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KATHRYN JOHNSON recommends the work of Norman Kaplan that was a tool in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa
‘He rose through notes as if through worlds’
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
The Billy Hart Quartet
All Our Reasons (ECM)
One is the Other (ECM)
The veteran drummer Billy Hart, born in Washington DC in 1940, has not only become one of jazz’s most powerful and creative drummers.
He unwittingly became a character in Rafi Zabor’s soulful and sparkling novel The Bear Comes Home, where his fiery drumming accompanies the saxophone-playing plantigrade quadruped who is the narrative’s protagonist, inspiring his primal dream of freedom.
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Chris Searle speaks to saxophonist XHOSA COLE and US tap-dancer LIBERTY STYLES
SIMON DUFF recommends a new album from renowned composer and oud player Anour Brahem.
CHRIS SEARLE wallows in an evening of high class improvised jazz, and recommends upcoming highlights in May
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to drummer Steve Noble