I decided to record a new solo album for the hurdy-gurdy because there was simply a need for it. After concerts, I increasingly heard questions about music in this format—the hurdy-gurdy on its own, without an ensemble or additional instruments. This album is a response to those conversations. I realized that I could create unique, new music on this extraordinary instrument. My search for an innovative sound required the use of electronics.

New album by SABA ALIZADEH, a groundbreaking voice in contemporary Iranian music who blends classical Persian traditions with avantgarde experimentation.

YĪN YĪN’s new long player, The Age of Aquarius, is a simple, direct appeal to dance. It is also a record blessed with a considerable hinterland; with cosmic time, long studio hours and a determination to transcend the daily ennui of living in the Dutch city of Maastricht all playing their part.

The Danish ensemble Flamenco Passion meets three soloists, guitarist Mikkel Nordsø, violinist Bjarke Falgren and harmonica player Mathias Heise on the new album A Tribute to Paco de Lucia. The group Flamenco Passion are among the very best flamenco fusion groups in Scandinavia, led by guitarist Poul Jacek Knudsen alongside bassist Nicolai Land and percussionist Anders Pedersen. The album is a tribute to the late flamenco guitar icon Paco de Lucia, who has inspired countless flamenco artists and great jazz musicians such as Chick Corea and George Benson. The repertoire presented is original Flamenco Passion themes, one composition by Paco de Lucia plus two tracks composed by Mikkel Nordsø.

On New Year’s Day 1968 I heard Swamy Haridhos for the first time in Bombay and was struck by his charismatic personality and great singing. I was brought to hear and meet him by the family of K. Sridhar and K. Shivakumar with whom I was staying studying tabla and Hindustani music.

Al Wahem ("The Illusion") is the new full-length release by PRAED, the Swiss–Lebanese duo of Raed Yassin and Paed Conca. Recorded between Beirut and Berlin, the album returns to the group’s central aesthetic: a rhythm-driven weave of Egyptian shaabi, electronics, improvisation and the gritty pulse of street-level sound. Nearly twenty years into the project, PRAED have distilled their approach into four pieces that subtly shift the listener’s bearings, reordering grooves and fragments until familiar elements take on new identities.

On his new album, the Ivorian balafon virtuoso Aly Keïta explores new horizons for his instrument in improvised music. Together with his Berlin-based trio, he conquers the peaks of balafon possibilities one by one, wandering between groovy African rhythms, spectacular polyphony and elements of jazz, and combining them into a fusion that is both futuristic and deeply in roots. In Balafon Evolution, Keïta establishes a new level of balafon artistry, creating universal, contemporary soundscapes that transcend cultural boundaries.

Make A Sound presents the perspective of a young parent as they grapple with the horrors of the war in the Middle East. The title track takes a stand against the futility of blind hatred, initiating an intimate meditation on the nature of human solidarity.

Ever wondered how ancient spiritual wisdom could resonate on modern global stages? The answer lies in an extraordinary musical journey that began at the sacred confluence of three holy rivers. Sounds of Kumbha represents far more than just another album release. Moreover, it embodies a revolutionary fusion of India’s deepest spiritual traditions with contemporary global artistry. Furthermore, this groundbreaking project has captured the attention of Grammy voters worldwide. Additionally, the album showcases how customer experience principles apply even to spiritual music ventures.

Embark on a global journey of rhythm and melody with Instrumental Odyssey, a captivating collection of contemporary instrumental tracks from around the world.

When most of us go on holiday to Greece, we hang out by the pool, go to the beach and maybe bring home a souvenir or two. Last year Greg went on holiday to Greece and made an album. Synthesizer, Grand Piano and traditional Folk Instruments are blended with Field recordings to create an intriguing album of Authentic Greek Modal Folk-Jazz and soundscapes.

here are so many instrumental combinations that artists use to create ambient soundscapes. Some work, some don’t. Some create credible music that works, some turn into vapid, new-age-like aural wallpapers. And that does not necessarily depend on the combination of instruments but on the inventiveness of the artists involved and their ability to transform that into music that actually resonates with the listeners, instead of just creating an aural background. Being Grammy-nominated doesn’t necessarily have to be a good sign, but both Manu Delago (handpan) and Max ZT (hammered dulcimer) not only have Grammy nominations but are recognised as innovators, able to use their instruments to create intriguing music, as they do here on their joint effort titled Deuce.

Nature, the cosmos and humanity are the inspirations for Joji Hirota’s latest solo album, Prayer’s Tale. Single-handedly playing 40 different Japanese and Asian instruments, combined with vocals, he weaves sounds of nature, emotions and colours of the universe into a beautiful soundscape.

Mai Mai Mai’s artistic path has never rested on laurels, it’s been a constant evolution, a profound and poetic research, a dark and dusty journey through awareness and collaborations where the heart of the process has always been about building connections and understanding people and their rituals. Mai Mai Mai’s new album ‘Karakoz’ was mostly recorded in Palestine (Ramallah and Bethlehem) in 2024 during an ongoing genocide and follows his acclaimed Southern Gothic double-album ‘Rimorso’. The album opens a new chapter for the Roma based artist, a deeply personal record where his traditional industrial miasma flows into a weeping vortex of spiritual hymns, Mediterranean hauntology and Middle Eastern chants of sorrow, carrying the despair of a battered population and matching the fighting hope with echoes of ambient bliss.

In 1983, in Canada, Vasconcelos came into contact with a group of young musicians from Québec City, who combined their association with the avant-garde with a visceral love for Africa and the suggestions of the Far East. Denis Hébert, the leader of the group, was a pianist and organist who frequented jazz but who had also been exposed to the influence of the American minimalist current. The saxophonist, flautist and bass clarinetist Maurice Bouchard, who would become Québec's most famous jazz musician, enriched his jazz with hypnotic elements drawn from African music and Eastern spirituality.