World Music
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The Ipanemas: Que Beleza (Far Out/Southbound)
21 Jun 2010 | <1 min read | 1
The wonderful old Ipanemas (Wilson Das Neves and guitarist Neco) last appeared at Elsewhere two years ago with their Call of the Gods album, and at that time I wondered why they hadn't taken off in the manner of Cuba's famous Buena Vista Social Club because so many elements were the same: seasoned old musicians playing from the heart; wonderfully warm and exotic music; slippery rhythms and... > Read more
The Ipanemas: Passa o Ponto
Sarazino: Ya Foy! (Cumbancha)
20 Jun 2010 | <1 min read
Singer, songwriter and producer Lamine Fellah (aka Sarazino) is a true child of the global village: born in Algeria, the son of a diplomat he lived with his family in Spain, Switzerland, Burundi and Burkina Faso; later studied in Montreal where he made music in various bands; and in '96 moved to Quito in Ecuador. Lucky him, you might say. And for this melange of styles –... > Read more
Sarazino: Nadia
ANOUSHKA SHANKAR INTERVIEWED (2008): Never in the shadow
14 Jun 2010 | 11 min read
As two Lennons and any number of Marleys might tell you, it isn’t easy carrying the name of a famous musician father, especially if you want a career in the business yourself. Certainly doors may open that otherwise wouldn’t -- but because of that critics and the public often treat your career with some scepticism, you have to grow up musically in public, and your best work will... > Read more
ETRAN FINATAWA INTERVIEWED (2006): From sands to stadiums
8 Jun 2010 | 4 min read
Etran Finatawa have band members from two nomadic groups from around Niger, and play music which sounds like the raw electric blues from Chicago in the Fifties and Sixties. Their electrifying music is tough, but full of yearning. It may have a hypnotic quality which conjures up the open spaces of their region, but it also rocks mightily. Their debut album Introducing Etran Finatawa stormed... > Read more
Etran Finatawa: Iledeman
Rango: Bride of the Zar (30IPS/Southbound)
1 Jun 2010 | <1 min read
Just as pop and rock suddenly throws up new cover stars, so too in world music -- and Rango out of Egypt by way of the Sudan with their spiritual trance sound, odd-looking and strangely tuned wooden xylophone (the rango), driving percussion and music which rises to states of ecstasy are the latest off the block. There is no denying the danceable quality of this exciting music and the... > Read more
Rango: Henna Night
Paban Das Baul: Music of the Honey Gatherers (World Music Network/Southbound)
24 May 2010 | <1 min read
The music of the itinerant Bauls of Bengal has only made a brief appearance at Elsewhere previously (the album by Bapi Das Baul here) but its uplifting spiritual quality in pop-sized bites (it is often improvised, but on CD nothing stretches much longer than Hey Jude or Stairway to Heaven) which makes it appealing on a number of fronts. Paban Das Baul has been quite the ambassador for this... > Read more
Paban Das Baul: Prem Katha Ti Shunte Bhalo
Various Artists: Rumba Blues (Rhythm and Blues Records/Southbound)
20 May 2010 | <1 min read
From the same label which has brought the superb 4-CD sets of rhythm and blues (here) comes this equally excellent 26-song collection of post-war material which had soaked in a Latin rumba-shuffle influence. And when you look at who is here, that influence was considerable and across a wide range of artists: T-Bone Walker; the Johnny Otis Orchestra; Lowell Fulson; r'n'b legend Big Mama... > Read more
Fats Domino: Mardi Gras in New Orleans (1949)
Francoise Hardy: La Pluie Sans Parapluie (Virgin)
10 May 2010 | <1 min read | 1
At first glance this might just seem to be one for those who knew the title meant "Rain Without an Umbrella" or just want a bit of that breathy chanteuse mood music for dinner parties. But if you are in the latter camp you will be a little surprised: although this certainly has reflective ballads over piano and soft strings, Hardy's vocals are more prominent than mere background... > Read more
Francoise Hardy: Noir sur blanc
YUNGCHEN LHAMO INTERVIEWED (1999): The singer as national emblem
10 May 2010 | 7 min read
When this interview appeared in 1999 I was subject to some interesting passive-aggressive communications from people purporting to be sympathisers with the Free Tibet cause who suggested that what I had written about Tibet before the Chinese was "unhelpful". I pointed out it was however, the truth . . . In the thorough and informative Rough Guide to World Music, Tibetan... > Read more
Yungchen Lhamo: Om Mani Padme Hunge Hung
Gotan Project: Tango 3.0 (XL)
9 May 2010 | <1 min read | 1
After their double live of 18 months ago some might have thought this slippery trio (and guests) who have made tango-cool albums a life-style accessories would have exhausted their self-invented genre. And while this album is no huge re-invention for those who are ho-hum about them (this writer), the dub elements, more pronounced tango-noir and slippery horn parts discreetly elevate... > Read more
Tamikrest: Adagh (Glitterhouse/Yellow Eye)
3 May 2010 | <1 min read
As we know, for every breakthrough band there are a dozen or more who can successfully coattail. Tamikrest come from the same area -- geographical and musical -- as the great Tinariwan and Etra Finatawa so create a kind of hypnotic desert blues . But where their two predecessors have established a genre and staked out territory within it, the younger Tamikrest expand the parameters by... > Read more
Tamikrest: Alhoriya
Dirt Music: BKO (Glitterhouse/Yellow Eye)
3 May 2010 | 1 min read
In a way this album was inevitable -- although has come from an unexpected source. The whole "Sahara Blues" style of Etran Finatawa, Tinariwen and more recently Tamikrest has always lent itself to being brought to wider attention by collaborations with European musicians. The co-joining of Anglo-alt.folkers Tuung with Tinariwen was unusual -- and so is this: BKO is the... > Read more
Dirt Music: All Tomorrow's Parties
Jah Wobble and the Nippon Dub Ensemble (30 Hertz/Southbound)
3 May 2010 | <1 min read
Because Japanese folk tends to be elegantly austere and melodically understated you could think there's not a lot to flute, koto and percussion that could be done by way of dub. But that would be to underestimate world music explorer Jah Wobble who previously delivered an exceptional -- and unexpected -- album of Chinese dub. Here with a small ensemble of Japanese and Western musicians on... > Read more
Jah Wobble/Nippon Dub Ensemble: Cherry Blossom of my Youth
Alex Malheiros and Banda Utopia: The Wave (Far Out/Southbound)
2 May 2010 | <1 min read
The exciting reissue/remake of Sabrina Malheiros' album New Morning recently should set many listeners up for this one by her father Alex and his jazzy band, and which features Sabrina on five tracks -- and, as with her album, comes here with some remix and dub versions, which show again how flexible and malleable this suple bossa-groove sound can be. AS mentioned about Sabrina's album --... > Read more
Alex and Sabrina Malheiros: Sem Presse
Pacific Curls: Te Kore (Ode)
2 May 2010 | <1 min read
The previous album, Pacifi Celta, by this increasingly interesting trio of singer, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Kim Halliday, singer/percussionist Ora Barlow and fiddle player Sarah Beattie lifted them right out of that special corner of te reo-cum-folk/women's music where they could have languished away from more mainstream attention. Pacifi Celtic merged Pasifika music with Celtic folk... > Read more
Pacific Curls: Kalimba Trance 2
Sabrina Malheiros: New Morning; Deluxe Edition (Far Out/Southbound)
26 Apr 2010 | <1 min read | 1
Regular readers of Elsewhere will know that not too much of that self-satisfied, cooler-than-you, breathy bossa gets a look in. It bores me witless. But here is an exception: this is cool for sure, but it also swings, Malheiros has a voice of depth and flexibility, and the backing musicians are superb jazz players who come at the music from interesting angles. This is a rejigged and... > Read more
Sabrina Malheiros: Connexao
The Chieftains featuring Ry Cooder: San Patricio (Universal)
18 Apr 2010 | 1 min read
Here's something we don't hear as often as we used to: a concept album with guest stars and telling a historical story – in this case the Irish Catholics migrant soldiers who deserted from the predominantly Protestant US army during the Mexican-American war and sided with the Mexicans. The San Patricio Battalion actually contained a multi-cultural crew but Paddy Moloney of... > Read more
The Chieftains with Ry Cooder: A La Orilla de un Palmar (with Linda Ronstadt)
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars:Rise and Shine (Cumbancha/Ode)
12 Apr 2010 | 1 min read
These guys certainly have a great back-story: in six years they went from languishing in a refugee camp, through being the subject of a doco (see clip below) to Oprah. They appeared on the Blood Diamond soundtrack, their self-titled debut album won widespread praise and for this one they went to New Orleans and recorded with producer Steve Berlin (of Los Lobos) as well as some local horn... > Read more
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars: Dununya
Kamel El Harrachi: Ghana Fenou (Mosaic/Ode)
11 Apr 2010 | <1 min read
By coincidence Elsewhere here acknowledges the son of another music master in the same week as we pick up the album by Jakob Dylan. Kamel El Harrachi is the Paris-based son of the late oud player/singer Dahmane El Harrachi from Algeria and this is his tribute on the 30th anniversary of his father's death. Singer/oud player Kamel has a powerful and gutteral voice but on the lighter... > Read more
Kamel El Harrachi: Hyati Maak
Mahala Rai Banda: Ghetto Blasters (Asphalt Tango/Southbound)
2 Apr 2010 | <1 min read
Okay, definitely not for every taste but here is clubland, rocked up Gypsy music from Bucharest driven by a brassy horn section and hefty backbeats, and fronted by singer/composer/violinist Ionita Aurel. At times it sounds as much mad Mexican as Balkan and when guest voclaists Jony Iliev and Tato Garcia come in on Solo Part Ti there is an almost dangerous passion brought to bear. So... > Read more