Artist: Dave Tarras
     Album: Yiddish-American Klezmer Music 1925-1956
     Label: Yazoo/Shanachie Entertainment
     Years: 1925-1956; release: 1992
     Style: Klezmer music, pop-swing
     Quality: MP3@320 kbps
     Size: 140 mb
     Total time: 71:28
     AMG Rating:

This much-welcome CD provides a capsule history of one of the most important American klezmer artists via a 36-page biography keyed to 78-rpm sides, radio transcriptions, and theatrical performances that zoom from cartoon soundtrack joy to delicate waltzes. Klezmer clarinetist Dave Tarras may not have taught Benny Goodman to swing, but his breakthrough style had a profound effect on American pop. Bandmate Ziggy Elman brought the Yiddish influence on jazz out into the open via Goodman's "And the Angels Sing," and where would the Andrew Sisters be without "Bay mir bistu sheyn?" Highly recommended. ~ Bob Tarte, All Music Guide

     Artist: Petros Tabouris & Shankar Chattergee
     Album: Modes and Talas
     Label: F.M. Records
     Year: 1995
     Quality: eac-flac, cue, log, artwork
     Size: 225 MB
     Runtime: 43:23


     Petros Tabouris born in Athens, Greece. He has occupied himself with Greek traditional music cince his childhood and learnt to play the oui, the nai and mainly the Canonaki. He has worked on the ancient and medieval Greek music and has established a strong presence with these subjects in the recent recordings. He has cooperated with many groups and Greek composers by playing the kanonaki.
Shankar Chattergee born in Calcutta, west Bengal. He started learning tabla from his childhood and studied Indian classical music under wellknown masters of Rabindra Bharati Academy. He learnt Tabla improvisation and technique from the famous tabla player Keramadtulla Khan. Shankarlal has performed not only in India but also in Germany and many countries of Europe and showed his activities giving lectures, workshops and experiment conserts with great succes. ~ From the CD booklet

     Artists: Georgy Minasyan (Minasov)/Георгий Минасов
     Album: Ensemble Dudukner
     Label: GM Records
     Year: 2011
     Format: Online-video, mp3
     Time: 01:29

     The ensemble "Dudukner" is the only of its kind in the world. Over the last 10 years of concerts in Armenia and abroad. The ensemble's repertoire Armenian folk songs and gusanskie: Sayat-Nova, Ashot, Sheram, sacred music, oriental mugams, the music of the world. An essential part of their repertoire consists of works of great classical composers Aram Khachaturian, Alexander Spendiarov, Komitas, Narekatsi Shnorhali, Pahlavuni Ekmalyan, Bach, Mozart, Glinka, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, as well as works by contemporary composers.

      Artist: Various Artists
      Album: American Roots Music
      Label: Palm
      Year: 2001
      Format: Flac
      Time: CD 1-52:20; CD 2-52:29; CD 3-46:58; CD 4-62:33
      Size: CD 1-242 MB; CD 2-226 MB; CD 3-242 MB; CD 4-343 MB
      AMG rating:

      The successes of the breakthrough soundtrack from the film O Brother Where Art Thou? and the in-depth PBS television series Ken Burns' Jazz seem to have combined in the 2001 production of Palm Pictures' four-part TV series American Roots Music. The series touches on the development of the distinctly American styles of traditional folk, country, blues, gospel, Western swing, bluegrass, cajun, zydeco, Tejano, and Native American music. Corresponding with the television event, Palm has released a four-CD box set soundtrack with a 48-page booklet covering the styles covered during the show. Much like a broadened version of the amazing Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom, 1950-1970 CD set, American Roots Music has pulled together an impressive list of performers, including the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Bill Monroe, B.B. King, Hank Williams, Robert Johnson, Son House, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, the Staple Singers, Clifton Chenier, Flaco Jimenez, and Bob Dylan. The depth of the track selection is impressive, as is the breadth of the performers chosen. The producers have chosen to include some studio recordings, and some audio tracks taken from the film archives, making for a somewhat uneven sound quality. While the previously unreleased nature of these select tracks will appeal to collectors and die-hard fans, those just exploring these styles might be turned off by the rough quality of these performances. The discs span more than eight decades of music, acting as a good overview of these genres for new listeners, while Americana enthusiasts will view it as another great collection of the most influential American roots artists in music history. [Also available from Palm is a 19-song CD sampler entitled American Roots Music: Highlights and a video collection containing the entire television series on DVD and VHS.]

     Artist: Various Artists
     Album: Man Of Constant Sorrow
     Label: Yazoo (YAZ 3001)
     Year: 2002
     Format: MP3 CBR 320kb/s
     Time: 59:53
     Size: 150 MB (with full artwork)

     This review is from: Man of Constant Sorrow (and Other Timeless Mountain Ballads)
Recently I was listening to a local talk show here in Boston in which the subject was which way at least part of the American music scene was headed. One of the premises of the show was that roots music, you know, the blues, jazz, and the mountain music presented here in this album was once again going to form the new "in " music. Fair enough. These genres have been mined before for their expressions of Americana and they can be mined in the future for that same purpose. But here is the question that I have that underlies that above-mentioned radio show premise. What is it about "roots" music, and here I want to concentrate on mountain music, that reaches out to many generations, social classes and tastes far removed from those craggy coal-laden hills of Appalachia and other isolated regions of the country?

     Well one reason for this reviewer, as least, is that confirmed urbanite that he is a little scratch at his "roots" reveals a father who grew up in the coal mining regions of Kentucky and whose extended family mined the coal back into some mists of memory. Scratch your family tree, especially if your family has been here a few generations and you might find some mountain there too. But enough of that as a reason. How about simple lyrics that talk of hard lives, longing, love, death, hard death, tragic death, death by many means not as a strange outside thing but as very personally expressed ways of understanding the world in the land of the hollows and creeks. Add to that the obligatory fiddle, maybe a mandolin, or other handmade musical instrument of choice and you have an idea, or the beginning of an idea, of the appeal of this music today. Hell, some of it in the end is just music to be social on those long lonesome Saturday nights after a hard week of work and (in the beginning) before radio took center stage. We leave off the dissertation with that said.

     As always the question on any compilation, especially as here we are dealing with very old tracks from some very old records produced in the 1920's and 1930's, is what is worth listening to. Well, my number one choice here is the two-part "The Island Unknown" by Eck Robertson and Family that closes out this CD. Jesus, even to this hardened city boy this is hauntingly beautiful. How about Buell Kazee on "John Hardy". It has been done a million times but listen to this version of the story, it is a little different. And of course the also well-covered title song "Man Of Constant Sorrow". This is good stuff. By the way, when your friends come and try to high hat you with their knowledge of the "in" music just run this little CD at them.

     Artist: Georgy Minasyan (Minasov) & Quartet Dudukner
     Album: Folk Music
     Label: GM Records
     Year: 2000
     Format, bitrate: MP3/192 kbs
     Time: 50:72
     Size: 66,98 mb

     Минасян (Минасов) Георгий Вартанович - заслуженный артист Республики Армении, один из признанных сегодня знатоков искусства мугамата в Закавказье, музыкант, педагог, исследователь и изобретатель новых разновидностей инструмента дудук.

     The founder and the chief of the quartette as well as its first duduk is Geaorgy Minasov. G. Minasov was born in Baku, graduated from Baku Musical College, worked s a soloist of the Folk Instruments Orchestra in Azerbaijan State Radio and Television. In 1983 he moved to Yerevan and has been a soloist of Gussan and Folk music Ansamble since then.

     At the same time he teaches in Yerevan Musical College after R.Melikian. G.Minasov performed on the stages of many counries such as the USA, Canada, Russia, Greece, Sura, Lebanon, IraqEmirates and others. G.Minasov is the author of three text - books on playing duduk. He also created several modifications of duduk: baritone, tenor. As a result, the range of the normal duduk has been enlarged chromatically by a quint.

     He began the work at the instruments in 1992 and in 2002 he got the copy right license for invention. The quartette of duduk-playeres was founded by Minasov in 1998. In 2001 the quartette recorded its first album.

     Ther repertoire of the quartette includes Armenian fold, gussan songs, and spiritual music, music of peoples of the world, eastern, mugams. The considerable part of the repertoire is the works of Armenian composers: Komitas, Yekmalian, Pahlavuni, Shnorhali, classic music (in author's adaptation) of Bach, Mozart, Rakhmaninov, Gershvin and also the work of modern composers.

     Artist: Levon Minassian
     Album: Songs From a World Apart
     Label: Long Distance
     Year: 2005
     Format, bitrate: MP3/320 kbs
     Time: 55:14
     Size: 86,4 mb

     Дудукист из Франции, Левон Минасян, получил титул шевалье, то есть рыцаря. Известен своими записями к знаменитым фильмам: «Последнее искушение Христа», «Майрик» и другим. Здесь представлен его непревзойденный сольный альбом популярных армянских песен.

     As soon as I heard the first song from this album, I immediately said to myself it is surely `that fellow' (Djivan Gasparian) who plays the duduk so masterfully in the soundtrack of `Gladiator'. I have listened to this soundtrack literally hundreds of times, the powerful music of that living genius Hans Zimmer. I heard the same poignant notes of suffering and courage. I immediately bought the album with total confidence, unheard.
Well, in fact it was not Djivan Gasparian I heard but Lйvon Minassian. But it is all the same, for I discovered that Minassian was a student of Gasparian, and I find that the student has become the master.
     Words are inadequate for describing any music, since music has a direct electrical contact to the soul, whereas words are filtered and interpreted by the mind. Yet I will try to describe the indescribable.
     Hearing each song for the first time, our bruised and blistered soul seems to recognise an old refrain and flows readily, willingly along with the music as if it has always known it. The music takes up its rightful place in our memory, as if this place were reserved for it.
Minassian plays with utter mastery, the duduk speaks with a voice as subtle and expressive as any violin, any human.
     Armand Amar, the composer and arranger of these traditional Armenian folk songs, is to be highly praised. Often the voice of the duduk is placed in high relief on the background of a dark, ominous, ambient base but the often-expected digression into trendy `techno' rhythms never comes. The music remains firmly rooted in the timeless and the authentic.
     The music speaks of suffering certainly, but it is the beautiful suffering of the brave heart. As we listen effortlessly, feeling our suffering being expressed fully and beautifully, we find strength in the music as we realise that our suffering is not unique but is the suffering of our condition, the suffering of every man, past and present and future. We realise that it is simply `Suffering'. And suffering is not all bad: for what is suffering except a manifestation of love? Love lost, love that cannot be, love sought and not found, loved-ones missed? There can be no suffering without love.
     This is all understood wordlessly through the music of this masterpiece, for it is nothing less. It is a sure, wide-open gateway to the Spirit, in the world apart.

     Artist: Laco Tayfa
     Album: Hicaz Dolap
     Format: FLAC
     Size: 435 MB (full scans)
     Label: Doublemoon
     Genre: World Fusion, Ethno-Jazz
     Total time: 61:44

     Laco Tayfa represents a new synthesis within the Turkish Roman (Gypsy) tradition. Under the leardership of clarinetist Husnu Senlendirici, Laco Tayfa brings Turkish regional folk music into dialogue with contemporary world music styles, fired by a driving improvisational style. This unification is achieved in Hicaz Dolap at such a level that listeners will find themselves caught up in a journey to the edges of a harmonious whole that is composed of incongruous melodic structures. Every instrument breathes on their own in this album; instruments that once are thought to be archrivals merge in great harmony.Who gave birth to the funk, Joe Tex used to ask? For Husnu Senlendirici, clarinet and leader of Laco Tayfa, the answer is clear - Gypsy musicians from the Aegean Turkish town of Bergama, famous in the country for its bands where the classic zurna and davul are coupled with clarinet and snare drum. Husnu comes from a lineage of musicians, trumpet and clarinet players, so much that his family name means "those who celebrate" (the name of the band is half Turkish half Romany, meaning something like "good team" or "happy company"). His father, Ergun, was an amazing trumpet player, whose unique jazz style was featured in Okay Temiz's Magnetic Band; under the percussionist, Senlendirici also took his first steps.Their first album Bergama Gaydasi was very successful and is well worth seeking out. To add to the basic ingredients of Turkish-Gypsy dance music and 70's funk, Laco Tayfa looks toward other forms of Turkish pop: arabesk, belly dance, and "anatolian ska" as premiered by the best selling group Athena, whose vocalists are guesting on a track here. The CD takes its title from a piece that is often played as an introduction to a belly dance number, and serves as a showcase for the soloists, who take turns in the central section improvising on the makam Hicaz. - product information

     Artist: Johnny Cash
     Album: American VI: Ain't No Grave
     Label: Lost Highway
     Year: 2010
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kb/s
     Time: 32:18
     Size: 69MB
     AMG rating:

     Released for the occasion of Johnny Cash's 78th birthday, American VI: Ain't No Grave is the final installment in the collaboration between Cash and Rick Rubin that began with 1994’s American Recordings. These ten songs were cut during the same sessions for American V: A Hundred Highways. Guitarists Mike Campbell, Matt Sweeney, Smokey Hormel, and Benmont Tench on keyboards were present, as were other musicians. June Carter Cash died during routine surgery during these sessions. Cash, though grief stricken and with full knowledge that he too was dying due to complications from Parkinson’s disease, worked as often as his health would allow. He died three months after these songs were recorded. Ain't No Grave is an elegiac and deeply spiritual album, a formal goodbye without regret from a man and an artist of almost mythic stature. The song selection is rooted in the Americana, folk, country, and gospel traditions. There is an excellent reading of Tom Paxton's “Wonder Where I’m Bound” that doesn’t feel as lost as the original, but more a statement after reflecting on a life fully lived. Likewise his version of Sheryl Crow's “Redemption Day” sums up Cash’s own long commitment to social justice, and the need for individual accountability; its statement of hope is underscored here not as a dream, but as a conviction. Kris Kristofferson's “For the Good Times” begins with the words: “Don’t look so sad, I know it’s over/But life goes on/And this ole world will keep on turning.” It offers a portrait of the dignity and grace Cash performed with all his life. “I Corinthian’s 15:55” is his last self-penned song, a sweet, country-gospel melody that echoes far beyond the margins of contemporary music to an earlier time, and looks at the future with unshakable faith. The title track is a country-gospel-blues by Brother Claude Ely -- it’s a fierce showdown with the Reaper, with the singer winning it hands down. There are excellent covers of Bob Nolan's “Cool Water,” a song Cash often sang live that expresses empathy for the downtrodden, and “Satisfied Mind,” written by Jack Rhodes and Red Hayes, played on a lone acoustic guitar, which dispenses the truth of earthly life into two-minutes-and-forty-eight seconds. Ed McCurdy's “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream” is a true anti-war song that serves as a testimonial. The album’s final cut is Queen Liliuokalani's traditional Hawaiian ballad “Aloha Oe,” one of the sweetest, most affectionate leaving songs ever written. And Cash’s version? It’s devastatingly beautiful; to the point of tears. If there were any justice, Ain't No Grave would be the last album released under Cash’s name. It is not only a compelling contribution to his legacy, but an offering that closes the historic American Recordings series with the same stamp of quality that began it.

     Artist: Harry Belafonte
     Album: My Lord What a Mornin'
     Label: RCA Victor
     Year: 1960, release: 1995
     Quality: eac-flac, cue, log, artw.
     Size: 346 MB
     Total time: 56:30


     With this album, Belafonte moved into his most artistically productive period. The albums he made into the mid-60s were all concept albums zeroing in on specific folk music themes. My Lord What A Mornin' was the first of two albums that featured the choir known as the Belafonte Folk Singers, conducted by Bob Corman, who were now recording as a group on their own for RCA Victor. The album consists of traditional Negro spirituals, delivered by Belafonte who combined his acting and singing abilities with his deep understanding of the subject matter, thanks to his growing interest in his AfricanAmerican heritage and the civil rights movement. Noted poet Langston Hughes penned the liner notes, describing in detail the history of spirituals. This is an emotional, satisfying album, although not quite as powerful as Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall. The CD reissue of this album includes 5 bonus tracks at the end.

     Artist: Yansimalar
     Album: Serzenis
     Label: Kalan
     Year: 2000
     Format: FLAC (cue, log, scans)
     Size: 347 MB
     Total time: 60:08


     The idea of Yansimalar came to light at the beginning of 1990. Music was at the point we came together. Our style came into being in the course of living it, loving it, learning it. First Yansimalar were realesed, then Bab-i Esrar and now Serzenis. We met friends on this road. Some became part of the music of Yansimalar. Some enriched us with their love for our music. It's getting bigger and bigger when we share it in the name of friendship, love and rebel against existing routines.What we desire is to stop the whirlwind of life's complexity and create "a moment". ~ from the CD cover

     Artist: Ray Charles
     Album: The Complete Country & Western Recordings 1959-1986
     Label: Rhino
     Year: 1998
     Format: Flac
     Time:CD 1-74:48;CD 2-78:16;CD 3-75:33;CD 4-78:16
     Size:CD 1-441 MB;CD 2-452 MB;CD 3-434 MB;CD 4-461 MB
     AMG rating:

THE COMPLETE COUNTRY & WESTERN RECORDINGS 1959-1986 was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes and for Best Historical Album.

     Ray Charles' explorations into country music were no mere dalliance. They have their genesis in "I'm Movin' On," the last record he made for Atlantic before moving on to ABC Paramount in 1960. But it was with the enormously successful Modern Sounds in Country & Western series of albums in 1962 (and the career making single "I Can't Stop Lovin' You") that made their mark, crossing over genre boundaries that were unthinkable at the time. An African-American doing hillbilly music was not a first, nor were uptown arrangements of hillbilly songs, but here was the Genius of Soul validating the music of the white working class, plain and simple. He was putting his own spin to it (hence the Modern Sounds), not merely a black voice singing Gene Autry songs, investing them with pain, emotion, and sorrow. It was an unprecedented achievement, both commercially and artistically, and now -- decades later -- it's viewed as just another genre-bender in the grand Ray Charles tradition. But this 92-track, four-CD box set is the first to gather them all in one place and view it as a consistent piece of work spread over a career as a stylist that's second to none. The first disc combines both volumes of the Modern Sounds albums; the rest of the anthology moves through singles, various returns to the concept over the years, and stray tracks from his later stretch at Columbia to spice it all up. This multi-disc set contains some very special music, nicely packaged -- a moment in American music well worth investigating.

     Artist: Yansimalar
     Album: Pervane (Moth)
     Quality: FLAC (cue, log, scans)
     Size: 378 MB
     Year: 2004
     Total time: 57:38
     Genre: turkish ethno, world music, meditative



     Yansimalar (approximately "yahn-sew-mah-lahr", Turkish for "reflections") or Yansimalar in the West is a Turkish group that compose and play contemporary ethnic music, classified as world music in the Western world. It is sometimes listed as Grup Yansımalar (formal Turkish prefix for bands).It was founded in 1990 by Birol Yayla (guitarist, tanbur lutist) and Aziz Senol Filiz (ney flutist). Their 2004 album Pervane ("Moth") was a noted world music album in Europe.

     Artists: Philip Glass & Foday Musa Suso
     Album: Music from 'The Screens'
     Format: FLAC (cue, scans): 317 MB
     Year: 1992
     Label: Point Music
     Total time: 49:25
     AMG rating


This collaboration between world composers Philip Glass and Foday Musa Suso presents a unique body of work grounded in musical virtuosity in both Western and North African musical cultures. The opening strains of "The Mad Cadi's Court" burst with an aggressive violin double-stop punctuated by an Algerian lute playing North African rhythms and tonalities. Strikingly different from what listeners have heard from Philip Glass from this era. These Algerian folk traditions permeate the entire disc, with many pieces energetic and others more esoteric and soundtracky. Composed as music for a production of Jean Genet's play The Screens, set in Algeria, the music both highlights and compliments the play's drama with sounds native to the setting of the play. Very welcome and refreshing. ~ Mark W. B. Allender, All Music Guide

     Artist: Harry Belafonte
     Album: Belafonte Return to Carnegie Hall
     Label: RCA Victor
     Year: 1960, release: 1994
     Format: FLAC + Mp3 (320)
     Size: 432 + 177 (inc. covers)
     Total time: 71:50
     AMG Rating


On May 2, 1960, Harry Belafonte returned to Carnegie Hall for what was supposed to be one of the last concerts in the venerable hall's last season. Carnegie was scheduled to be torn down, although this was an edict that was thankfully short-lived. The hall was instead renovated and remains one of New York's premier showplaces. The first Carnegie Hall recording from the previous year had had such an impact on the recording industry that it opened up new vistas for live recordings. Belafonte faced the challenge of living up to his own legend. For this concert, he began what would be a concert tradition for him: sharing the spotlight with up-and-coming folk performers. Representing the new collegiate folk singing group trend was the Chad Mitchell Trio, currently appearing at New York's Blue Angel, where Belafonte had seen them perform. South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba, another Belafonte discovery, also performed, as did folk and blues singer Odetta, and the Belafonte Folk Singers. The guest stars nearly upstaged Belafonte, but this turned out to be de rigueur for his concerts. Highlights include Odetta's powerhouse medley of the work songs "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain" and "Water Boy," the Folk Singers' exciting "Ox Drivers Song," Makeba and Belafonte's charming duet on "One More Dance," and the Mitchell Trio's exuberant Israeli song "Vaichazkem." For a finale, Belafonte turned to the Mexican folk dance "La Bamba," treating it to an eight-minute-long heels-flying festive romp. ~ Cary Ginell, All Music Guide

Artist: Sam Collins
Album: Jailhouse Blues
Label:Yazoo Records
Year: 1990
Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kbps
Size: 91,9 mb

Known as "Crying" Sam Collins, after the eerie, falsetto quality of his voice, the artist in fact had many nicknames. A rather prolific recording artist, less than half of the 50 sides he cut saw release. Often the same tune would crop up on different labels necessitating a variety of pseudonyms (including "Bunny Carter," "Big Boy Woods," and "Salty Dog Sam"). Jailhouse Blues collects the bulk of the guitarist's commercially released output. Perhaps not as expressive or emotionally exhilarating as the "hard" Mississippi Delta singers, Collins' voice has an accessible, undeniable beauty.

    Artist: Tim Hardin
    Album: Tim Hardin 1
    Label: Verve Records
    Release: 1966
    Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
    Time: 27:37
    Size: 66,5 Mb (cover)
    AMG Rating:

          WOODSTOCK - 40 YEARS ANNIVERSARY
                    DAY ONE

   Tim Hardin's debut album was something of a happy accident, a killer record at least a third of which was comprised of tracks intended as demos, while another half utilized a string orchestra that the artist knew nothing about. Whatever its origins, Tim Hardin 1 is one of the most powerful and compelling records of its era, encompassing deeply personal and compelling poetry, blues, rock, and folk in settings ranging from stripped-down Sun Records-style rock & roll to lightly orchestrated folk-rock. The beautiful, briskly paced "Don't Make Promises" — which, along with "Reason to Believe," became one of the two huge songwriting hits here — opens the album on an ambitious note, its sound mixing a small-band and string section behind a confessional lyric. . . .

           

    Artist: Cesaria Evora
    Album: Rogamar
    Label: RCA
    Released: 2006
    Quality: 256 Kbps MP3
    Size: 66,1 Mb

   Rogamar (praise the sea, pray to the sea) - is the title of Cesaria Evora's latest album. Recorded in Mindelo, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, the album is produced by pianist Fernando Andrade, who has been accompanying Cesaria on stage since 1999. To round it all up, Josй da Silva asked Jaques Morelenbaum, Caetano Veloso's lifelong accomplice, to arrange six of the fifteen tracks. The Brazilian's strings and flutes highlight the joyful tropical melancholy of Cesaria's new opus.
   The various songs echo typical Cape Verdean themes: exile (Sombras di Destino), social problems (Modje Troffel), insular life (Rosie, Travessa de Peixeira, Saiona d'Vinte Ano), Mindelo Carnival (Mas Um Sonho) which earned the city its name of Little Brazil, parting (Mar Nha Confi dente)... Africa is omnipresent in fi ligree: Africa Nossa, with Senegalese star Ismaлl Lф, is a tribute to the age-old connection between Senegal and Cape Verde (the 'Cape' referring to a promontory North of Dakar). Sгo Tomй na Equador (written by Teofi lo Chantre, music by Ray Lema) is reminiscent of what the island elders called Es Caminho Longe (the long journey), i.e. the "voluntary transportation" of Cape Verdeans to the plantations in Sгo Tomй at the beginning of the 20th century - already evoked in Cesaria's heartbreaking Sodade. And last but not least, the addition of Malagasy Rйgis Gizavo's accordion to Sгo Tomй na Equador and Travessa de Peixeira underlines the emotional fraternity of African islands, even thousands of nautical miles away from one another.
   Bridging the gap between Africa, Europe and Brazil, Rogamar is Cesaria Evora's tenth album since her 1988 recording debut, La Diva Aux Pieds Nus. 'Rogamar' has sold over 250 000 copies. In her career, Cesaria has sold over 4 million albums worldwide.

     Artist: Norah Jones
     Album: Feels Like Home
     Label: Blue Note Records
     Year: 2004
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320Kbps
     Time: 46:50
     Size: 95 MB
     AMG rating:

     It may be far too obvious to even mention that Norah Jones' follow-up to her 18-million-unit-selling, eight-Grammy-winning, genre-bending, super-smash album Come Away With Me has perhaps a bit too much to live up to. But that's probably the biggest conundrum for Jones: having to follow up the phenomenal success of an album that was never designed to be so hugely popular in the first place. Come Away With Me was a little album by an unknown pianist/vocalist who attempted to mix jazz, country, and folk in an acoustic setting -- who knew? Feels Like Home could be seen as "Come Away With Me Again" if not for that fact that it's actually better. Smartly following the template forged by Jones and producer Arif Mardin, there is the intimate single "Sunrise," some reworked cover tunes, some interesting originals, and one ostensible jazz standard. These are all good things, for also like its predecessor, Feels Like Home is a soft and amiable album that frames Jones' soft-focus Aretha Franklin voice with a group of songs that are as classy as they are quiet. Granted, not unlike the dippy albeit catchy hit "Don't Know Why," they often portend deep thoughts but come off in the end more like heartfelt daydreams. Of course, Jones could sing the phone book and make it sound deep, and that's what's going to keep listeners coming back...