Ellipsis Quintet – Avoid The Void

This is something of a revelation for me!  The music produced by the Ellipsis Quintet, led by trumpeter Vasilis Nalbantis, mixes traditional Balkan, Greek and Levantine melodies inside a framework that would appeal to fans of the avant-progressive and Rock-In-Opposition genres.  Theirs is a prog-world-jazz stew that’s one of the freshest Continue Reading

Sak Sok Ensemble of Fershampenuaz Village – Nagaybak Songs From Chelyabinsk Region, Russia

A fascinating release from our friends at Antonovka Records.  From their Bandcamp website: “Nagaybaks are an ethnic group that descends from the Christian Tatars and shares the same self-name with them — “Kreshenner”, which means “Baptized Ones”. There are about 10 thousand Nagaybaks in total, they live primarily in the Continue Reading

Antiq – Ilbeltz / Hanternoz / Anceisural Eritance – D’Anjou en Vasconie

This was a combination I didn’t expect.  It’s not uncommon for, say, black metal musicians to integrate their music into pagan folk and make a good hybrid, but this is something different.  Antiq combine soaring traditional Basque and Breton vocals with a proper metal backing, and somehow, by some strange Continue Reading

Msylma & Ismael – The Tenets of Forgetting (مذاهب النسيان)

Saudi singer Msylma & Egypt’s Ismael are two musicians who come from the rich Middle Eastern electronic music scene.  Msylma’s rich, mournful and introspective voice gives depth and emotion to the electro music produced underneath.  I have to admit, though this isn’t the kind of music I normally listen to, it’s Continue Reading

Adjin Asllan, Tarik Bulut, The Garabed Brothers, et al. – In An Egyptian Garden

From the legendary Canary Records Bandcamp site: From the 1910s through the 1950s, immigrants released 78rpm discs marketed to their own language / ethnic groups, and that practice survived for a century well into the era of the 33rpm, 45rpm, cassette, and CD era. But from the mid-50s though the Continue Reading

Divanhana – Zavrzlama

In January, we had the pleasure of reviewing a track called Ćilim from Bosnian ethno-folk band Divanhana, and now, it’s our pleasure to bring you the rest of the album! Zavrzlama is a collection of sevdah tracks which have a darker, more minor-key quality than what I’m used to from Continue Reading