First, a bit of geography. The island of Hvar is located off the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, opposite the city of Split. Fairly narrow (5-11 km in width) and 89 kilometres long, it is renowned for its sunshine – a local hotel tradition offers free bed and board to any visitor who finds himself detained on account of snow or fog –, its limpid waters, some of the clearest in all of Europe, and the warm welcome of its inhabitants. The city of Hvar is the main city, but Stari Grad, owing to its ancient status as the island’s capital, has maintained an important role, perhaps more revealing of local habits and customs.

This (mostly) live album from a pair of Iranian sisters is an absolute melodic feast. Sampling the range of music – from the classical modes of "Saghi Nameh" to the opening lush Kurdish theme of "Mina" – is a joy, and nowhere more than on "Dorna," where their voices shine, largely unaccompanied, on a more contemporary piece that manages to sound timeless. There are some fascinating little diversions, as when the lullaby "Gole Laleh" morphs into the spiritual "She's Got the Whole World in Her Hands" (note the gender change!) sung softly by guitarist Knut Reiersrud, who also brings a lot to this CD instrumentally. Apart from the lovingly sinuous voices, what impresses most is the rich, loving variety of sensual and exotic melodies filling the disc. It's close to a sensory overload – but stops short, just at the perfect point.

It all starts with the voice. At turns heavy and hulkingly powerful, yet agile and pointedly precise, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s vocal not only embodies the tradition of the Sufi qawwali but it is the emotive essence of singing itself.

This is the sound, the story, of the M’berra Ensemble, a collective of Malian musicians from the M’berra Refugee Camp in southeast Mauritania, and Italian producer and electro-shaman Khalab. In a sprawling tent city rising out of the desert, out of nothingness, at the border with Mali in West Africa, brought together by spirit and circumstance, the group’s Arab and Tuareg members — some unknown, some who have previously toured Europe — find solace and beauty in music and song.

In 2024, the singer and songwriter Oum celebrates her fifteen-year career with a live album recorded in Marrakech, which plunges back into the magic of her three flagship records, here revisited in a different light. This seventh album, named Dakchi, which means "those things," is the opportunity for this daring off-roader to allow herself a suspended moment for a temporary assessment, a return to her roots. Dakchi is the first best-of live album, in which Oum brings together around ten titles from her repertoire woven throughout three albums with identities as singular as they are filled with a common sap: "Soul of Morocco" (2013), "Zarabi" (2015), and "Daba" (2019).

Work on preparing this album began in 2019, when I first encountered Mykola Dyletsky’s music – we performed fragments of his Requiem Liturgy with Wrocław Baroque Ensemble in Kyiv. At that time, they made a great impression on me, which, along with my subsequent work as a conductor on this artist’s works and subsequent concerts, strengthened my feeling that I was dealing with a unique repertoire. Dyletsky’s work is a fascinating encounter between the East and the West – the language, liturgy and melody of the Eastern Church harmonise with Western compositional techniques and musical styles. There are clear inspirations from the Venetian polychoral style and stile concertato, and tutti sections are often intertwined with figurative fragments in a solo ensemble.

With its two sides split between Perry and Gerrard's vocal efforts, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun serves as both a display for the ever more ambitious band and a chance for the two to individually demonstrate their awesome talents. Beginning with the portentous "Anywhere Out of the World," a piece that takes the deep atmospherics of "Enigma of the Absolute" to a higher level with mysterious, chiming bells, simple but effective keyboard bass and a sense of vast space, the album finds Dead Can Dance on a steady roll. Once again a range of assistant musicians provide even more elegance and power to the band's work, with a chamber string quartet plus various performers on horns, woodwind, and percussion. Impressive though the remainder of the first side is, Gerrard's showcase on the second half is even more enveloping and arguably more successful. The martial combination of drums and horns that start "Dawn of the Iconoclast" call to mind everything from Wagner to Laibach, but Gerrard's unearthly alto, at its most compelling here, elevates it even higher.

Formed in France, but rooted in Spanish flamenco tradition, the Gipsy Kings began incorporating pop into their buoyant Latin sound in the late 1980s, eventually leading to massive international success. Released in 1991, ESTE MUNDO finds the ensemble offering up a potent set of acoustic guitar-driven tunes that are marked by percussive strumming, dexterous lead work, and the husky, emotive vocals of bandleader Nicholas Reyes. The core group of six-string players is bolstered on some songs by bass, horns, and/or drums, giving ESTE MUNDO a vibrant atmosphere, particularly on songs such as the surging "Baila Me" and the dreamy title track. Although much of the album is upbeat, the Gipsy Kings also ease into a few mellow instrumental numbers, including the gentle "Lagrimas" and the slightly funky "Ternuras." One of the most consistent and confident outings in the Gipsy Kings' catalogue, ESTE MUNDO is sure to please flamenco aficionados and many other world music fans.

Ali Farka Touré is well known as one of the most influential and talented guitarists that Africa has ever produced. His legacy and impact are hard to overstate: Ali’s sound merged his much-loved traditional Malian musical styles with distinct elements of the blues, resulting in the creation of a groundbreaking new genre, now well known as the ‘desert blues’, earning him 3 Grammy awards and widespread reverence. 'Voyageur' is the first release of previously unheard music since 2006’s 'Savane', and features a collection of recordings captured at various points in Ali’s illustrious career. The album, which features fellow Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré on 3 tracks, reaffirms Ali’s status as a globally revered legend of African music.