by Danny Wiser | Feb 19, 2022 | Reviews
Urker’s proud multi-influenced sound of the Steppe is repackaged with psychedelic flourishes… If Turkey is the bridge between Europe and the Middle East then it goes without saying that Kazakhstan serves as the bridge between Europe and East Asia, and boy...
by Danny Wiser | Dec 28, 2021 | Interviews
Six years on from their previous release, and despite being hampered by the pandemic, Tuvan folk-rockers Yat-Kha delighted fans earlier this year with the release of their most stripped back album to date, We Will Never Die. Fortunate enough to be joined by lead...
by Joel Dwek | Jul 22, 2021 | Reviews
Blurring the boundaries between tradition and progression, the Uzbek diva shows us her country by combining old songs with a new sound… When it comes to the field of acting, it is said that no actor is more than six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. When...
by Danny Wiser | Jun 22, 2021 | Reviews
Demonstrating Kyrgyz cultural links to both Russia and the West, Gorod 312 prove themselves to be a group with a genuine range of talents… Not only because it is home to the largest walnut forest in the world, Arslanbob, Kyrgyzstan has always been a country that...
by Joel Dwek | Mar 30, 2021 | Reviews
A bastion of Pamir culture, Fesov helps preserve his culture with this accomplished pop-folk fusion record… Graduating from the Dushanbe College of Arts in 1990, Oleg Fesov was not initially intending on a career in music. In fact, before turning his talented...
by Danny Wiser | Jan 18, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
State-sponsored bands often are ‘middle-of-the-road’; however, this is far from the case for these experimental Turkmen extraordinaires… Home to the ‘Gates of Hell’ (the Darvaza gas crater which still burns nearly half a century later after a...
by Joel Dwek | Nov 21, 2020 | Reviews
Easy, relaxed vibes pulsate through this collection of upbeat, jazzy tunes… Two things set off warning signs within me when I was given this album to review. First off the bat was the fact that on the album cover of Infinite Rhythm, Abbos Kosimov himself is...
by Joel Dwek | Sep 12, 2020 | Reviews
Classical crossover pop with operatic influences, iD shows a different side to Kazakh music… Kazakhstan is a central Asian state, a former part of the Soviet Union, and that is where I suspect most people’s knowledge about the nation begins and ends. Rather...
