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1 Ola Fresca Elixir (PiPiKi Records 81626–97692). Brooklyn-based Latin combo Ola Fresca is a working eight-piece ensemble fronted by singer José Conde, purveying brassy, musically astute New York salsa dura dance sounds with an attitude. olafresca.com

1 Plaza Francia A New Tango Song Book (Because Music BEC5161783). Original tango by singer Catherine Ringer, accompanied by Gotan Project composers Eduardo Makaroff (acoustic and electric guitars) and Christoph Müller (Wurlitzer, synthesiser, programming) and orchestra (bandoneon, piano, strings, trumpet, trombone, clarinet); bonus live CD; lyrics transcribed in Spanish. plazafrancia.tv

Daymé Arocena

2 Daymé Arocena Nueva Era (Brownwood BWOOD0138CD). Performing all original material, versatile singer-composer Arocena builds on her Afro-Cuban roots with an angu- lar, driving Hammond B-3/Wurlitzer jazz-funk sensibility; this is imaginative artistry that yields up its depth through repeated listen- ing, puro sabor. brownwoodrecordings.com

1 Yorgos Mavromanolakis Karpos (Votias, no cat no). Cretan oudist and singer’s modal compositions with equally fine players of lyra, kanon, ney, gaida, baglama, violin, cello, daouli, piano, bansuri, percussion, and singers. But the seventeen-minute Labyrinth, a careful massed-unison plod like a course les- son, is ill-chosen as opener, deterring discov- ery of the album’s subsequent spirited flight. yorgosmavromanolakis@gmail.com

1 Broes Route De Soleil (Appel Rekords APR 1362). Belgian quintet plays their own compositions on accordeon, fiddle, bass, drums and guitar. The tunes draw on a range of genres, folk, various world music influ- ences and jazz, but their playing lacks form and inspiration and the album rarely gets off the ground. www.denappel.be

1 Hohka Mailla/Halmeilla (Hohka HOHKA-002). Finnish quartet’s opener is fair- ly generic fiddle/accordeon/guitar/bass reeli- ness, so the heftiness and space-organ of track two is a surprise. Thence into sparse melodiousness, whispery kantele, surging pulsing accordeon, kantele-strum drive, drama, big train note-bending yee-haw, back to delicate nyckelharpa poise, chiming piano, more bigness, to pizzicato-plink. Lovely. www.hohka.net

@ Various Artists Sulle Rive Del Tango: Aniversario (Agua Loca ALCD006). “On the banks of tango” we’re told, a “secret and mysterious” compilation harvested from now-out-of-stock compilations (re-recycling, musical cannibalism!), night of the digital zombies, the whirled-music serpent devours its own long tail, wanker’s doom in the mar- ketplace, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. agualocarecords.com

1 Various Artists Flamenco Top: El Disco Flamenco Del Año (Discmedi Blau COB5158–02). Three CDs, 52 tracks, no album notes, compiled from over 20 labels, here’s a popular, inoffensive, mostly contemporary flamenco soundtrack for your next sangria and tapas party. Meh. UK distribution via Dis- covery Records. www.discovery-records.com

1 Various Artists Amplificador: Novíssi- ma Música Brasileira The Brazilian 10’s Collection (Far Out FARO186CD). This seven- teen-track compilation reflects the Amplifi- cador collective’s efforts to broaden received notions of Brazilian popular music and high- light the procreative ferment on the nation’s margins, bringing a youthful, roots-conscious, below-the-radar global sonic mashup to wider audiences. faroutrecordings.com

2 Murphy’s Lore Outlore (Own label, no cat no). A tumbling delight of tatty-at-the- edges tunes, defiance and a heap of good- time stomp. East Anglian folkabilly of high degree. Clearly ready to reach for bigger things, they’re rather wonderful. www.murphysloremusic.com

2 Keith Hancock Compassion (Epona. EPO013). Epona’s Hancock output worthily continues unabated, this original third album came out on Hypertension, if I recall about 1993. It’s a more reflective work than the hus- tle and fire found on his initial offerings. Of course it features musical chum Lee Collinson foreshadowing their long running duo. Splendid stuff. www.eponarecords.com

1 lkka Heinonen Trio Savu (RockAdillo ZENCD 2160). Jouhikko – Finland’s primitive- looking, husky-sounding bowed lyre – is the virtuosic lead in Heinonen’s tradition-rooted but free-thinking compositions for jouhikko, double bass, drums and earthy electronics that move between powerful, bow-flicking dancing wildness and whispery pictorial atmospherics. www.rockadillo.fi

1 Rönsy Wandering Tales (Ääniä AANIA- 27). Strong, boundary-pushing arrangements by Finnish trio of Helmi Camus, Maija Kauha- nen and Kaisa Ristiluoma take great advan- tage of the vivid tonal palette of kanteles, two- and five-row accordeons, harmonium and double bass to accompany their sparky vocals in trad and new songs. Appealing. www.aania.fi

1 Folk On Crest Lonxe (Several SRD-438). Salamanca band with songs from Castilla & León and nearby. Gaitas, pipe & drum, guitar, bass, pandero, panderetas and other percus- sion, and guest Kepa’s trikitixa. Lively, melod- ically strong, varied set, with ace card Yolan- da Río’s singing, the reedy, spirited essence of the north Iberian woman’s voice. www.severalrecords.com

1 Paul Goodman Strangely Familiar (Own label, no cat no). Irishman Goodman now lives in Crete, one of the crowd who fre- quents Ross Daly’s Labyrinth. On lyra, various sazes and percussion, joined by Manolia Kokolyianni’s lyra and Marijia Katsouna’s bendir, he plays his own winding composi- tions in the modal music tradition with spirit, if sometimes over-hastily. www.paulgoodmanmusic.com

1 Päkkos Gustaf & Ellika Frisell Evening At Pekkosgården 1988 (Country & Eastern CE33. Cascading, wiggling Dalarna polskas, långdanses and waltzes on the twin fiddles of master Gustaf (1916-2000) and Ellika, already a fine player but also Gustaf’s student, infor- mally duetting one evening in 1988 in his red and white wooden house on the hill in the heart of Bingsjö, plus some 1985-7 Gustaf solos. www.countryandeastern.se

1 Jens Kommnick Redwood (Síunta Music SM 2077). Celtic, folk and baroque tunes on guitar (plus mandolins, keyboards, etc) from “the only German All Ireland Cham- pion”. Clearly influenced by Tony McManus, he’s technically superb with sensitive arrange- ments: some great listenable music but it’s occasionally slightly lacking in emotion. www.jenskommnick.de

FERNANDO PEREZ

World Music For Fingerstyle Guitar Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop GW1030

West African Music For Fingerstyle Gui- tar Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop GW1029

Two excellent new instructional DVDs, taught by versatile, globe-trotting Spanish musician Fernando Perez.

World Music For Fingerstyle Guitar intro- duces a truly diverse selection of styles across its two hours and six compositions – Into The Balkans, Samba Para Ti (Brazil), Ame (Japan) Malawi Dance, Kalani (Hawaii) and Tango/ Habanera (Argentina/Cuba). Each tune is taught one phrase at a time, with split screen enabling close inspection of what both hands are doing. Being a guitar player in the far- from-advanced category, I found the Malaw- ian lesson with its ‘sixth string up one-step to F’ tuning the most immediately accessible, but a bit of serious practice should reward any player with a whole new guitar vocabulary.

On West African Music Perez goes much deeper into musical tradition, with tunes directly learned from griots alongside his own compositions. The main scales and grooves used in West African music are explained, along with the application of spe- cific techniques such as thumb and forefinger picking styles, to imitate kora scale runs and balafon breaks.

Starting in open D tuning, Perez explores the connections between West African music and the blues, and demonstrates how the styles can be effectively combined, making this an invaluable tool for blues-based singer- songwriters as well as dedicated guitarists.

Both titles include a detailed tablature and musical notation booklet as a PDF file on the DVD.

www.guitarvideos.com Steve Hunt

1 Yakumbé Yakumbé (Own label, no cat no). Based in Sweden, this sixteen-piece per- cussion ensemble draws on world roots rhyth- mic traditions, with an energetic array of beats that is no doubt best appreciated live and in the streets, very much in the spirit of its original inspirations. yakumbe.com

1 Haiku Salut Etch & Etch Deep (How Does It Feel To Be Loved HDIF010). The trio take us on a journey down another branch of fine English minimalism. A warm cinematic soundscape of folktronica, using accordeons, guitars, percussion, glockenspiels and bleep, they create an impressionistic wash of sound that Sigur Rós might have if they lived in the Peak District. haikusalut.com

2 George Jones The Crown Prince Of Country Music Plus Sings White Lightning (Hoodoo 263517). Some days we all feel like crying into our beer. Here is the perfect sound - track for such occasions. Whilst GJ is perfectly able to lift the spirit with his driving honky- tonk energy, it is the hurtin’ and cheatin’ songs that makes him the Crown Prince. The raw loss and pain that he conveys in his keen- ing vocal and, oh, those high notes… he the man! www.hoodoo-records.com