by Danny Wiser | May 10, 2022 | Reviews
The rabab shines as Essar reminds his fellow compatriots about the richness and beauty of his family’s culture.. As the son of an Israeli, I have been wholly aware of my internal battle that I have been facing for many years as to whether I should proudly...
by Danny Wiser | Jan 4, 2022 | Reviews
This East meets West album does far more than introduce Westerners to the beautiful Baul music tradition – it enables both artists to truly shine… We recently featured an album showcasing one of UNESCO’s masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of...
by Joel Dwek | Dec 29, 2021 | Reviews
Afro-Cuban music inspired pianist Kishon Khan as a young man, and the result is this epic album of Latin-South Asian fusion… While the music is always the most important part of an album, there are certain extraneous details that can be important as well. Things...
by Danny Wiser | Oct 30, 2021 | Reviews
The Faruma Boduberu Group have made an important album that one day may sadly serve as a legacy of this great tradition from this noble nation… When this project started, there were fears about finding albums from various countries. On some level, we never truly...
by Danny Wiser | Oct 27, 2021 | Interviews
In the summer of 2021, we sat down to chat with fusion music pioneer Ashwin Batish to discuss his musical life in three continents, his academic legacy, as well as the key musical influences in and outside of his family… “The idea of getting better and learning...
by Joel Dwek | Aug 6, 2021 | Reviews
American styles sung in Nepali by a powerhouse vocalist in the form of Arthur Gunn, this is a debut album that makes you pay attention… Born in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, Dibesh Pokharel, later known professionally as Arthur Gunn, moved to the...
by Danny Wiser | May 27, 2021 | Reviews
Sonam Dorji honours his great nation’s musical past and delights listeners with the beauty of the delightful drangyen… Throughout this entire process of listening to albums from every nation, we have consciously tried to select a diverse range of musical...
by Danny Wiser | Apr 5, 2021 | Reviews
A tapestry of rock music in which Aurthohin dip Bangladesh’s toe into the sea of hard rock in style… Growing up in the UK I took for granted the already wide range of music that had been in existence in my birthplace and as a child I naively thought that...
by Danny Wiser | Mar 15, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Serenity, spirituality and sanctity feature as strands of this phenomenal collaboration between two musical devotees… When many in the West imagine a monastic Buddhist life they often get confused and instead picture the deprivation of asceticism. Under this...
by Danny Wiser | Feb 4, 2021 | Reviews
The album is enjoyable but more so than that, balances ambition and endeavour to break the status quo without relinquishing Euphoria’s obvious pop sensibility… Legends of the Indian pop game, Euphoria, decided to break convention from producing the expected...
by Danny Wiser | Dec 26, 2020 | Reviews
A beautiful introduction to the world of kafi, Abida Parveen guides her listeners on a spiritual journey of devotion… Despite not being NoiseNomad’s in-house resident Sufi music expert, I do not feel overwhelmed by the task of writing a flattering review of...
by Danny Wiser | Dec 13, 2020 | Advent Calendar
INDIA: Shehar Ki Pariyon Ke Peeche – Ayesha Jhulka and Aamir Khan… Not strictly a song about Diwali, this Bollywood hit is featured in the background of Diwali celebrations and has become synonymous with this festival of light. Diwali itself is a Hindu...
by Danny Wiser | Nov 22, 2020 | Reviews
Pioneers of Sufi rock Junoon honour their predecessors, their piety and their poetry… When I think about Junoon, one quote that comes to mind is that of Isaac Newton. The legendary scientist once said: “If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the...
by Danny Wiser | Aug 29, 2020 | Reviews
The Pakistani pop prodigy Haroon provides an eclectic pack of pretty perfect tunes… Sometimes on NoiseNomad I find myself struggling to find the right words to intellectualise an album that I have really liked, and when I am unable to do so, I feel like I am not...
by Joel Dwek | Aug 20, 2020 | Reviews
The Sri Lankan pop duo succeed in creating an enjoyable collection of catchy, easy-listening tunes… When Danny and I discuss these albums, often months in advance before we actually write these reviews, there is one stock criticism that appears more often than...
by Joel Dwek | Aug 14, 2020 | Reviews
Gentle Nepali folk music sung very well by vocalist Navneet Aditya Waiba. But is there more behind the recording of this album…? When I first gave this a listen, I found the most striking thing about Ama Lai Shraddhanjali by Navneet Aditya Waiba is Waiba’s voice...
by Joel Dwek | Aug 10, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
In his first Western album, the King of Qawwali Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan shows off his immense vocal talent in an album that straddles the line between tradition and innovation… Qawwali is a particular style of Sufi Islamic devotional singing that achieved a...
by Danny Wiser | Jul 26, 2020 | Reviews
Kabul Dreams’s raw, edgy, and unrefined debut album demonstrates that with defiance, talent can even emerge through the most challenging beginnings… When most people think of Afghanistan, they perhaps think of the images that have been disseminated across...
by Danny Wiser | Jul 4, 2020 | Reviews
Sitar superstar Ravi Shankar’s ‘East meets West’ album shows us that cross-cultural collaborations are an integral part of producing great music… In the 1950s, whilst Afro-Cuban jazz and Brazilian jazz (bossa nova) was finding its feet and was increasing...
by Danny Wiser | Jun 4, 2020 | Reviews
The Pakistani pop stars Vital Signs certainly know how to make a fun and catchy sound… The hallmark of a great pop album is not necessarily about the quality of the music, but sometimes it can be of its catchiness. According to this logic, Vital Signs, Vol 1. is...
