MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS

Otro Mundo
see end of review for track listing
WARNER CLASSICS & JAZZ 5186543652 [73:52 + 74:12]

Experience Classicsonline



The front cover of the disc proclaims its wares: “A selection of the best music from around the world by BBC Radio DJ Charlie Gillett: 34 Artists from 34 Countries”. What we have is a very mixed bag indeed. Some songs are pleasant, charming or interesting enough; some I rapidly fast-forwarded through; not one would I go far out of my way to hear again. I felt that the description “34 Artists from 34 Countries” was a little disingenuous – it leads one to believe that, given that the fact that there are 34 tracks, each track will feature a different artist from a different country. In actual fact, many of the tracks feature a number of artists from different countries, and even in the cases where one place is specified, Mali, for instance, is mentioned twice.
 
What there is, however, is tremendous variety – from traditional music, through jazz and rock to dance music. Some it is very experimental, such as Carimbo and Zen, whereas the more traditional Taguaerebet from the Algerian group Gaade Diwane de Bechar - dare I say it? - comes as a welcome relief, as does La Loi from Guinea in West Africa, which employs traditional instruments and rhythms. Other songs which impressed were Angolan singer Bonga’s evocative rendition of Nguenda, and Toufoula, which features three African musicians (from Morocco, Mali and Madagascar) on the oud, kora and valita. The second disc opens with the almost haunting song Umam’Uyajabula and also features Merua, a recording made of older-generation, mainly non-professional, singers of the Garifuna people. Mostar Savdah Reunion’s Shukar Feriza is enjoyable, as is the Croatian group Kries’s Lepi Juro Kries Nalaze, Ruzaju from two Sardinian singers, and Beijo De Saudade by Cape Verde singer Tito Paris.
 
I cannot say that any of the other pieces - incidentally, including Hong Kong, which Damon Albarn’s group Gorillaz made with local musicians during a trip to China - particularly impressed. La Vida Tombola features staggeringly uninspired lyrics about a footballer, and the eponymous song has the dubious attraction of having words invented on the spot by the singer.
 
The notes read more like a radio script than programme notes, and are, let us say, lacking in erudition. “The best music from around the world” is a misnomer, to say the least.

Em Marshall-Luck

Track listing
CD 1
CALEXICO El Gatillo [3:07]
MANU CHAO La Vida Tombola [3:12]
NOVALIMA Africa Lando [3:40]
BONGA Nguenda [3:12]
SONANTES Carimbo [3:35]
ROKIA TRAORE Zen [4:35]
BUIKA No Habra Nadie En El Mundo [3:51]
GAADE DIWANE DE BECHAR Taguaerebet [7:46]
LES ESPOIRS DE CONOTHIE La Loi [3:51]
CHIWONISO Matsotsi [5:05]
ISSA BAGAYOGO Poye [4:25]
DUB COLOSSUS Tazeb Kush [5:52]
UP, BUSTLE & OUT Yol Turkusu [3:16]
MONICA AKIHARY Hitam Manis [5:05]
DRISS EL MALOUMI, BALLAKE SISSOKO, RAJERY Toufoula [3:27]
RADIOKUADA Agua E’Nieve [4:37]
TARRUS RILEY One Two Order [5:09]
 
CD 2
MIRIAM MAKEBA Umam’Uyajabula [2:20]
UMALALI Merua [3:12]
C. W. STONEKING’S KING HOKUM Don’t Go Dancin’ Down the Darktown Strutter’s Ball [3:58]
GANGBE BRASS BAND Un Ete A Vodelee [4:40]
MOSTAR SAVDAH REUNION Shukar Feriza [3:44]
CHANGO SPASIUM Tierra Colorada [4:20]
NYA Beni Beni [6:31]
SJAHN DURING Otro Mundo [5:43]
GORILLAZ Hong Kong [7:14]
FELIZ LAJKO Zaszlo [4:35]
OUMOU SANGARE Iyo Djeli [6:01]
KRIES Lepi Juro Kries Nalaze [3:42]
ANDREA PARODI ELENA LEDDA Ruzaju [4:32]
MARIZA Beijo De Saudade [4:17]
JAYME STONE & MANSA SISSOKO Tunya [4:52]
NKAN ELEDUA Ijo Nkan / Ise Mare O [4:33]
GOREALA Outro a.k.a. East [3:26]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.