World Listening Post publishes album reviews that showcase music from around the globe. The site encompasses a wide range of contemporary and traditional music styles and encourages readers and listeners to go beyond their own comfort zones by crossing national and linguistic frontiers. You can access reviews, starting with the most recent, by scrolling down the left-hand column of this page; with the index (alphabetical by artist); or by country and language in the right-hand column.
Merema: Kezeren Koiht

Merema: Kezeren Koiht

Moral of the Story Listening Post 300. The 14 songs on Kezeren Koiht (Ancient Custom) have everything required of first-rate folk tales: Dreams and journeys, peril and gore, omens and clairvoyants, love sagas that end well and badly. But where the Brothers Grimm had...

Vedan Kolod: Wild Games

Vedan Kolod: Wild Games

In the Balance Listening Post 267. Siberia is renowned for vast panoramas and extreme temperatures but it is also rich in sound. Over the past 15 years the folk trio Vedan Kolod has been introducing world audiences to the region’s acoustic qualities, from whistling...

Otava Yo: Do You Love

Otava Yo: Do You Love

Ideal Prospect Listening Post 223. There’s more than a touch of Gogol in the Russian ensemble Otava Yo: There's humor, symbolism and archetypal characters that serve as anchors for artistic brilliance. Group leader and co-founder Alexey Belkin explains that the band’s...

Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II

Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II

To Life! Listening Post 148. The song Shpatsir in Vald (A Walk in the Forest) has everything—poignant dialogue between lovers about to be separated by war, a dulcet Russian waltz melody and the spellbinding voice of Sophie Milman (video 1). The lyrics were penned in...

Otava Yo: What Are Those for Songs!

Otava Yo: What Are Those for Songs!

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....

Akvarium & Boris Grebenshchikov: Greatest Hits

Akvarium & Boris Grebenshchikov: Greatest Hits

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...

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