Steve Shehan

The music of the French native, Valencia-based cellist Matthieu Saglio combines influences from all around the Mediterranean, from North Africa to Southern Europe. He first gained international recognition as a member of the trio "NES" and the album "Ahlam" in 2018. Soon after Saglios' solo debut "El Camino de los Vientos" earned huge success, especially in the digital world, and has been played over seven million times on Spotify alone.

Hadouk Trio - Now (2002) {Naïve ND68530}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 368 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 136 Mb
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© 2002 Hadouk Trio / Naïve | ND68530
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Ethnic Jazz / World Music

The Hadouk trio (now even a quartet, with their latest release) have the international feel & world music vibe that pioneers such as Yusef Lateef proposed 40 or 50 years ago, in a jazzy vein. Didier Malherbe is one of the greatest living reed/woodwind players; only such luminaries as Sonny Rollins or Branford Marsalis come to mind as more famous living contemporaries. Didier's bebop roots, coupled with Indian raga music, now often featuring the Armenian 'dudouk' double-reed horn, lead to an expressive outpouring of heart & soul in all musical efforts.

Hadouk Trio - Utopies (2006) {Naïve NV 809411}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 362 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 137 Mb
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© 2006 Hadouk Trio / Naïve | NV 809411
Jazz / World Fusion / Ethnic Fusion / Contemporary Jazz

Awarded "Best Band of the Year" at the Jazz Musical Awards 2007. Between Africa and Orient, between Jazz & World, Hadouk Trio introduces us to the land of dreams. After the success of "Shamanimal", "Now" and "Live FIP", "Utopies" is the third studio album of the trio. I can't get enough of this music! Somewhere between jazz, Afro-Cuban, ambient - it's hard to classify, but oh-so-easy on the ears. Three amazing musicians - Didier Malherbe, Loy Ehrlich, Steve Shehan - play 26 different instruments, mostly of traditional African origin. Hyptnotic rhythms and captivating original melodies.

Hadouk Trio - Shamanimal (1999) {Naïve ND68529 rel 2006}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 362 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 136 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 65 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1999, 2006 Hadouk Trio / Naïve | ND68529
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Ethnic Jazz / World Music

Their name comes from the "ha" of hajouj (an African bass, also called a gumbri), and the "douk" of doudouk (a sort of Armenian oboe). Loy Ehrlich, who plays the hajouj, is a multi-talented musician who has backed Peter Gabriel and Jon Hassel on keyboards while continuing his productive African adventures with Youssou N'Dour, Touré Kunda, Geoffrey Oryema and Wasis Diop. He is also one of the programme planners for the Gnaoua d’Essaouira music festival.

Rokia Traore has changed direction once again, with dramatic results. In the five years since her last album, Bowmboi, she has toured the US celebrating the life of Billie Holiday, and written a new work - an African response to the life of Mozart - for the maverick director Peter Sellars. Now comes an intriguing, sophisticated and often intimate set that is quite unlike any of the other great music Mali has produced. Many of the songs are built around her subtle and bluesy electric-guitar work, but also make use of the classical western harp and African ngoni, though no longer the balafon. The result is an exquisitely recorded set that manages to sound contemporary but still distinctively African. It's remarkable mostly because of the quality and range of her singing, which can be quietly slinky and personal, rousing, as well as breathy.

Having already achieved considerable critical and popular acclaim with her first two albums, Rokia Traoré's next step was Bowmboï, the fullest realization to date of her musical vision: a global patchwork so broad that the Kronos Quartet fits seamlessly on the album and The Daily Telegraph has likened her to Björk. With Bowmboï, Traoré emerged as a veritable star in Europe. By its US release on Nonesuch in 2004, the album had sold more than 100,000 copies in France alone and had provoked rave reviews by everyone from MOJO to Rolling Stone to Elle and Time, which has said of the album, “Bowmboï is mesmerizing, casting its spell with virtuoso vocals, rich textures and startling diversity.” While the arrangements on Bowmboï are simple and sparse, the album is rich in musical and lyrical depth.

The sounds of Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa are a coalescence of the complexities of life, with the sheer joy of imaginative creation. Are Euphoria continues to dive deeper into the dreamlike technicolor tapestries their songs have always explored, blossoming forward with each cycle of loops. Completely characteristic of their style, Wong and Minekawa achieve a density of textures, timbres, beats, and harmonies while remaining totally weightless, suspended in the air.