world music
WOMAD, Charlton Park review – drawing the world a little closerMonday, 30 July 2018
Even seasoned veterans can suffer from programme amnesia over the four days and nights of rock, pop, dance and traditional music from around the world to be found at WOMAD, such is the array of choices across its 10 stages, ranging from the main... Read more... |
CD: Jah Wobble - Dream WorldSaturday, 28 July 2018
He's known for his myriad collaborations – Public Image Ltd, Primal Scream, The Orb, The Edge, Can, all the way through to recent work with singers PJ Higgins and Hollie Cook – but Jah Wobble really deserves attention in his own right. A cosmic... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 41: Kali Uchis, Orange Goblin, Kirsty MacColl, Walton, Miss Red and moreWednesday, 18 July 2018
Summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the street. To vinyl. Only theartsdesk on Vinyl doesn’t just cover music for dancing, it covers every style of music imaginable (with a good showing for pop this month). Whatever your taste, from... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Kamal KeilaSunday, 15 July 2018
Music from Sudan is overshadowed by the country’s recent history. At the end of June 1989, Colonel Omar al-Bashir assumed control and it became a one-party state. Shariah law was introduced. Osama Bin Laden was resident in capital city Khartoum from... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Essaouira: Festival of Gnawa - 21st-century trance mastersMonday, 02 July 2018
Essaouira, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, is the place of winds. Day or night, hot or cold, year in, year out, the “Alizee” blows, and it blows. In the local folklore it is not from the ocean but a grumbling resident of the medina – perhaps protesting... Read more... |
CD: AMMAR 808 - Maghreb UnitedMonday, 11 June 2018
Hot in the burning footsteps of Bargou 08, last year’s subtle but daring mix of traditional Tunisian sounds and electronic beats and textures, Sofyann Ben Youssef launches a new project under the name of AMMAR 808, Maghreb United. There is a great... Read more... |
Songlines Encounters Festival, Kings Place review - mellifluous launch from African stringsSaturday, 02 June 2018
The Songlines Encounters festival is in its eighth year, and opened its doors on Thursday night at Kings Place in London with 3MA, (TroisMa in French), comprising Malian kora player Ballake Sissoko, Moroccan oud player Driss El Maloumi and... Read more... |
Africa: A Journey Into Music, BBC Four review - too little, too late?Saturday, 02 June 2018
BBC Four is the TV music equivalent of those oldsters music mags like Q and Mojo. Have there been five, or is it six, documentaries about Queen on the channel? You can sense the commissioners feeling with this new series they have now done... Read more... |
DVD: Here to Be Heard - The Story of the SlitsSaturday, 02 June 2018
Here to be Heard, made by US film-maker and punk rocker William E Badgley, has such a juicy, pertinent story to tell that it never palls. Over 84 minutes, contemporary interviews and old footage build a two act drama that reveals The Slits to be one... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: African Scream Contest 2Sunday, 20 May 2018
African Scream Contest 2 opens with a burst of distorted guitar suggesting a parallel-world response to The Chambers Brothers’ “Time Has Come Today”. Then, the song beds in and a James Brown groove plays off against spindly lead-guitar lines also... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 39: Pink Floyd, Liines, Black Sabbath, Daniel Avery, Elvis and moreThursday, 17 May 2018
There have been reports that as many as 50% of vinyl-buyers don’t actually listen to it. They keep records as a token of affection for the artist in question. This seems curious but, then again, most young people don’t own turntables and the idea is... Read more... |
CD: Baloji - 137 Avenue KaniamaThursday, 22 March 2018
The death of “world music” is a wonderfully reassuring thing. That is to say, with every year that passes, it becomes less and less possible for media and consumers to bracket together music from outside the US and Europe as a single thing, and... Read more... |
