KATHRYN JOHNSON recommends the work of Norman Kaplan that was a tool in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa
Album reviews with Steve Johnson
The latest from Kate Rusby, Gifford Lind, Alex Black and Guy Burgess
GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes a bold feminist subversion of classic folktales that are ubiquitous in the Irish imagination
A novel by Mexican Juan Pablo Villalobos, poetry by Mexican Ingrid Bringas, and a biography by Argentinian Mercedes Halfon
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an entertaining dramatisation of the famous dispute that gives insight into the struggle, and Murdoch’s unscrupulous mendacity
ELLIS RAE is disappointed by the revival of a nihilistic play that fails to offer alternatives for social change
STEVE JOHNSON recommends an exceptional album that explores the narrative folk tradition often with a strong political message
Kate Rusby
Philosophers, Poets and Kings
Pure Records
★★★★
PAYING tribute to her musical heritage and family upbringing in Yorkshire, Kate Rusby’s 17th studio album is a combination of traditional songs, covers and her own compositions which reflect different musical memories, among them singing with her parents and attending folk festivals at an early age.
Traditional songs like Bogey’s Bonnie Belle sit alongside innovative covers of Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick’s Crazy Man Michael and, somewhat unexpectedly, Noel Gallagher’s Don't Go Away.
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