Tabla de contenidos para April 2023 en Songlines

It’s only my second issue and I’ve already changed my name. Don’t you dare call me flighty. Marriage innit? (to use my adopted Nottingham parlance). I no longer have the name I was born with. I have changed. But I’m not alone. Music is in constant flux. Just ask Polobi, the elusive focus of one of our features, who has found the music that he grew up with in Guadeloupe, that he sings on a weekly basis with simple drum accompaniment, to have had a sudden sonic makeover. Suddenly his voice has been detached from the root, shimmering from left-to-right, forward-to-back, given new textures to breathe off, new environs. The wonders of modern music, Polobi has been contemporised. Polobi is, of course, on board with the whole project, but you…

Nakul Krishnamurthy, who combines Indian and Western classical music, and folk/chamber musician Laura Cannell have been confirmed for TUSK NORTH (Newcastle, March 3-4). Local acts Nagruska and SGRBWD are also on the bill… Meanwhile, London Latin Music Festival LA LINEA (April 21-May 7) will host the likes of Susana Baca, Jorge Drexler, New Regency Orchestra, Mestizo, Duarte and more… Foghorn Stringband, Dirk Powell, The Trials of Cato, Harare and Simon Thoumire are all set for SHETLAND FOLK FESTIVAL (April 27-30), with more line-up announcements imminent… FOCUS WALES (May 4-6) is jampacked with a myriad of sty les covered; Balimaya Project, The Trials of Cato, VRi and Cerys Hafana have all taken our eye… For boundary-pushing music in the metropolis, BETWEEN THE LINES (London, 13 & 20-21 May) has you sorted.…

The Royal Museum for Central Africa in Brussels has a glorious collection of musical instruments and sculpture from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s also something of a lesson in the open handling of colonial history. The museum in Tervuren, which re-opened in 2018 after a major ‘reorganisation,’ still occupies the building where the Colonial Exhibition of 1897 was held, an initiative of the Belgian King Leopold II. A notice at the entrance states: ‘The collections that the Africa Museum preserves and curates are the legal property of the Belgian federal state, but the moral property of the countries of origin. The museum adopts an open and constructive attitude in the debate on the restitution of cultural and natural heritage and works, together with the museums in…

I don’t remember the year when I heard, last minute, that Ali Farka Touré was playing a gig at Manenberg Jazz Cafe in Cape Town. Somehow, I got there in time to catch him. He was accompanied by a local blues guitarist called Albert Frost and a mystery calabash player who would turn out to be Ali’s now-famous son, Vieux. That was the only time I saw Ali play. Opportunities of this kind don’t come every day at the tip of Africa. You would be more likely to see an African legend like Ali if you lived in Albuquerque (New Mexico) or Brighton, but I had another opportunity to see some greats of Mali when Toumani Diabate invited me to his festival in Bamako. The festival performers met around a…

Baaba Maal is relaxing on his porch in Podor, a riverside village in far north Senegal, up near the border with Mauritania. There are chickens pecking by his feet. Under the acacia trees, goats are bleating. The West African superstar – a singer, dancer, composer, activist, guitarist, humanitarian and festival founder – is taking time out from the demands of his high-profile life. Here, in his happy place, Baaba gets to chill, make music, gets to just be. To be Baaba Maal, the son of a Fulani fisherman-muezzin who netted tuna from the Senegal River between calling the faithful to prayer at the local mosque. The son of a mother who sang traditional songs as she went about her day, within a multi-generational family that spoke Wolof, Serer and Pulaar…

Grupo Lokito Bomoko Malecon Records (37 mins) London Congolese salsa outfit lean into their African side This is the second recording from the London-based Congolese/Latin outfit who have been delighting audiences with their lively performances. Grupo Lokito are led by keyboard player Sara McGuinness, a musician and educator who has extensive experience performing and teaching Latin music. Her interest in fusing salsa with Congolese music led to the formation of Grupo Lokito in 2006. On this new release they are fronted by three Congolese vocalists, giving the recording a strong Congo musical flavour. There is slightly less Latin than on their excellent 2010 release Esengo Ya Ko Bina and the instrumental dominance on Bomoko is in the lead guitar and less in the keyboard. However salsa lovers will be pleased…

Voyageur World Circuit (44 mins) A precious collection of previously unreleased gems A new album of nine unheard studio cuts from the Malian legend comes 17 years after his death, but slip on the first track ‘Safari’, and it feels like he and his music have never gone away. A lot has changed in music, and in Mali, since Ali succumbed to cancer in 2006, much of it for the worst – he was mayor of Niafunké, not only its world-renowned guitarist, and the broiling strife and violence unleashed across Mali would likely make him weep bitter tears. For those who love his music, this is an unanticipated gift. Collected from his years of studio work and international touring, Voyageur’s highlights are three scorching tracks with fellow Malian music legend,…

Alvorada Legado de Carlos Paredes ao Mosteiro dos Jerónimos Museu do Fado (34 mins) Ambitious tribute to a legend of the Portuguese guitar If you are familiar with Portuguese guitar, you should have by now come across the names of Artur and Carlos Paredes (father and son). Taking up his father’s extraordinary craft, Carlos Paredes would further explore the instrument’s possibility of being artistically extricated from its dependent relationship to fado. In the second half of the 20th century, Carlos would almost single-handedly invent a repertoire for the Portuguese guitar as a concert instrument, and while doing so in such a brilliant way he would decode the Portuguese soul in compositions like ‘Canção Verdes Anos’ or ‘Variações em Ré Menor’. But of course Carlos Paredes benefited from the path his…

Hert Orange Feather Records (45 mins) Fiddler captures the beauty of her Orkney home Orkney-based violinist, composer, vocalist and founding member of FARA, Catriona Price’s new release is a suite for string quartet, vocal trio, harp, piano, flute, drums and bass, all centred round Price’s Orkney upbringing and inspired by the writing and poetry of her fellow Orcadians. The title-track, (Orcadian Scots for ‘Heart’), sets the scene well for an inspiring, mesmerising, and thoroughly energising listen. Taking as its source a poem by Kevin Cormack, the track references the famous Orkney Ba’ game which takes place on Christmas and New Year’s Day. It is a frenzied affair that is reflected in the track’s synth rhythm and multiple voices. ‘Swans’ sees Hert take a different route from the vigour of its…

Farid El Atrache Nagham Fi Hayati We Want Sounds (34 mins) Reissue of a cult classic from the King of the Oud Born in Syria in 1910, Farid El Atrache was an icon of 20th-century Arab music and culture. Having moved to Egypt at a young age, El Atrache was influenced by his mother to take up singing and oud playing, and began his professional career playing on national radio in the 1930s. He would soon attain superstar status in the burgeoning Egyptian film industry as a lead actor and composer, his exceptional instrumental skills earning him the nickname the ‘King of Oud.’ Nagham Fi Hayati is a vinyl reissue of El Atrache’s eponymous soundtrack to the 1974 film, in which he also starred. Released in the year of his…

“I’m kind of sick of writing about myself, to be honest.” Tom Cox is jokingly explaining why he’s recently shifted from nonfiction to fiction writing. “I enjoyed opening the floodgates to my imagination and being all these other characters. And not having to be me for a while was lovely, really,” he laughs. Cox is an extraordinary writer, possessing an enviable talent for engaging prose full of warmth and humour regardless of the subject, whether it’s golf, life with his cats, the British landscape, or quirky ghost stories. But wherever it has taken him, his writing journey started in music journalism. “I started very young. I got my first job at NME when I was 19 or 20.” This would have been the mid-90s and I suggest that it must…

“Where are all the Black people in British folk music?” I found myself asking this question in early 2020 as I sat confined to the room I would spend 90% of my time in over the next seven months. COVID-19 had left us with little but our own thoughts and those of everyone else we saw through our digital screens. But, as I asked that question, I knew there was a gaping void in the knowledge of what impact and contribution Black Britons had made to the folk music world, especially considering our historic presence on the isles. This question continued to gnaw at me. As a Black British musician myself, I wanted to find possible answers. I’d been writing music that was visibly informed by the folk traditions of…

Claudio Silva A political analyst, writer and entrepreneur, Claudio was born in Angola and educated in the US, before moving back to Luanda in 2013, from where he reports this issue on the death of singer Nagrelha (p74). Alexandra Petropoulos Although no longer our editor, Alexandra is still very much part of Songlines. This issue she speaks to Lisa O’Neill (p17) and Tom Cox (p66), as well as editing our reviews. We don’t know how she finds the time. Julian May A BBC producer on programmes often related to folk and world music, Julian speaks to the members of Hack-Poets Guild (p26) to find out how they are bringing 15th-century broadside ballads back to life. Songlines was launched in 1999 and is the definitive magazine for world music – music…

If you enjoy Nakshatra by Trina Basu & Arun Ramamurthy, one of our Top Of The World picks this issue, then you may want to delve deeper into the record label that released it. SPINSTER describes itself as a ‘radical feminist record label,’ and has a roster that’s hard to describe, ranging from finger-picking guitar instrumentals to dreamy freak folk to Basu and Ramamurthy’s South Indian-influenced chamber music, and even a little riot grrl for good measure. The label was founded by Sally Anne Morgan (musician with the Black Twig Pickers and House and Land, letterpress artist and all-round musical authority) and Emily Hilliard (writer, producer, musician and folklorist) in 2018 as “an alternative to what often felt like a boys’ club”, with a third member, Michelle Dove (writer, teacher…

Moussa Tchingou Tamiditine EP SELF-RELEASED Fiery Touareg guitar from a young Nigerien that even incorporates a Bollywood melody or three. Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin ‘Sala Sala’ / ‘Ntima’ JARRING EFFECTS Bouncy Afropop grooves from this Congolese/French partnership – we can't wait for the album! Maroulita de Kol Anat é lo EP PHANTOM LIMB Divine vocals emanating from Greek rituals with minimal piano and ambient backdrops. Nite Bjuti ‘Illustrious Negro Dead’ WHIRLWIND RECORDINGS Female Afro-Carribean trio pay homage to Black artists and Black life with Haitian drums, swirling vocals and inspired spoken word. Didier Awadi ‘L’Africain’ (feat. Baaba Maal) STUDIO SANKARA Two of Senegal’s biggest names join forces on this highlight from Awadi’s new album, a call for Africans to take responsibility. Jembaa Groove ‘Sweet My Ear’ (feat. K.O.G)…

A cursory glance at the CV of cellist Su-a Lee will leave you with the impression that she needs no introducing at all. An active musician for 30 years, her debut solo album, Dialogues, reads like a Scottish folk supergroup mega-session. It kicks off with the eight-minute ‘Baroque Suite’ with Capercaillie’s Donald Shaw, before duets with fiddlers Duncan Chisholm, Patsy Reid, Jenna Reid and Donald Grant, flautist Hamish Napier, pianist James Ross, accordionist Phil Cunningham, harpist Maeve Gilchrist and perhaps Scotland’s finest singers in the scene today, Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart. Such an illustrious cast is illustrative of the years of connections Lee has made in the Scottish traditional scene. It all begs the question, why has it taken until now for her to release her debut album? “It’s…

Ali was more than a brother to me. He was someone who was very present in my life and guided me a lot when I was starting out. He often said that he was my first fan. When Moussolou, my first album, came out, Ali listened to it morning, noon and evening. It was thanks to him that Nick Gold, of World Circuit, discovered my music. Nick came to Bamako, and he could see that everyone was listening to my record. And Ali kept repeating “sign Oumou on your label!” I grew up without my father by my side, and Ali played a very protective role. He encouraged me in all my endeavours. When I built my hotel, he was so proud! He was a great scholar; he had studied…

1939 Born in the village of Kanau; his family would later move to Niafunké 1956 Decides to dedicate himself to guitar after seeing Guinea’s Les Ballets Africains 1968 Leaves Africa for the first time to attend a festival in Sofia (Bulgaria) and buys his first guitar 1970s Begins appearing on Radio Mali, where he’s an engineer; he sends recordings to Sonafric in Paris who release a series of his albums (early) 1980s Andy Kershaw and Charlie Gillett play his music, specifically the Red and Green albums, on UK radio, to an overwhelmingly positive response 1987 Records his first album outside Africa, Ali Farka Touré, for World Circuit 1994 Wins a Grammy award for Talking Timbuktu, his collaboration with Ry Cooder (late) 1990s Retires to his hometown of Niafunké, where he…

Djam Leelii (Mango, 1989) Recorded with long-time collaborator Mansour Seck in 1984 – though not released for five years – this is a marvellous document of Baaba’s acoustic years, full of hypnotic finger-picked guitar and kora, with Baaba’s voice already possessing a unique power. Firin’ in Fouta (Mango, 1994) The album that heralded Baaba internationally as a major force. The presence of Jah Wobble, Planxty’s Donal Lunny and Afro-Celts’ Simon Emmerson already shows his predilection for surprising collaborators on an album that saw him push into a more electronic globally-minded style. The Traveller (Palm / Marathon Artists, 2016) Baaba’s first album with producer Johan Hugo saw him marry pop-focused elements with activism and roots. From delicate, acoustic passages to anthemic, percussive climaxes, this is peak Baaba, clearing the way for…

Rachel Baiman Common Nation of Sorrow Signature Sounds (32 mins) A woman of constant sorrow Americans are angry. The signs are hard to miss. Bluegrass and old-time banjo music are good for expressing these discontents, as Baiman does on her third studio album, with its Woody Guthrie-esque title, Common Nation of Sorrow, echoing that of the traditional folk song ‘Man of Constant Sorrow’. Unsurprisingly, Baiman’s politics sit far to the left of Donald Trump, but her charm is that her music wears her politics lightly. She focuses on the human and the everyday, and while some of the later tracks verge towards cliche, at her best – as on ‘Annie’ and ‘She Don’t Know What to Sing About Anymore’ – her knack for an infectious hook and a turn of…

Roy Sunak Tear in the River Distrokid (48 mins) Bansuri charts a bizarre fluvial journey Berlin-based bansuri player Roy Sunak’s debut album, Tear in the River, can’t be faulted musically, even if its concept – a tear falls into a river, ‘experiences excitement and joy as well as fear and anxiety… overcomes obstacles on the journey and new friendships are formed’ – is as elusive as it is fanciful and never quite fully realised. Both idea and execution feel like a throw-back (sincere and well-meaning though it is) to some of the more idiosyncratic indulgences of New-Ageism in the 1960s. Variously coupled with Youjin Sung’s gayageum (Korean zither) and a makeshift jazz trio of percussion, piano and bass, Sunak’s facility on the bansuri is fluid, flexible and technically sound, timbres…

Classical Brought to you by Holland Baroque Bachs Königin Pentatone Impressive and moving organ to orchestra translations Holland Baroque have made a name for themselves with their cross-cultural ‘encounters,’ including Baroque and cabaret (Love is Crazy), Baroque and gospel (‘Anthem of Praise’) and an East-meets-West collaboration with Chinese sheng player Wu Wei (Silk Baroque). This album title, Bachs Konigin, refers to the proverbial ‘queen of instruments’, the organ, though this appellation has also been conferred upon the lute and violin through the ages. The Steenbrinks have transcribed Bach’s works for organ for the smallish orchestral forces of Holland Baroque and have even created a concerto by combining ‘BWV592’ and ‘BWV974’. In this arrangement, violinist Judith Steenbrink takes on the mournful melody of Marcello’s oboe with a tender touch. The ensemble’s…

In 1983, the traditional Thai classical music ensemble Fong Naam gave an unusual performance at the AUA Language Center in Bangkok. The American musician Bruce Gaston (see obituary in December 2021, #183) and Khru (teacher) Boonyong Khetkong had founded the ensemble just a couple of years earlier, and the master musicians of the group surprised Bangkokians when they performed a live soundtrack to the 1927 silent movie, Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, a ty pe of performance that few had seen before. The production was commissioned by the Thai Film Archive Director Dome Sukhawong, who had seen Gaston perform improvised piano soundtracks to accompany classic silent movies like Intolerance at the Language Center. Gaston had intended to record his version of the soundtrack and play it to accompany the…

01 Rochereau et Franco Lisanga Ya Banganga (Syllart Production, 2006) ‘The Sorcerer of the Guitar’, ‘The Balzac of African Music’, ‘Yorgho (Godfather)’. The nicknames for Franco reflect his output and impact. This sparkling 135-minute collaboration with another Congolese legend, singer Tabu Ley Rochereau, crystallises the ‘golden age’ of Congo-Zairean music kickstarted by Joseph Kabasele. 02 Eboa Lotin Pur Gold – The Best of Eboa Lotin Vol. 2 (Touré Jim’s Records, 1995) This Cameroonian makossa artiste was one of his country’s most influential musicians. His ambasse bey style centres on fingerpicking, nourishing a series of hits in the 1960s. Bafflingly, Lotin has been overlooked in the African pantheon despite his gently biting lyrics and adventurous axe playing. 03 Oliver Mtukudzi Tuku Music (Sheer Sound, 1999) Known as ‘the man with the…

BRAZIL: ‘Arvore da Riqueza’ (Money Tree), the latest single from Criolo (left), has been released with a video as well as an app that shows young Black Brazilians they need to come together to plant ‘money seeds’ that will benefit their entire community … SOUTH AFRICA: rap artist AKA (35) was shot dead outside a restaurant in Durban, along with popular chef and author Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane… TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: born in Guyana, but known for his contribution to Trinidadian music, especially calypso, the noted historian and educator Gordon Rohlehr has died aged 80… TURKEY/SYRIA: in the aftermath of the earthquake, Radio Chiguiro have released a 49-track compilation featuring global artists to raise funds. ACIL (Emergency in Turkish) is available on Bandcamp, with all proceeds going to a survivor-supporting NGO;…

It’s fair to say there was surprise, but also much goodwill, at this year’s Grammy awards. The biggest shock must be the award of Best Global Music Performance, which went to South Africa’s Nomcebo Zikode, Zakes Bantwini and Wouter Kellerman for their song ‘Bayethe’, which won ahead of Burna Boy and Arooj Aftab & Anoushka Shankar. Zikode, who’s best known for featuring on ‘Jersualema’ (a global hit during the pandemic), told Sowetan Live, “I’m over the moon. Coming from a small township in Hammarsdale, I never thought I could be here, representing SA.” Masa Takumi (pictured right) became the first Japanese artist to win Best Global Music Album with Sakura (which translates as Cherry Blossom). Takumi makes use of multiple traditional Japanese instruments, including the bansuri, koto, erhu and the…

THURSDAY MAY 18 Constantinople (Hall One) The ensemble’s Traversées programme features Kiya Tabassian (setar), Ablaye Cissoko (kora) and Patrick Graham (percussion). A poetic encounter between strings and voice from the epics of West Africa to the Persian court. Traversées was one of Songlines’ albums of the year in 2020. Ialoni – Georgian Song (Hall Two) This award-winning female choir herald from the magnificent mountain hideaway of Georgia in the Caucasus. Performing since 2009, they perform the spectacular polyphonic folk repertoire for which their country is famous, along with sacred pieces and urban songs. FRIDAY MAY 19 Vieux Farka Touré (Hall One) One of the world’s most respected guitarists, Vieux plays songs from his last solo album Les Racines, a tribute to the Songhai music of northern Mali and the legacy…

Get in touch – we’d love to hear from you! Is this Sevdah? I found the recommended listening in your Guide to Sevdah a bit misguided. The list has albums of bands who based their work on sevdalinka/sevdah but a strange selection. Ljiljana Buttler’s The Mother of Gypsy Soul album has no sevdalinka; Amira Medunjanin’s Amulette has only three, and Divanhana’s Zavrzlama and Damir Imamović’s Singer of Tales have some sevdalinkas but many are newly-composed songs in the sevdalinka manner. Only time will tell if they are sevdalinka – if the songs are not living with the people, they cannot become ‘sevdalinkas.’ However, this is a great promotion of sevdah which is what matters most. Mira Erdevicki, London ‘Art Washing’ I was horrified and saddened to read your last Spotlight…

Prophet to some, bum to others, Moise Polobi has all the makings of a cult figure. “Moise gets called a sauvage,” says his neighbour and musical confidant Klod Kiavué, via whose iPad the pair are set up to be interviewed, “he doesn’t bother with people much, he prefers drumming and fishing by himself.” As proof, Polobi is absent from the rendezvous. “He was here a minute ago, he just wandered off,” says Kiavué. No doubt he’s gone next door, to his house in Petit-Bourg, a small port ten miles across the bay from Pointe-a-Pitre, capital of the French overseas departement of Guadeloupe. This is the birthplace of gwo ka, a specifically Guadeloupean genre similar to Cuban rumba, derived from African slave culture, and performed by a lead singer and responding…

TOP OF THE WORLD https://content.markallengroup.com/songlines/2023/04/01-Wayo.mp3 https://geo.music.apple.com/gb/album/wayo/1672416554?at=10lwtw Wayo Mas Case (39 mins) Spellbinding new album from the charismatic queen of vodou blues-rock On the opening title-track of Benjamin’s third album, the guitar riffs explode like Led Zeppelin and the drums detonate like a cluster bomb over which Benjamin’s deep, soulful voice wails like a woman possessed. The effect is so intense, so cathartic that you wonder how she can keep it up. Yet she does, with a force-of-nature muscularity that is remarkable. Many will be familiar with Benjamin’s back story from our May 2020 cover story (#157). Born in Haiti to vodou-venerating parents, she grew up in a Catholic orphanage and found her voice and musical direction in 2017 when she teamed up with the French guitarist Matthis Pascaud. Wayo represents…

TOP OF THE WORLD https://content.markallengroup.com/songlines/2023/04/07-Druzby.mp3 https://geo.music.apple.com/gb/album/chlopi-wesele-boryny/1657977136?at=10lwtw Chłopi: Wesele Boryny Muzyka Zakorzeniona (80 mins) Cause for celebration: a deep dive into 19th-century Poland This is an extraordinary album recreating the sound of a wedding in central Poland in the late 19th century. The title Chłopi (The Peasants) comes from the novel written in 1908 for which Władysław Reymont won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1924. The wedding (Wesele) depicted in this album is between the main protagonist Maciej Boryna and his wife Jagna. The novel Chłopi was apparently important in demonstrating to the Polish people that a real folk culture existed in central Poland (between Warsaw and Łódź) and not just in the Tatras where the tradition was widely appreciated in the early 20th century. The message has been slow…

TOP OF THE WORLD https://content.markallengroup.com/songlines/2023/04/05-Offering.mp3 https://geo.music.apple.com/gb/album/nakshatra/1653479114?at=10lwtw Nakshatra SPINSTER (61 mins) Sublime Karnatic connections Bringing new elements into a musical tradition that has a long history and strict sense of training and performance is very tricky to pull off. You either annoy the keepers of tradition or your innovations fall flat with people familiar with the other music you look to for new inspiration. However, this disc is very much the wonderful exception that proves the rule. US-based violinists Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy have come up with one of the best albums I have heard in a long time, and what is amazing is that, for the most part, it is just the sound of two solo violins. It opens with a meditative track, ‘Offering’, which gives an excellent insight into…

Electrocutango Contrastes Indris Pro As/Global Sonics (52 mins) Gloriously uplifting electrotango from Norwegian pianist Contrastes is the third album released by Electrocutango, led by acclaimed Norwegian tanguista pianist Sverre Indris Joner — composer of all 14 tracks – whose credentials also include playing in the Academia Nacional del Tango in Buenos Aires. Fusing new tango inspired from across Latin America, underpinned by electronic instrumentation, Electrocutango also comprises Odd Hannisdal on violin, Steinar Haugerud on double bass, Kaspar Uljas on bandoneon and Andreas Bye on drums. This is gloriously uplifting music, with not a single weak track on the album. The interplay of strings, keyboard, bandoneon and drums bursts with energy and changing moods. Sometimes starting with a dreamy introduction, the tango’s magnetic melody draws the other instruments in, building up…

Various Artists Tropicália ou Panis et Circencis (Philips, 1968) The album that brought tropicália and Gal to the world. ‘Baby’ was the breakout, but it’s ‘Mamãe, Coragem’ that hints at what’s coming on later albums. Reviewed in May 2006 (#35). Fa-Tal – Gal A Todor Vapor (Philips, 1971) Gal’s sparse landmark live album mostly features just the singer with her guitar. It sees her voice and style come fully into its own – from delicious a capella opener ‘Fruta Gogóia’ to ‘Vapor Barato’ with its extraordinary Indigenous scat and searingly melancholic singing. Índia (Philips, 1973) Gal at her peak. Every track is a gem – but the last few are a tour de force: her mastering of the mesmerisingly complex, meandering disharmonies of ‘Da Maior Importância’, the astonishing ‘Passarinho’ where…