Yearly Archives: 2007

Return of the gypsy Queen with her first recording for 8 years and she does not disappoint. This remarkable woman who has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and who has adopted (with Stevo her late husband and the person who discovered her) 47 Roma orphans comes into her own on slower tracks like Javera Cumingan where she tells of the lament of an abandoned girl or the CD closer ‘Tut ka Pajravan’ – ‘I’ll get my own back’ . A true star.

Graham Radley

Good collection for this ‘dance of the Orient,’ things crack off with Hossam Ramzy’s percussion driven ‘Aziza’ among 15 tracks with my picks being the Cairo Orchestra with ‘Ghannli Shwayyi, Shwayii’ and Harem with ‘Solo’. Good collection which will suits fans and newcomers alike.

Graham Radley

His previous four CDs have been recorded with his full band but for this one he’s taken a more laid back approach to the blues with gospel and soul influences mixed in and recorded with friends and fellow musicians he has met on the road. Amongst the guests are Lucky Oceans from ‘Asleep At The Wheel’ who plays some superb pedal steel on three tracks while Ray Wylie Hubbard delivers some great slide guitar on ‘I Can’t Wait.’ The full line up is Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges (bass guitar); Ian Moss (guitar); Ray Wylie Hubbard (slide guitar); Lucky Oceans (pedal steel guitar); Clayton Doley (Hammond b-3 organ); Robin Clayton (bass guitar); Declan Kelly (hand claps); Pat Manske (percussion).

Graham Radley

Mostly centred around USA, Cuba and Puerto Rico (although Iceland is represented!) we get ten great tracks, here’s a few of those names: Machito with Cannonball Adderley, Poncho Sanchez, Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Hilton Ruiz and my favourite here-The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmierir Project with the 8mins 51 secs of joy that is ‘Guajira Dubois’. Tasty.

Graham Radley

A new label born from the wonderful Ether this is as you might guess a highly varied compilation demonstrating some of the influences the great man soaks up. Good to hear the Massive Attack remix of Nusrat again, they also appear with their own ‘Teardrop’ . There’s a couple of Nitin’s own tracks (Fragile Wind and a Zero ID remix of ‘Songbird) among 14 tracks in total all ending with Bob Dylan & ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’. Nice mixture.

Graham Radley

Recorded when she was 16 (18 now) Sonya draws here influences from much older music forms especially acoustic blues, folk and jazz. These twelve self penned tracks make this a notable debut which has drawn a lot of comparisons to Norah Jones although I’m not sure that’s altogether valid as her style is probably more widely influenced than that, so think classic songwriters from Joni Mitchell to Van Morrison. You’re going to be hearing a lot more about and from Sonya Kitchell.

Graham Radley

The title means water is life and when you’re desert nomads then the significance is all the greater. Third album, with Justin Adams on production duties again and it’s a don’t mess with what doesn’t need fixing philosophy, allowing the music to roll along, drawing you in, evoking the spirit of the desert and using the blues to provide the shading to the landscape. They even managed to get onto the BBC’s Glastonbury coverage which was brilliant especially when you consider the vast numbers of artists there (witness Africa Express as one very special example) who the BBC ignored. Excellent.

Graham Radley

There is a really brilliant number of gypsy music releases just now and this one is straight out the top drawer. The village of Clejani in Southern Romania is the birthplace of an amazing number of brilliant musicians, including Taraf de Haidouks, their arranger and musician Ionitsa, with his wife Viorica, decided to branch out and form Clejani Express here we get both highlights from recent years and some brand new recordings. Top class.

Graham Radley

Subtitled ‘Playful tracks from around the world’ we start with ‘Animal Crackers’ from the aptly named Wee Hairy Beasties (featuring the Mekon’s Jon Langford). Some tracks like The Be Good Tanya’s ‘The Littlest Birds’ are more familiar than others while Quartetto Cetra deliver an Italian version of ‘Old Macdonald’ and kids themselves join in on Les P’tits Loups du Jazz and ‘L’Otorhinoceros’. Be warned if you listen to this with your kids you might find you keep singing ‘no more monkeys jumping on the bed’ for the rest of the day! Good fun.

Graham Radley

Yet more excellent roma tracks, but this time more on the euro remix side of things. Included are !DelaDap, Shantel (also featured here with an excellent remix of the Amsterdam Klezmer Band), Balkan Beat Box, Anselmo Crew, Magnifico & Turbolentza, Kistehen Tanczenehar, Luminescent Orchestrii and Gipsy.cz. A portion of proceeds goes to the Roma Education Fund.

Graham Radley

Ok what I have is a 12 track sampler taken from this series. This first wave of releases, which have not been available in the UK before, will feature Chucho Valdez, Guapacha with Chuco Valdez, Irakere, Los Papines & Ruben Gonzalez and Orquesta Cubana De Musica Moderna. Further releases will include Los Amigos, Cachao and Ruben Gonzalez. The quality is of course superb.

Graham Radley

Highly significant group to come out of Zimbabwe in the 1970’s who used the political upheaval of the time as a positive force within their adventurous music which brought together the different rhythms of the region. 20 re-mastered tracks taken from 1974’s Chipo Chiroorwa LP and from singles recorded between ’76 and ’79 showcasing their mellifluous, dancing, guitar led funky African music. Excellent.

Graham Radley

Absolutely gorgeous this one, vocals, full of passion and emotion, against a backdrop of equally intense but fluent music. Concha Buika’s parents are from Equatorial Guinea but she grew up alongside the Gypsy community on Majorca and it’s flamenco to the fore here. As you might expect the influences filter through (she’s also had success on the Euro house scene) so jazz and funk melt easily into the Spanish vibe but to be honest that voice could take you anywhere. Recommended.

Graham Radley

13 tracks that feature some of West Africa’s greats in the acoustic intimacy of their music. The wonderful Babba Maal & Mansour Seck ease us in with ‘Maacina Tooro’ with Senegal being further represented by Nuru Kane and Daby Balde. Mory Kante with ‘Djou’ represents Guinea along with Djeli Moussa Diawara (joined by Bob Brozman), Grand Papa Diabate & Sona Diabate & Kante Manfila. Mali has tracks from Issa Bagayogo, Mah Dama, Coubacar Traore, Toumani Diabatre & Ballake Sissoko and Dieneba Seck while Niger’s Etran Finatwa complete this excellent line up.

Graham Radley

The Rough Guide series takes us straight into the feel of a Middle Eastern street café, you just want to there savouring the sounds, smells and atmosphere. Compiler Nili Belkind has picked 18 tracks which takes us from Morocco (Mayodi) across Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Greece and includes seven tracks from Egypt. My pick is Mokhtar Al Said & El Ferka El Masaya’s ‘Souhair’s Tabla’  – simple but evocative.

Graham Radley