Ragnhild Furebotten Never On A Sunday Habadekuk Hopsadaddy

While using brass instruments in folk music is certainly not a new concept, with a long tradition in prerecorded times as well as in various revivals (for example, Brass Monkey), the concept has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, in no small measure due to the success of adventurous young bands like England's Bellowhead. And the trend is taking root in Nordic regions these days, as exemplified by two recordings from Norway and Denmark. Norwegian folk fiddler Ragnhild Furebotten has gathered together a brass symposium of 6 horn players (tuba, saxophones, trombonium, trumpets and flugelhorn) and created something that is unique among the many folk-brass recordings out there. In Denmark, Habadeduk take a more 'pop' approach to their folk-horn fusion, with a full rhythm section, guitars, accordion and fiddle rounding out the brass band sound. Cliff Furnald hears a blast of Nordic winds. Read and listen.

Hal Cannon

Hal Cannon is best known as the founding director of the annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. He has been collecting songs and stories from the people of the American West for the past three decades. Cannon wrote all of the songs here, and most reflect the landscape of the West: "That's How It Is On The Range," "Desert Home," "Love The Place You Live." These pieces show his deep roots in and love for the people and places in this part of the world. This self-titled CD is his debut recording as a solo artist, and Greg Harness says "it is impressive." Read and listen.

June Tabor and the Oysterband Ragged Kingdom

In 1990, June Tabor and the Oysterband collaborated on the masterpiece Freedom and Rain. They have played together occasionally; June joined the Oysterband during their 25th Anniversary Concert, and also sang with them on a recording for The Big Session (2004). But a full-fledged reunion disc only recently came to pass, and it has been well worth the twenty-one year wait. Ragged Kingdom does what the joining of the Tabor with the Oysterband does best: a balance of traditional song arrayed against daring contemporary choices. Lee Blackstone rocks out and digs in with his review of this ragged kingdom.

Andrew Cronshaw The Unbroken Surface of Snow

Andrew Cronshaw is a true pioneer of the world music/roots scene. Years ago, Cronshaw captivated listeners with his glistening zither playing on traditional English, Irish, and Scottish tunes. There would be hints of Cronshaw’s wide-open ears, and an affinity for Finnish and other music of far northern climes. And now comes the equally unhurried The Unbroken Surface of Snow. Like the title of the album itself, the compositions hint at broad expanses of space, and in fact the music develops as if hanging over a frozen desert... Lee Blackstone venures into the cold with his review. Listen and read.

Mauro Durante an interview

"Pizzica can transcend linguistic and temporal borders," says the leader of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, the Salentine ensemble that spearheaded a revival of pizzica tarantata, an ancient folk music born in the southernmost part of Italy's Puglia region. Tarantismo died out decades ago, but its music not only has survived but is thriving, both in Italy and on the international world music scene. George de Stefano talks with Mauro Durante about the position of the music of Salento in the 21st Century.

Tareq Abboushi & Shusmo Mumtastic

Palestinian Tareq Abboushi is a master of the long-necked lute known as the buzuq or that the players comprising Shusmo - clarinetist and zurna player Lefteris Bournias, bassist Dave Phillips and percussionists Hector Morales and Zafer Tawil - likewise know exactly what they're doing. Abboushi honed his buzuq technique at the conservatory in Ramallah, but only after he'd been exposed to a good deal of Western classical, rock and pop music... His later jazz piano studies in the U.S. prompted him to see what sorts of Middle East/West fusions were possible. He explores those possibilities with tasty skill and little in the way of pretense... Tom Orr listens in and offers his review.

John McCutcheon This Land

July 14th, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie's birth. While there will undoubtedly be a number of musical tributes leading up to that day, This Land: Woody Guthrie's America from John McCutcheon will stand out. The mix of songs here is impressive for a 58-minute CD. The well-known, expected songs are all here from "Pastures of Plenty" to "1913 Massacre" and of course "This Land Is Your Land." Quite a few lesser-known songs are here too like "Deportees" and "Pretty Boy Floyd." There are songs here of celebration and of mourning, songs of love and songs of injustice, songs that tell stories, and songs that paint portraits. Woody Guthrie is quoted in the liner notes as saying, "I've seen the pretty and I've seen the ugly... But there are still children to be put to sleep, lovers to serenade, outrageous boasts to shout, heroes to celebrate." All of that ground is covered here... Greg Harness wanders through This Land and you can read more.

Fiolministeriet The Fiddle Ministry

Last year in these pages we reviewed the string quartet album Waltz With Me from the Norwegian fiddler and composer Annbjørg Lien. She took a traditional string quartet - two violins, viola, and cello - and gave it a distinctly northern sound, composing with traditional Norwegian music in mind. Fiolministeriet (the Fiddle Ministry) from Denmark end up in a similar musical space but come via a different route. This string trio - Kirstine Sand on violin, Ditte Fromseier Mortensen on violin and viola, and Kirstine Elise Pedersen on cello - take traditional music from Denmark and use their classical training to bring together the best of the dance hall and the concert hall. Some pieces seem ready-made for the concert hall, but then, there are the surprises! Greg Harness reveals it all in his review

Just a Band interview

"When kids on the playground are playing they have words for different sounds... like police cars, gunshots." This is how Just a Band explains the title of the new multi-media Kudishnyao, an experimental music and video installation exhibit. Say the title with the right bit of nasal high pitch, and it's a serious sound effect. Just a Band does cool, upbeat, trancy music, so Afro-specific and yet so possibly from anywhere. A group of animators, musicians, graphic artists and new media activists who met in college, they seem to blend genres, technologies, and mediums in a way that makes new meaning out of the word band. Nyasha Laing talks with members of the multi-media ensemble from Nairobi.

Jensen & Bugge Hav Og Land

Everyone experiences times when life gets heavy, and for many of us music is a remarkable tonic. Over the past few months, when my soul has needed restoration I've been turning to the new CD from Jensen & Bugge. This collection, Hav Og Land, consists primarily of traditional Danish dance tunes, and I can't help but smile when I put on this record... Jensen and Bugge have been playing together for ten years. They make a great duo, and that pairing is well demonstrated here... They also play with a full band consisting of the always impressive guitarist Morten Alfred Høirup, clarinetist Bjarke Kolerus, and Thomas Hedegaard on bass. The band is stellar, and the arrangements sparkle. Greg Harness taps his feet and shares the music in his review.

Sevara Nazarkhan Tortadur

Uzbekistan's Sevara Nazarkhan is best known for electronica music that's as much techno as ethno. One Tortadur, she has taken the sort of back-to-roots approach that's increasingly common and seldom if ever a bad thing. To do so, she rounded up a half dozen of her country's most esteemed traditional musicians, players advanced in age and experience who understand every nuance of the maqams (classical modes) that musically define Central Asia. Tom Orr explores her new roots sound.

AcquAria "Sempi amMari" Recorded live.

Vincenzo Castellana (voice, tamburo, friscalettu, guitar) and Michela Musolino (voice, percussion) are joined by Thomchess (ney, oud, marranzano) in a special performance of sea songs from Sicily. In this 50 minute concert the ensemble AcquAria offers a program of traditional dances, ballads, love songs and work songs from the people who live on the shores and work the seas of this Mediterranen island. Listen to the concert.

Tinariwen Tassili

Leave it to Tinariwen, those Malian Tuareg freedom fighters who’ve long since discovered how much mightier the guitar is than the gun, to both progress and go back to their nomadic desert origins on their new release. On the one hand, they recorded the album in the remote canyon region of Tassili in southern Algeria, setting up tents and recording equipment, favoring acoustic guitars over electric and letting the wide open vibes flow. On the other, they brought in members of TV on the Radio, Wilco and -most surprisingly- the Dirty Dozen Brass Band to expand upon their Saharan blues sound. The collaborations with outside musicians are not surprising, given how acclaimed Tinariwen has become among mainstream rockers. And what the guests bring to the table is neither forced nor intrusive. Tom Orr reviews the new desert blues of Tassili.

Various Bambara Mystic Soul

It's official; the so-called developed world is drowning in DJ-curated repackagings of 35 to 40 year old Latin and funk-influenced West-African grooves. Many of these collections suggest scenes that may have never really existed, or their editors cherry pick particularly rare stylistic examples of sounds the bands themselves only dabbled in. In this way, they often decide what matters based on what a Westerner may truly be able to get with, due to a familiarity many us really ought to get past. Yet compilations and original LP reissues by the likes of Analog Africa, Soundway, Strut and a growing host of others are also shining a spotlight on what was no doubt a fertile period in the region's musical development, a post-colonial, pre-corruption-fueled fallout that, for a brief moment, allowed the arts to flower. It's only natural that the interest would spill over Burkina Faso. And positioned as it is due east of southern Mali as well, its 70s-era pop sounds no doubt bear the stamp of that Sahelian musical powerhouse. Bruce Miller digs into the sounds of Bambara Mystic Soul

MORE ARTICLES AND REVIEWS   Review archive Sia Tolno, Guinea Vlada Tomova, Balkan/US Tareq Abboushi & Shusmo, Palestine/US Andrew Cronshaw, UK Salaam, US Najma Akhtar and Gary Lucas Fiolministeriet, Denmark Sevara Nazarkhan, Uzbek Jensen & Bugge, Denmark Terrae / Pocket Poetry Orchestra, Italy Bambara Mystic Soul, Burkina Faso CJ Chenier, US Mamud Band, Italy Plantec, France Al Andaluz Project, Spain/Germany Ravid Kahalani's Yemen Blues Trio Mio, Sweden/Denmark Mor Karbasi, UK/Sephardic Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica, US Monty Alexander, US Hazmat Modine, US Milagro Acustico, Italy Sargent Garcia, France Peña, Peru Les Chauds Lapins, US Delhi 2 Dublin ...plus many, many more.   Interview archive Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino Just a Band Geoff Berner Juan de Marcos González Steve Riley Väsen Makana Ellis Deolinda Frode Haltli and Trygve Seim Tab Benoit Caroline Herring, Claire Holley and Kate Campbell Annbjørg Lien Audio Specials AcquAria Sacha Silva Ian Blake, Tigran Aleksanyan, Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Andrew Cronshaw Three Metre Day Habbadám