Flavorwire Praises Junun’s Truly Collaborative Spirit

According to Flavorwire, Junun is “an East/West collaboration that feels truly equal, that elevates each artists’ work to create a whole that supersedes the sum of its parts.”

“Where is the line,” asks the site in its review of the collaborative album Junun from Jonny Greenwood, Shye Ben Tzur, and the Rajasthan Express, “between cultural interchange and appropriation?” It’s apt question, as “there’s something fascinating about the way [Radiohead‘s] Greenwood comes to this music; as a vacationing Westerner, through the third-party performance of songs composed by a Middle-Eastern artist [Tzur] living in India.” Putting the record in the context of other American or British rock stars who have hooked up with folk musicians from “exotic” locales, the Flavorwire says the album avoids the problematic effects of some of those previous collaborations. “Greenwood’s reverence for this music is clearly demonstrated,” the site concludes, and Junun benefits from Greenwood’s lack of “frontman dreams.” Read the full review here.