In a season of Greek mythology NIAMH THORNTON looks at an intriguing relocation of Medea to contemporary Mexico
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Marvels from Mali
TONY BURKE recommends recent releases from the epicentre of kora music and desert blues
MAKING CONNECTIONS: Ballake Sissoko
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By chance, RENATA MEDEIROS MIRRA comes across a fine new two hander about the enduring legacy of the Miners' strike
Rescue care from the realm of sentimentality: what happens when we replace the vertical relationship between benefactor and victim with interdependence, collective organisation and struggle?
New releases by Interpol, Phoebe Bridgers, Lambchop
ANGUS REID urges us to understand the persecution of Jason Arday from a political and historical perspective, and to see the victim in human terms
Re-releases of the classics Gypsy Rhumba and Buena Vista Social Club, and a stunning album by Palestinian artist Faris Ishaq
Nothing, says ANDY HEDGECOCK, can rescue this undistinguished amalgam of ponderous melodrama and shallow philosophical speculation
TWO years in the making, Ballake Sissoko’s Djourou (**** No Format) draws together solo compositions alongside collaborations with a number of artists including Salif Keita, leading female kora player Sona Jobarteh, cellist Vincent Segal, French rapper Oxmo Puccino, singer-songwriter Piers Faccini and Arthur Teboul, the singer from Paris rock band Feu! Chatterton.
Djourou is the Bambara word meaning string and the kora has 21 of them. The string here refers to the connection with the artists who appear on the album.
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