C’est la Vie Listening Post 35. Throughout his 40-year career, Francis Cabrel—the greatest French singer-songwriter of his generation—has woven strands of folk, blues, jazz, rock and pop into iconic songs of relationships, protest and social commentary. On his 13th...
One For the Record Book Listening Post 34. An album that makes those “greatest of all time” lists is one you can listen to endlessly and never want to skip a track. Un Besito Más (One More Kiss) by the Mexican brother-sister, singer-songwriter duo Jesse Eduardo and...
Scores Listening Post 33. When a knee injury put an end to Diogo Nogueira’s soccer career, he went into the family business—samba. Son of a renowned sambista, Diogo grew up in the heart of Rio de Janeiro’s musical culture. Since launching his career in 2007 he has won...
Russian Dressing Listening Post 32. Just as Greenwich Village nurtured the American folk revival in the Sixties, so is St. Petersburg, Russia’s cultural center, the stage for a back-to-the-village folk group whose members dress like peasants and play like virtuosos....
Master Stroke for Bygone Folk Listening Post 31. The English Folk Dance and Song Society commissioned the singer-scholar Fay Hield to gather an ensemble of musicians to explore the society’s newly launched web archive in 2013 and produce a concert of some of the...
Island Cadence Listening Post 30. Zouk emerged in Guadeloupe and Martinique as a carnival-beat music style, but in recent years it has taken on a more sensual cadence, conducive to slower dancing and love songs. It has also transcended its Caribbean origins,...
In an Asia Minor Key Listening Post 29. Notwithstanding its name, the Turkish music form known as Arabesque has Byzantine and Balkan influences as well as Arabian. Over the past 20 years a new form, Arabesque-pop, has emerged with the addition of more Western...
Alchemy on the Seine Listening Post 28. When a singer is gutsy enough to do an album of classic Paris chansons—even someone like Zaz (Isabelle Geffroy), with two hit records behind her—you can bet the army of Paris-lovers will be ready to pass judgment. Verdict:...
Shop Talk Listening Post 27. Nations rarely achieve higher living standards without losing some of their essence in the climb. The Cuban troubadour Tony Ávila sings and composes with wit, nostalgia and caution about the grinding wheels of change and progress. The...
Voice of a Continent Listening Post 26. As a singer-songwriter, percussionist, choreographer and dancer, Dobet Gnahoré brings life experience to her music. In the Ki-Yi Mbock Company, a theater ensemble and training village in her native Côte d’Ivoire, she encountered...
Hiding in Plain Sight Listening Post 25. It’s not easy to hide two gems on a 14-track record, but Eros Ramazzotti’s latest album is so packed with enthralling songs that listeners can get distracted. Much reviewer praise has gone, fairly enough, to the country-tinged...
Entwined Affinities Listening Post 24. Gwyneth Glyn sings and writes Welsh folk music. Tauseef Akhtar is a singer-composer from Mumbai and master of Indian ghazal, a traditional form of love poetry. Neither is the sort to compromise cultural integrity; nonetheless,...
Beauty from Misery Listening Post 23. Barbara was one of “Les 3 B,” a triumvirate of singer-songwriters—including Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel—who defended French chanson from the onslaught of American and British pop/rock in the Sixties. Her melancholy songs of...
Where the Heart Is Listening Post 22. Keali’i Reichel is a pillar of the Hawaiian cultural renaissance. In addition to being a singer, composer, dancer and choreographer, he has taught Hawaiian culture and language, curated museum exhibits, founded a hula school and...
No-Hankie Fado Listening Post 21. Cuca Roseta’s third album has touches of fado’s traditional melancholy, but from the pace of her arrangements to the bounce in her voice, most of what it has is joy. It’s an embracing joy— while some fado artists temper their music...
A Composer's Voice Listening Post 20. For two decades, Wilfran Castillo has been the preferred composer for many of Latin America’s most popular singers. With Desigual (Unequal), the Colombian musician demonstrates that he can not only write songs that trip well from...
First Magnitude Listening Post 19. Louane Emera knows success and sorrow. She turned all four judges’ chairs at her audition for the French version of The Voice, she won a César Award (the French Oscar) for her first film and saw her debut album go to number 1. She...
Smooth Landing Listening Post 18. The Garifuna people emerged on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent when African slaves intermarried with Carib and Arawak Indians. Deported to Roatán, off the coast of Honduras, they eventually spread to the Central American mainland....
Wave Runners Listening Post 17. Basque whalers, sailors and fisherman dominated the seas around the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Nearly 500 years after those intrepid seamen rode the waves and plied the fishing...
North Stars Listening Post 16. If you associate the North Wind only with cold air, open your ears. Le Vent du Nord, the four-man vanguard of the Québec folk scene, offers the sounds of melodeon and hurdy-gurdy, assorted strings (violin, bouzouki, guitar), rhythmic...
One Fine Day Listening Post 15. Most singer-songwriters master notes, but few are as steeped in history as Moh! Kouyaté. Born into a family of griots—the West African bards who impart stories and oral history through song—he brings centuries of heritage to his music....
Here Comes the Sun Listening Post 14. While summer headlines about Greek debt and the refugee crisis made it seem like Europe was coming apart, a throbbing, Latin-beat song about erasing borders became a smash hit across the continent. The song, El Mismo Sol (The Same...
Hop This Train Listening Post 13. The history of Russian rock music could fill volumes, but much of it can be summed up in a single word: Akvarium (Aquarium). Launched in 1972 by Boris Grebenshchikov and friends, the band—unapproved by Soviet culture...
TMI Listening Post 12. Annett Louisan is Marlene Dietrich redesigned: Shorter in stature, higher in voice, she takes her own route to the same seductive ends. Innocent or naughty, funny or critical, perky or melancholy, she adroitly juggles modern vocabulary and retro...
Streetcar Named Desire Listening Post 11. Move over Judy Garland. The most captivating trolley song in 75 years has arrived on a 15-track album from Portugal’s leading male fado singer. Pica do 7 (7’s Conductor) tells of a shy woman who rides the Number 7 tram daily...
Winter Landscape, Spring Voice Listening Post 10. Perusing the bleak scenes at Oslo’s Munch Museum, you can be forgiven for thinking that Norway’s most renowned painter worked only in winter. Ingebjørg Bratland’s songs focus more on singing larks and summer meadows....
Into the Woods Listening Post 9. El Primer Arbre del Bosc (The First Tree of the Forest) is a five-star stew spiced with dollops of Dalí and a sprinkling of Sgt. Pepper. With floating images and surrealist flair, the Catalan band Blaumut takes listeners on a giddy...
Elemental and Elegant Listening Post 8. Mali, a landlocked nation on the edge of the Sahara, is a musical superpower. One of the most prodigious talents to emerge from the country is Fatoumata Diawara, an actress and singer-songwriter whose debut album keeps gaining...
Platonic Challenge Listening Post 7. Can a man and a woman be Just Friends? The question has launched countless novels, films and songs—some that make us laugh or cry and others that induce yawns. Bastien Lanza, a 26-year-old singer-songwriter, has turned this...
In the Presence of Presents Listening Post 6. From universal themes of love, life and parenthood to the particulars of Israeli life, always wrapped in pitch perfect arrangements, Rami Kleinstein’s musical gift is anything but small. The 12 tracks on Matanot K'tanot...
