Table of contents for July 2025 in Songlines

La Belleza began as a joke, a response to being categorised as ‘world music’. “I looked at the press for [2020 album] Miss Colombia,” says Lido Pimienta, “and joked to myself: ‘I’m going to make an orchestral album. I’m going to make the most Western, European music’… then where are they going to put me? That question was the genesis of this music.” Throughout our interview, her question remains rooted in physical placement – in which shop aisle the record would be placed. In contrast to the Latinx-tinged pop of Miss Colombia, La Belleza deals in maximalist orchestral flourishes and avant-garde vocal takes like ‘El Dembow del Tiempo’, perhaps the clearest synthesis of the Afro-Latin sounds and rhythms from her previous work, and the European musical influence adopted for this…

Dan Storper, the founder of Putumayo World Music, has died at the age of 74. Using hand-painted, eye-catching covers to “present the positive sides of countries such as Haiti, Colombia and Zimbabwe that were being depicted in the media negatively”, Putumayo released more than 250 compilation CDs, clocking up more than 35 million sales and playing a seminal part in taking little-known global sounds to a wider audience. Later when CD sales went into decline, Putumayo pivoted to a digital business offering two new digital-only albums per month. NIGEL WILLIAMSON Folk duo Belinda O’Hooley & Heidi Tidow have announced that they will be breaking up after 15 years together in order to pursue new projects. They will play a final So Long For Now UK tour, with dates going up…

On sale July 18 We look at some of the most important protest songs ever recorded and the movements that birthed them – expect Fela Kuti, Kalahari Surfers, Billie Holiday, The Specials and many more. We sit down for a conversation with Palestinian musical collective 47SOUL and we speak to artists involved in Africa Express and their latest Mexican project. We hear from the astonishing Estonian zither group Duo Ruut, chat to Ethiopian keyboard legend Hailu Mergia for a Beginner’s Guide and have a special report from Saddleworth Women’s Morris & Clog. Plus, Norwegian vocal trio Hekate, Ireland’s new folk adventurers Poor Creature, the history of a Cuban/Congolese rumba classic and much more.…

QUINIE Thomas Newell speaks to a Scottish singer threading Scots Traveller songs with a grassroots DIY aesthetic Originally from Edinburgh, Quinie (real name: Josie Vallely) was not particularly musical growing up, “other than a few socialist songs around the campfire as a teenager”, she says. It wasn’t until later that she started singing and channelling her low voice into covering Tracy Chapman songs, but it was when she heard the raw folk singing of Sheila Stewart that Quinie thought, “this is what I’ve been looking for, this is what my voice was made to do.” Rejecting the virtuosity favoured by many contemporary trad musicians, she was drawn more towards the DIY music which she thinks complements folk music. “I take the ‘do what you like’ attitude of DIY and combine…

“Somebody said that we are playing music from the world as it should be,” explains Mateusz Dobrowolski, frame-drum player with Polish folk band, Hajda Banda. “First, that folk music is not obscure and forgotten but a living thing that can be adapted in the way the performers want. And, on the other hand, people from different nations are having fun together where borders are not important.” Hajda Banda play music from Poland’s border zones in the east, neighbouring Belarus and Ukraine. This area includes Polesie, a wetland area in eastern Poland and beyond. Old archive photos show wooden boats as the main transportation. It remained relatively isolated and its distinctive music was well-preserved. The 19th-century Polish ethnographer Oskar Kolberg dedicated volume 52 of his 84-volume collection of tunes to Polesie…

The Songlines Top of the World compilation, featuring tracks from our favourite albums each issue, can be downloaded by visiting https://linktr.ee/SL209 Amamere Man Shall Be Free afro urban project This Ghanaian group’s debut is a fresh collection of highlife jams. Guitar lines unwind through the compositions like a labyrinthine thread; guiding us to groove. Horns supply funky punctuation in the style of vintage StevieWonder. Bandleader Rim Akandoh Jnr balances his lineage to highlife’s heyday (through his father’s Prince Sparrows Band) with evolution. ‘Abenim’ draws from folk songs that the Sparrows would groove on for nearly half an hour. Akandoh Jnr distills the material into a taut four minutes; a sensible concession to accessibility. This is a good time record. Twin guitars tessellate moreishly on ‘Amane Hunu’; organ supplies a jaunty…

This new album arrives five years since the last. We had to wait 10 years for Cera Perdida and Minyo Cumbiero! Are Frente getting more prolific? Besides Frente Cumbiero, I am also involved, through all of these 15 to 20 years, in many other projects such as Los Pirañas [and] Ondatrópica, which were also recording and travelling a lot. So it was in between all of these things that Frente Cumbiero was also happening. Hopefully, the next one will come before two and a half [years] to keep the proportions. What’s the scene for cumbia in Latin America right now? In Mexico, you will find huge acts like Los Ángeles Azules, collaborating with people from pop, rock, traditional, everything. As well, in Argentina, there is a huge commercial side to…

magsubscriptions.com/music-songlines subscriptions@markallengroup.com +44 (0) 1722 716 997 Discover the world through music Songlines is the definitive magazine for world music – music that has its roots in all parts of the globe, from Mali to Mexico, India to Iraq. Whether this music is defined as traditional, contemporary, folk or fusion, Songlines is the only publication to truly represent and embrace it. Why should you subscribe? ▸ 10 new issues each year delivered to your door or digital devices ▸ Subscriber-only CD or track downloads with every issue, featuring the best music from around the world ▸ Expert music reviews and global dispatches ▸ Access to every issue in our digital archive and 7,500+ album reviews in our online database From £79 a year Subscribe today at magsubscriptions.com/music-songlines Stated subscription rate…

Tell us a little about your early days playing music… Marimbas (and mbiras) were introduced at my primary school by a Zimbabwean music teacher, and I very quickly fell in love with the instrument. I remember using every opportunity to practise my parts by tapping on any surface – including the edge of the dining room table every lunchtime. Although I was very shy, there was something about playing in the school marimba band that pulled me out of my shell. What brought you to the UK? University studies. After graduating in 2010, I worked with a number of musicians while working a full-time job. Six years down the line, I decided to turn to music full-time. I booked a flight down to Zimbabwe in April 2016 to buy my…

“To this day I don’t really know how I ended up on the stage, there at Wembley Stadium,” says Tracy Chapman. “It was completely overwhelming and completely unexpected.” I’m recording an interview with the US singer-songwriter for BBC Radio 4’s arts programme Front Row. It’s to coincide with the re-release of her debut album, Tracy Chapman, which came out 37 years ago, in 1988, when she was just 24, and could be just as often found busking on the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts and in Boston’s coffee shops. It’s a brilliant record. Songs such as ‘Talkin’ Bout a Revolution’, ‘Fast Car’ and ‘Baby Can I Hold You’ have become classics. ‘Across the Lines’, an anguished chronicle of racial violence, remains as urgent now as when it was written; as does…

Robin Denselow Robin is a journalist, writer and broadcaster, specialising in music and politics. This issue, he speaks to Rokia Traoré following the Malian musician’s release from prison (p46). Rosie Solomon Rosie is a music journalist interested in queer stories who has written for The Guardian, The Quietus and others, and a publicity agent with Rarely Unable PR. This issue they spoke to Lido Pimienta (p8). Christopher Conder Londoner Christopher writes about his life-changing visit to Malawi on p42. You can support his efforts to help a young Malawian refugee musician get his education at bit.ly/AmilUni. Songlines was launched in 1999 and is the definitive magazine for world music – music that has its roots in all parts of the globe, from Mali to Mexico, India to Iraq. Whether this…

BRAZIL: Singer Nana Caymmi, daughter of Dorival Caymmi, has died aged 84 years old. She recorded her first song in 1960 and was always active, releasing her final album in 2020… GERMANY: Kayhan Kalhor will perform the world premiere of his new double concerto, Venus in the Mirror, an ode to “peace and friendship”, at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg on June 27. Kalhor will be accompanied by Yo-Yo Ma and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester. They will also perform the piece on June 29 as the opening concert of this year’s Morgenland Festival in Osnabrück… HUNGARY: On September 5, GroundUp Records will release XXX, a new album from folk heavyweights Söndörgő, who are celebrating 30 years of making music. The album will include new tracks, reimagined classics and live recordings… JAMAICA:…

“December 2008. It’s been four months since I received a long, mysterious email from Japan. My friend, the cellist Gaspar Claus, is telling me about a musician he has just discovered: Kazuki Tomokawa, a folk poet, a painter and a gambler in his spare time. His name echoed – wasn’t that the subject line of the Japanese email? I finally read the message. Its purpose: to invite me to Japan to document this very musician on a small tour between Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. To celebrate, I asked Gaspar to join me. The two-week trip was extraordinary. I extended it by a day to witness the recording of his new album. The day passed slowly in a Tokyo studio: no tension, but no music either. The ‘howling poet’, as his…

Scotland’s Greentrax Recordings is a label of love in the truest sense. The company was founded in 1986 by Ian Green, with his wife June as co-director. For Ian, a retired police inspector, who sadly passed in 2024, Greentrax served as a platform to share his boundless enthusiasm for Scottish folk music. “I first met him in 1967,” recalls Greentrax trustee John Barrow, “he was running, at that time, a very successful regular gig in Edinburgh called the Police Folk Club, affectionately known as ‘Fuzzfolk’.” Ian’s record-selling days began here, offering vinyl albums to punters on behalf of featured artists. “Throughout the 1970s,” Barrow explains, “he developed that into a mail-order business as a side hustle. When he decided to move house, it was partly because the rafters were straining…

A huge thanks to everyone who attended the latest edition of Songlines Encounters at Kings Place, London, which took place May 15–18. This year’s event saw a special 50th birthday show from Italy’s Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, a UK premiere from Armenian group The Gurdjieff Ensemble and a pulsating set from Mali’s Rokia Koné. The festival started on Thursday with up-and-coming qawwali outfit Chahat Mahmood Ali Qawwal and Nani Vazana, fresh from her Liet International song contest triumph. We also had British-Kurdish singer Olcay Bayir and Jason Singh’s Moonscales installation as part of a wide-ranging line-up. Here are a few photos from the occasion.…

Get in touch – we’d love to hear from you! WEBSITE songlines.co.uk EMAIL letters@songlines.co.uk FACEBOOK facebook.com/songlines INSTAGRAM @SonglinesMag Argentine Guitar Heroes I stumbled across an issue of your magazine that covered the best 50 guitar players in the world [Global Guitar Greats in SL203]. As both my brothers are guitar players and we are from Argentina, I sent them the article. They think you’ve overlooked great players, so I asked them to make me a list. Guess what? They did it in two hours! And here it is: Oscar Alemán Eduardo Falú Walter Malosetti Juanjo Domínguez Almendra (Edelmiro Molinari/Luis Alberto Spinetta) Manal (Claudio Gabis) Kubero Díaz Pappo Vox Dei (Ricardo Soulé) Pescado Rabioso (L.A.Spinetta) David Lebón Ricardo Pellican Lito Epumer Divididos (Ricardo Mollo) Hugo Rivas La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros (Gustavo Bazterrica)…

The small African country of Malawi – it’s about half the size of the UK – has loomed large for me for years. Several people in my life had visited or lived there and I loved hearing about it. My introduction to Malawian music came from The Very Best, the trio that Esau Mwamwaya formed in London with Sweden’s Johan Hugo and France’s Etienne Tron. Their debut, Warm Heart of Africa (2009), is a joyful, multilayered blast of electronics, eclectic instrumentation and traditional rhythms alongside globally conscious guest stars like M.I.A. and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig. Ever since, I’ve been attuned to the music of the country, noting with pleasure the success of the Malawi Mouse Boys, Faith Mussa, Gasper Nali, Lazarus, the Zomba Prison Project and, most recently, Madalitso…

These three musicians began playing together with a 12-show run at Greenwich Village’s famous Blue Note venue and have just released their debut album off the back of the success of those performances. With Béla Fleck’s Grammy-winning banjo skills, Edmar Castañeda’s gorgeous Colombian harp and Antonio Sánchez’ renowned drumming, the group move into jazz and all around it, incorporating motifs and sounds from their various and musically rich backgrounds along the way. 7 JUL National Concert Hall, Dublin; 9–10 JUL Cadogan Hall, London. belafleck.com…

During the 20th century, significant migration from Tü rkiye to Europe brought approximately 400,000 Turkish and Kurdish individuals to the UK. A large proportion of these migrants are Alevis from various Anatolian regions, who fled longstanding political and cultural repression, persecution and violence in Tü rkiye. As part of my post-doctoral research at the Department of Music at SOAS, University of London (2021–2023), I conducted an ethnographic study exploring the role of music – particularly the bağlama – in the social, cultural and political lives of Alevis in London. My fieldwork included educational activities, participant observation and interviews within Alevi communities and institutions, with a specific focus on how the bağ lama shapes everyday life, identity and intergenerational transmission of belief and culture. As one of Tü rkiye’s most iconic…

Selected by Tokyo’s Record Shops For crate-diggers, it doesn’t really get better than Tokyo. With areas like Shibuya once known as the ‘Mecca of record shops’, the plethora of places to buy music stands as proof alone of the vinyl’s resurgence. And while vinyl sales still aren’t at their pre-90s levels, I had no problem whatsoever sourcing locations to uncover for this piece. What struck me as I wandered around the city’s narrow streets, however, wasn’t just the number of shops, but how specialised they were. Each visit felt like I was discovering the owner’s personal collection, with some shops dedicated to just one genre, or just one era from that genre – something so at odds with the largely generalised nature of stores in London. With that in mind,…

TOP OF THE WORLD TRACKS 01 Rastak ‘Azadi’ From Tales of Earth and Sun on Rastak Music Group The Iranian group show us just why they’ve made it to 25 years together, with swirling oud melodies, catchy chorus, sparkling qanun and plenty of infectious energy. See p67 02 Peggy Seeger ‘Sing About These Hard Times’ From Teleology on Red Grape Records Peggy’s characterful vocal tones ring with solidarity in the company of her sons, as they reflect on life’s daily, ever constant, difficulties. See p62 03 Madalitso Band ‘Chemwa’ From Ma Gitala on Les Disques Bongo Joe Deep slides from a one-string babatoni bass, infectious rhythms and groove-laden guitar riffs, paired with the busking duo’s warm chorus and jovial shouts, make for an uplifting earworm. See p48 04 Maurice Louca…

There was no need to weave and elbow a path to the front of the crowd at Polygon Live LDN, as this festival was all about finding your way to the middle. With “five times more speakers than a typical festival stage” (according to the press release) and a dual-dome design, Polygon created a central hub so that the audience could hear the music in near surround-sound. Allied to a lighting rig that formed a pulsing cage-like structure, Polygon achieved its aim of creating a new and extra-immersive live experience. The first artist to take the stage was Arooj Aftab, a singer known for blending South Asian classical music with jazz. As someone who has only ever streamed the singer’s ethereal performances, I was completely unprepared for her sheer force…

“Maloya is my whole life, my guiding path, both personally and professionally!” declares Marie-Claude Lambert-Philéas with a large smile during our video call to discuss her band Votia’s long-awaited second album, Vié Kaz (‘The Old Log Cabin’). Speaking from her home on La Réunion, Lambert-Philéas explains how she created her family group of musicians as a legacy to maloya, the Afro-Malagasy music, song and dance tradition specific to this island. The roots of today’s maloya are found in the music created by enslaved people from East Africa and Madagascar who worked in the local sugar plantations. Over time, this music became a way of expressing the joy of being together, but as Lambert-Philéas adds, “I also give ear to social injustice and violence, specifically to women. But of course, I do…

Spice Girls Spice (Virgin Records, 1996) I don’t remember ever hearing the Spice Girls for the first time. They were just there. I started listening to them before I could understand what I was singing along to, before I was aware of what I needed to fight for as a woman. But, everything they said, from ‘if you wanna be my lover, you’ve got to get with my friends’, to ‘tell me what you want, what you really really want’, felt like they were talking to me. As a child… I’d go online, find the songs, and then teach them to my friends at school… When we performed, I always fought to be Baby Spice and Scary Spice – I feel like I’ve got both elements. The cutesy and the…

It’s a truism that the blues has its roots in Africa but if you ask Taj Mahal, he will tell you that so did just about every other form of popular music. “I think we need to take the spyglass of anthropology and turn it around the other way and realise that the majority of music that’s popular in the world is based on African music,” he told Paul Freeman in 2012. In Taj’s book, it’s not just blues but jazz, zydeco, gospel, rock, pop, soul, R&B, reggae and so many more styles which are all “cousins, aunts, uncles, second-, third-, fourth-cousins, cousins by marriage, sister-in-laws and mother-in-laws” of African music. “I see it as family… Go and introduce yourself,” he continued. Having made his name as a bluesman of…

Songlines’ pick of the bunch… Ruhaniyat (رُوحانیت) An Orchestral Sufi Experience (10 JUL Aviva Studios, Manchester) World premiere from Sufi composer Rushil Ranjan, best known as the co-founder of the Orchestral Qawwali Project, who will join forces with Manchester Camerata and Sufi vocalist Jyoti Nooran (of the Nooran Sisters). If it’s anything like Orchestral Qawwali and its mix of Sufi vocals and instrumentation with classical instruments (often with a modern twist), then we’re all in for a treat. RUSS SLATER JOHNSON Peggy Seeger Legendary folk singer’s Final Farewell tour continues, featuring songs from her last-ever album, Teleology, alongside plenty of tales. 13 JUN John Peele Center, Stowmarket; 14 JUN The Stables, Milton Keynes; 20 JUN Black Box, Belfast; 21 JUN Lark Concert Hall, Dublin; 22 JUN Glor, Ennis Co Clare; 26…

What’s the music scene like in Nottingham? Nottingham is a fantastic music city, it’s really diverse and close-knit. It’s quite easy to see music from all corners of the world every week, and there’s a lot of cross-genre collaborating going on too. It’s the main reason I settled here nearly 20 years ago. My best memories from the early days are multi-artist parties organised by promoters like I’m Not From London. Happy, hazy memories of gigs in caves and boxing rings in the middle of the dancefloor! What’s exciting you in Nottingham music-wise right now? The most exciting thing is the smaller DIY venues and promoters working hard to help make it viable for out-of-town artists to come to the city. Nottingham’s always had a great local scene, but at…

Iry LeJeune was born in Pointe Noire, Louisiana, US in 1928. According to a new compilation, Viens Me Chercher, featuring previously unheard recordings, LeJeune is “the person responsible for the post-World War II accordion revival in Cajun music.” LeJeune’s recording career started in 1945, at a time when string bands dominated recorded Cajun music, one clear example being ‘Jole Blon’, a huge fiddle-led hit by Harry Choates in 1946. LeJeune had grown up in a family of accordionists and could play his first accordion tune by the age of six. Due to a severe vision impairment, which led him to attend a school for the blind, LeJeune was restricted in helping his parents with cotton picking. He soon turned to his prowess on the button accordion as a way of…

“You know there’s an Irish song called ‘The Dawning of the Day’, a traditional song, and there’s a hymn called ‘At the Dawn of the Day’ as well, so it’s not as if it’s a totally fresh idea in that sense”, recalls Richard Thompson in an off-hand manner which seems to be a habit of his. We’re chatting about ‘Dimming of the Day’, a song he originally wrote for Pour Down Like Silver, the 1975 album he made with his then-wife Linda Thompson. It’s a song which has since become one of Richard’s most popular, regularly requested by fans and quite possibly his most covered song to date. Discussing how the song came to life, he suggests: “I think like a lot of songs, you get into an almost semi-conscious…