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.
Divanhana: Zavrzlama

Divanhana: Zavrzlama

Tangled Up in Blues Listening Post 351. The title of Divanhana’s sixth album is a Bosnian word meaning “knotted,” a refreshing departure from overused terms like “fusion” and “blending” to describe music that unites diverse elements. Based in sevdah (sometimes called...

Mónika Lakatos and the Gipsy Voices: Hangszín

Mónika Lakatos and the Gipsy Voices: Hangszín

Tailwinds and Headwinds Listening Post 305. More than anything else, her voice—soaring, soulful, charismatic, bluesy, passionate—explains why Mónika Lakatos received the 2020 World Music Expo (WOMEX) Lifetime Achievement Award, becoming the first Roma artist to win...

Tsaziken: Machnaty

Tsaziken: Machnaty

Song Love & Wanderlust Listening Post 235. Like the queue outside the Louvre, the seven-woman chorus Tsaziken is a fascinating mix of disparate elements and common threads. Based in Cologne, with German and Slavic roots, on their second album they sing in eight...

Romano Drom: Give Me Wine

Romano Drom: Give Me Wine

Generations Listening Post 228. Millennials, baby boomers, GenX and Z—today’s vocabulary suggests that each generation is a world unto itself, with distinct attitudes and values. Romano Drom’s Give Me Wine is all about generations, but in the classic sense of culture...

Khamoro Budapest Band: Hungarian Gypsy Music

Khamoro Budapest Band: Hungarian Gypsy Music

Breaking Barriers With Sound Listening Post 114. One of the most commonly used Romani loan words in English is “pal”—a fraternal takeaway reflecting the solidarity that binds a wandering people. A powerful byproduct of that solidarity is music that breaches social...

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