Best of the year: music

New Internationalist, Jan-Feb, 2005

Before the winner's envelope gets opened, a couple of honourable mentions for those that didn't make it into these pages through no fault of their own: Rizwan-Muazzam's Qawwali and Le Tigre's This Island. That said, it's been a songwriter's year: List of Lights and Buoys by Norwegians Susanna and the Magical Orchestra (Rune Grammofon, NI 370) was a clear debut, full of elegant pacing and understated emotion. There was nothing held back in The Rough Guide to Rebetika (World Music Network, NI 374) a glorious compilation that went to the heart--and bars--of the Greek blues. But it's kd lang's Hymns of the 49th Parallel (Nonesuch, NI 372) that takes 2004's gong. This Canadian songbook maps out a whole new direction for one of the greatest voices of the last 20 years.

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