World Music Central

1 week ago | worldmusiccentral.org | Madison Quinn

Xanthoula Dakovanou – Lamenta (Quart de Lune, 2021)Lamenta, the 2021 release from Greek vocalist and composer Xanthoula Dakovanou, is anchored in the miroloï tradition of Epirus, ancient mourning songs that have long carried grief through the mountains of northwestern Greece. Notably, this album extends a hand to the past, inviting its ghosts to dance through a music shaped by jazz, post-rock, and ritual.

1 week ago | worldmusiccentral.org | Madison Quinn

(headline image: Meral Polat live in Vienna –Photo by Hanna Fasching)Meral Polat is an acclaimed actress, singer-songwriter, and theater producer based in the Netherlands. She graduated from the Amsterdam University of the Arts, specializing in Drama and Contemporary Music Theatre. Her multidisciplinary career spans prominent theater, film, and music productions, where she is widely recognized for her expressive range and innovative approach.

2 weeks ago | worldmusiccentral.org | John Philpott

(headline photo: Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay)Writer and musician John Phillpott travels to Cyprus and discovers a music that has played a crucial part in healing the ethnic divides of that troubled eastern Mediterranean island. For those of us who firmly believe that music is the glue that binds people in this troubled world together, there is arguably no better example of that universal harmony than the island of Cyprus.

2 weeks ago | worldmusiccentral.org | Angel Romero |Ángel Romero

El Pantorrillas – Palomo Cojo (Self-Released, 2025)El Pantorrillas redefines a once-pejorative term with Palomo Cojo (lame pigeon), an album rooted in southeastern Spain’s folk traditions. The title references a rural Spanish euphemism used to question a man’s masculinity, particularly in the 1970s-90s. Here, it becomes a declaration of identity, weaving stories of love, loss, and resilience into traditional musical forms.

3 weeks ago | worldmusiccentral.org | Tom Orr

Born in Ivory Coast and currently based in Atlanta, drummer/percussionist Yakou N’guessan scores with “Tchapalo” (named for a traditional beverage) a layered piece of jazz fusion featuring interlocking Afro-Latin beats, a swirling melody and soprano saxophone for sweetening. Tom Orr is a California-based writer whose talent and mental stability are of an equally questionable nature.