupies a very special place in the vocal music of the Indian subcontinent. Her chameleonic versatility enables her to move seamlessly between classical, traditional...
That the seemingly oracular Brasilian lyricist and musician Mãe da Lua is in tune with the environment where in the world she may be is clear...
Pé de Moleque, Quebra Queixo, Algadao Doce, Pacoca, Sambossa – Celso Machado; Nachele Tempo – Benedito Lacerda, Pixinguinha & Fabio Oliveira; Choro Negro – Paulinho da...
There was a time in the history of civilisations when global travel was tediously slow, treacherous and conducted only via overland and maritime routes. Ironically this...
The music called choro has variously been compared with ragtime and other styles that grew out of early New Orleans and with danzón from Cuba. But...
The rather irreverent Swedish contemporary ensemble, teaming up with the Sufi singer, Shamim Naghedi are propelled from their romp around 1960s and 1970s Sweden into a...
With the plethora of discs with wonderful music glorifying the tango, it is often tempting to think that the music of Argentina is just the tango...
Seven works by Mark Applebaum: Eight analog synthesizers, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players – Eduard Leandro, cond; Takao Hyakutome, vn; Southern Oregon University Percussion Ensemble –...
The spellbinding disc Parceria celebrates an enduring partnership between drummer Paulo Almeida and bassist Bruno Migotto together with pianist Salomão Soares and reeds and winds player...
For Ludwig van Beethoven, there was but one way to create art, “Don’t only practice your art,” he said, “But force your way into its secrets...
Apropos of Ol’Jansa by Göran Månsson & Friends, it’s worth recalling that Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles Darwin) once began his quest thus: “Would it be...
Pandit Taranath has been mainstays of Indian classical (Hindustani) music for well over half a century and have made significant contributions to the art. Had he...
Although the booklet note at times might come close to suggesting that Song of Silver Geese by Jen Shyu is a simple tale of life and...
Even a cursory look at the GHA Records catalogue will reveal that the label is a treasure trove of contemporary guitar music – largely from Brasil,...
Anyone who doubts that all modern music in the Americas came from the erstwhile “Americanised” African slaves who wrenched from their home country and all its...
Betsayda Machado is one of a kind. A parrandera queen and notional leader here of Parranda el Clavo on the album Loe Loa (Rural Recordings Under...
Part of the reason why this music is so compelling is certainly due to the splendid accord with which this ensemble reads these arrangements, all of...
Stanley Grill: American Landscapes; Lonely Pieces; At the Center of All Things; Diderot String Quartet – Adriane Post: vn; Johanna Novom: vn; Kyle Miller: va; Paul...
