World > Other World Music World

Advantages: big man, big voice, beautiful songs
Disadvantages: 'world music', not to everyone's taste

...you might like it. Facing Future contains 15 songs, some in English, others in Israel's native Hawaiian tongue. There are also some that are mixed and he seamlessly moves from one language to the other and back. I must say, I do not understand a single word of the Hawaiian language but it has not actually bothered me that I cannot understand what the songs are about. The voice of Israel makes up for it more than you can imagine. For a moment you ...
...ukulele'. Very rarely will you find more than just those two ingredients in the songs. Does it matter? No, not at all. Most of the time you won't even realise that there are no other singers or instruments/orchestra. You will just concentrate on the warm voice that sings all these songs where you may not understand the lyrics. When he sings songs in his native tongue you can easily conjure up images of a Hollywood version on Hawaii with girls in ... Read review

Advantages: If you like western style Nusrat you will love this
Disadvantages: Keep well away if you like tradional Qawwali

Nusrat in a diferent style. Its hard to think what the thinking was behind this concert. It could well be as Nusrat often said he changes his music to suit the audiance. On this occasion it could well have been a step to far. Nusrats voice shines as always as does Rahats as he takes a much greater role in this whole concert (nusrat being ill) but for the more traditional type of listener keep well away. The songs vary from the worldwide hit Allah ... Read review

Advantages: Funny, witty, clever; it's klezmer music
Disadvantages: Unnecessary Leonard Cohen cover

...music of the sort played wedding parties and this became common as Jewish people left Europe for America and were influenced partly by the jazz movement. If you still aren't sure what klezmer is, think about the sort of music that is played at Jewish weddings when the bride and groom are lifted up on chairs and the guests dance in a circle round them singing "Hava Nagila" - you're pretty much there. GEOFF BERNER AND KLEZMER MUSIC "The Wedding ...
...are only influenced by Jewish wedding music, you could never suggest that these sometimes dark and subversive songs could be played at a real wedding! However, if klezmer music is to survive and find news fans who will make sure it doesn't disappear, the subject matter has to be relevant and this is something Geoff Berner has done brilliantly. My CD came as a digipack with a pull-out colour booklet containing the lyrics and the packaging has some ... Read review

Advantages: A sublime fusion of roots and more modern music
Disadvantages: Not as good as some contemporaries

This is the self-named album Kal by Kal! Kal are a Serbian band from the small village of Valjevo but are now based in Belgrade, they fuse traditional roma music with a very slight amount of pop/crooning, they are one of very few Serbian artists that still play Balkan music in the traditional sense as Serbian music is these days liittered with keyboards in general. Kal (Romani for black) were once described by a BBC journalist in Leicester as "the ...
...spot on in this case. Kal dress in black suits and hats which instantaneously gives them a mafia look, this image is quickly broken though as they're jolly outlook on life woos the crowd where ever they are quite quickly. The band themselves do a lot of work in Serbia to integrate the roma people in to Serbia in general through theatre productions spanning from Budapest to Belgrade and Bucharest, each year they also run a school (Amala School in ... Read review

Advantages: Superbly talented musicians playing good music
Disadvantages: Flute irritates me sometimes

...throughout the 18th century. Kobzar is brought out by the German record label Eastblok Music and was released in March 2008. 1 - Vstup Is a 19 second song which I'm unaware of the point of, perhaps it has significance. 10/10 or 0/10 depending on how you look at it. 2 - Efir - 4:34 A jolly song where accordian, drumming and later trumpet features highly with a catchy chorus and impressive near orient or latino "aaah's" (if you know what I mean!) ...
...Tramvayem Violin, trumpet and accoustic guitar heavy track to start off with yet another upbeat feeling accompanied with a bit of crooning and later gets a more funky, jazzy feel to it. Insane song to dance to. 8/10 4 - Message Starts off with a heavy metal/hard rock style and moves into reggae with space noises plus the occasional folks instrument (possibly bagpipes) and later jazz trumpets, sang in Polish mostly due to the song being written ... Read review