The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Sebastian, Four Mothers, Restless, and The Most Precious of Cargoes
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Global Routes with Tony Burke: February 19, 2024
A feast of kora and the music of the Palestinian experience
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JOHN GREEN explores the argument that psychiatry needs to move away from the idea of just seeing and treating the individual
SYLVIA HIKINS applauds a polemic against “cleanfluencers” and considers radical alternatives to current inequalities of housework
RUTH AYLETT admires the blunt honesty with which a woman’s experience is recorded, but detects the unexamined privilege that underlies it
IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
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DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
MALIAN kora player Toumani Diabate’s albums originally released on Joe Boyd’s Hannibal Records between 1988 and 1999 are being remastered and reissued on vinyl and CD by Chrysalis Records over the coming months, kicking off with New Ancient Strings, a collaboration kora player Toumani Diabate and Ballake Sissoko.
Described as a follow up to the rare 1970 album Ancient Strings, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw5MhyvSMUg&t=12s, a collaboration between their fathers, Sidiki Diabate and Djelimadi Sissoko, the reissue consists of eight timeless instrumentals of traditional Mande music with themes going back to the 13th century as well as embracing more modern-day sounds.
The reissue series will feature albums originally produced by ethnomusicologist and broadcaster Lucy Duran who presented the BBC’s World Routes on Radio 3 between 2000 and 2013. Speaking exclusively to the Morning Star, Duran explained the attraction of Toumani Diabate’s music.
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