Table of contents for August - September 2024 in Songlines

Your essential guide to the best music from around the world 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 straight to your door ▶ 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 Discover the world through music Subscribe today at magsubscriptions.com/music-songlines magsubscriptions.com/music-songlines subscriptions@markallengroup.com…

Naffer Durán y Su Conjunto Canta Diomedes Diaz Herencia Vallenata (Codiscos, 1976) [Diomedes Diaz is] one of my favourite singers of all time. My father used to listen to a lot of coastal Colombian music. [Diaz] has a big discography, a lot of history in Colombia, and also scandals – lots of scandals. He was a Colombian rock star. I [chose] this album because it was the first one I personally liked. At first, I rejected [vallenato music] because it was very popular and wasn’t really in fashion for a 90s teenager. In Colombia, you’d listen to a lot of Western rock music… local music was disregarded… [When you listened to Diaz], you would think “oh, this guy is cheesy.” But I liked the sound – it defines the groove…

“ I read adrienne maree brown’s Pleasure Activism and loved it so much because it allows you to realise that the point of life is to be joyful and to experience pleasure and if you don’t know what pleases you, it’s hard to be that light you wanna be in the world,” says Leyla McCalla. The Haitian-American artist is in Seattle, partway through an extensive world tour promoting her new album, Sun Without the Heat. It’s an album filled with uplifting messages, seeking out faith and happiness among the difficulties that life presents. “The album was inspired by me realising that I wanted to push my sound into new sonic territory, places that I had previously [left] unexplored musically, but certainly explored from a listening-experience perspective. I was trying to…

Over the soft strumming of a guitar Mariele Zammit, with flowing hair and a green dress, improvises a song in Maltese. I don’t understand the language, but with words like ‘Revolut’, ‘mobile’ and ‘batterija’ it’s clear even to me that she’s talking about a phone payment she couldn’t make because she’d run out of charge. It gets a huge laugh. That’s partly because she delivers it with a throwaway smile, but also because this very traditional Maltese form of music has been yanked into the digital age. The music is għana (pronounced ‘aa-na’ – the għ is silent but lengthens the following ‘a’). Zammit performs briefly at an exhibition dedicated to one of the most celebrated għana singers, Frans Baldacchino (1943-2006), better known as Il-Budaj. One of the first things…

South African trio Phelimuncasi release with London-based production outfit Metal Preyers (aka Jesse Hackett). A follow-up to 2022’s pulverising Ama Gogela, Izigqinamba (Nyege Nyege Tapes ★★★) hears the Durban-based trio ushering in a darker, more psychedelic exploration of gqom, trading calls and quickfire rhymes in isiZulu over Hackett’s swampy, surreal soundtracks. ‘Coffin Roller’ hears agitated ambient melodies clash with arrhythmic guitar strums and heavily reverbed vocals, ‘Gqom slowgen Chant’ is an atmospheric slice of garbled electronics and steady chanting, while ‘Mgiligi wabaleka’ and ‘Khala Ngiyabaleka’ offer some brighter energies amid the sludge and psychedelia. Also from South Africa is Garth Erasmus, formerly a member of First Nation activist group Khoi Khonnexion. Threnody for the KhoiSan (TAL ★★★★) is Erasumus’ first release under his own name, and pays homage to the…

BGKO 7 Satélite K The Barcelona Gipsy BalKan Orchestra, formerly the Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra, present their seventh album – hence the title. A collection of klezmer and pan-Balkan trad numbers and originals, there is a Mediterranean edge to some of these tunes owing to the fact that many of the band are Catalan/Spanish, with an Italian singer. Margherita Abita’s silken voice stands astride this longitudinal divide, notably on tracks such as ‘More Sokol Pie’, which is not, as I assumed, a plea for another helping of delicious pastry but, rather, translates from Macedonian/Bulgarian as ‘A Falcon is Drinking’ – who’d have known? Joined by violins, accordion, guitar, bass, clarinet, percussion and what sounds like a mandolin, Abita takes us on a journey through Balkan traditions; as showcased in ‘Tisom…

The Handover The Handover Sublime Frequencies The Handover are a trio of Aly Eissa, Ayman Asfour and Jonas Cambien, their eponymous debut consisting of two epic side-long tracks, deeply immersive and absorbing, the nexus of some seriously fascinating and disparate sources: Arabic classical, rural Egyptian folk, Krautrock, psychedelia and improv. Recorded in Alexandria and available on vinyl and Bandcamp, it’s a superb and singular set, drawing on and drawing out from oud player Aly Eisser’s original compositions, with Asfour’s violin and Cambien’s mixed keys and synths laying out a musical cosmos of textures. It’s music you can all but reach out and feel and touch and climb into, wrapping it round you like some magic carpet, before defying the laws of physics and floating skywards. They use silence almost as…

50 years after being self-released by Japanese singer-songwriter Kazuhisa Okubo, the sought-after rarity Heavy Way (Time Capsule ★★★★) by Niningashi receives a loving remaster. Training as a pharmacist, Okubo immersed himself in the vibrant folk scene of 1970s Tokyo, and would later find commercial success with folk duo Kaze. Niningashi however, was his first band, with Heavy Way being their sole release, skirting the cross-section of acid folk and psychedelic rock. Many of the songs have a melancholic, nostalgic quality – delivered by Okubo’s wistful voice – occasionally punctuated by fuzz-tone lead guitar. With sporadic nods to country and garage rock, this remaster offers a charming glimpse into the counterculture of 1970s Tokyo. A cultural heritage of the Uyghur population of Xinjiang, China, muqam are a set of melodic modes,…

“I ’ve always made my living on the road,” Billy Bragg says as he’s packing for a trip to Las Vegas. “I’m going to play at a festival called Punk Rock Bowling. I can do one of those. I’m not sure I can do both, but I’m gonna do my best!” Bragg has taken stock of this life on the road with The Roaring Forty: 1983 – 2023, a box set of 14 CDs. It’s a musical cairn, each new song another stone, building to 303 tracks. A scrapbook chronicles his career in images and notes: his guitars; handwritten lyrics; the letter, dated January 21, 1983, confirming that Charisma Records will release ‘some tracks’ (which became his first album, Life’s a Riot with Spy vs Spy). There’s a picture of…

It’s our 200th issue – during our 25th year, let’s not forget – and as such I have been looking through our archives. Did you know, for instance, that Mariza and Manu Chao (who has a new album coming out this year!) are our most regular cover stars, with five covers each? Shortly followed by Angélique Kidjo and Youssou N’Dour on four apiece. The country represented the most is clear, with Malian artists featured an astonishing 27 times (thanks to Amadou & Mariam, Salif Keita, Rokia Traoré, Bassekou Kouyate, Ali Farka Touré, Tinariwen, Fatoumata Diawara and many more). The ensemble featured the most is Buena Vista Social Club, whose million-selling debut album was released in 1997, before Songlines existed, but still, the group and its members have taken seven covers…

While relocating their archives in 2021, Real World Studios discovered a tape from April 1990 featuring a recording session by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his group. The recording features four traditional qawwali songs, including one which has never been heard before. The four tracks will now be released as Chain of Light via Real World Records on September 20. Manu Chao will release a new album, Viva Tu, via Because Music on September 20. So far, Chao has released two singles, the title track and ‘São Paulo Motoboy’, a homage to the Brazilian city’s free-wheeling couriers. On October 4, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 will release new album Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) via Record Kicks. The album will feature guest singers Damian Marley and Sampa The Great,…

Amadou & Mariam ‘Mogolu (Morris Beat Remix)’ ‘Mogulu’ celebrates humanity’s points of divergence and connectivity, the remix adding another layer of infectious dance rhythm to the track. The Mary Wallopers Home Boys Home EP The raucous Dundalkers return with a wonderful three-track EP covering the mischievous, riotous and heartbreaking in equal measure. Have tissues to hand when it gets to Charles Hendy’s ‘The Broad Majestic Shannon’. Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 ‘Dey feat Damian Marley’ With infectious horns, teasing melodies and echoing vocals, this powerhouse of a track brings together the rich sounds of both Nigeria and Jamaica. Davidsson ‘on thin air’ Stunning first single from the Icelander’s debut album with his pedal steel soaring for the heights with minimal bass and piano accompaniment. Lagos Thugs ‘Radio Talk (feat Kiala…

Get in touch – we’d love to hear from you! WEBSITE songlines.co.uk EMAIL letters@songlines.co.uk X @SonglinesMag FACEBOOK facebook.com/songlines INSTAGRAM @SonglinesMag Pitching Bonfires I have recently discovered the Bonfire Radicals who exude a myriad of world music influences. I reckon if they were a stick of Sarah Farmer’s violin provides a Celtic/British folk veneer while Katie Stevens’ clarinet produces a klezmer groove. Emma Reading’s guitar can give an African vibe by evoking the spirit of Ray Phiri. As well as keeping the rhythm, drummer Ilias Lintzos provides Greek songs from his heritage. This is all held together by Pete Churchill’s bass, although he’s not beyond whipping out an accordion to add a Cajun gloss. If this aural geography lesson wasn’t enough, Michelle Holloway’s recorder can give a history one via a…

As their name might suggest, there’s a sense of evolutionary determinism to The Cavemen. Watching them at Cross The Tracks festival in May, I am struck by how the brothers own the stage, moving across it as though born to be there. Even the more unexpected moments, like Kingsley Okorie pouring beer on Benjamin James’ drum kit during their soulful rendition of ‘Me and You’, seem almost like divine intervention, the crowd singing ‘baby it will be alright’ in unison, while James’ drum solo ricochets liquid across the stage. The weather also seems to be under their command, with a brief shower prompting the duo to play ‘Beautiful Rain’ as Kingsley tells the audience, “it’s important to acknowledge the universe.” This theme of destiny permeates the conversation I have with…

The Toki Music School rises gracefully from the slopes of Rapa Nui, blending so seamlessly with the landscape that it appears natural. A distinctively squat structure, the heptagonal building has sloping roofs covered with moss and adobe walls plastered with glass bottles. Constructed from over 2,500 used tyres and 60,000 cans and bottles, the world’s most remote music school stands out for its uniqueness, where music education is interwoven with an environmental ethos. The school was born from a long-held vision of classical pianist Mahani Teave, who grew up on Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island. Situated around 2,300 miles from Chile, the country that governs the island, Rapa Nui is one of the most remote inhabited places in the world. Needless to say, large, heavy instruments like pianos…

We review full-length world music, roots and folk albums (not singles or EPs), available on CD, digital or vinyl. Please note we only accept digital submissions. Email details of albums to reviews@songlines.co.uk for consideration The Songlines Top of the World compilation, featuring tracks from our favourite albums each issue, can be downloaded by visiting https://linktr.ee/SL200 Aba Diop & The Yermande Family Revolution Sabar Dal Diam Fall The Senegalese percussionist Aba Diop is a master of the ancient sabar drum of the Wolof griots, a sound heard most famously as the rhythmic backbone of Youssou N’Dour’s band. On Revolution Sabar Diop’s sabar grooves and the solid basslines of Thierno Sarr create a polyrhythmic undercurrent over which the kora of Noumoucounda Cissoko and the guitar riffs of Jason Hosier extemporise to create…

Sonya Cohen Cramer You’ve Been a Friend to Me Smithsonian Folkways Sonya Cohen Cramer was a remarkable singer born into a distinguished American folk music family; her father was John Cohen of The New Lost City Ramblers, her aunt was Peggy Seeger and her uncle was Pete Seeger. She loved singing – but for her own personal enjoyment – and when she died at the age of 50 in 2015 she was best known as a graphic designer for Folkways albums. Now Folkways have brought out this 17-song retrospective, recorded over roughly 30 years, and it’s a revelation. Her range is impressive: everything from the driving a capella of ‘Oh, Blue’ (a duet with Penny Seeger) to the intimate ‘When I Was Most Beautiful’ (with backing from Pete Seeger), through…

The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band Araya Lam Zudrangma Records VARIOUS ARTISTS Molam Bus – Live Recordings from the Fields at Wonderfruit 2022 Zudrangma Records Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band (PBMIB) has released its first studio album since 2016’s successful Planet Lam. The new album sees the band return with a fuller sound, augmented by superb guest spots by veteran molam Pimjai Petchpalanchai on vocals, ponglang (Isan xylophone) player Sirawiz Tongsahatam, sor (fiddle) player Chanon Chinnarach and pi (oboe) player Somnuek Seangarun. Highlights include a reworking of an old classic ‘Pimjai Lam Plearn’, the uptempo opener ‘Zud Rang Ma’ and Sawai Kaewsombat’s khaen playing on ‘Don Sawai Lam Plearn’. The Molam Bus compilation showcases live recordings of some the acts at the Molam Bus stage at Wonderfruit Festival. The bus,…

Arooj Aftab Night Reign Verve Aftab’s 2021 album Vulture Prince transcended art music obscurity to enjoy blanket broadsheet coverage. It won the Pakistani-American artist a Grammy in a global category and yielded a Best New Artist nomination alongside eventual winner Oliva Rodrigo. Night Reign somehow surpasses its justifiably garlanded predecessor. Aftab’s minimalist influenced jazz-folk style is given greater expression through Night Reign’s exquisite arrangements. The use of a Gryphon gives ‘Na Gul’ an Appalachian lilt, ’til a flugelhorn enters in duet, casting us into unfamiliar but intriguing territory. The originality of Aftab’s cover of jazz standard ‘Autumn Leaves’ is astounding. Built on percussion that evokes a blacksmith skillfully forging a prayer bowl, Aftab’s voice is offset by sporadic bass and complemented by an angular Rhodes solo. There are many moments…

If you have an eye on folk’s socials then you will have noted that two prominent festivals – Towersey and Underneath the Stars – have announced that this year will be their last, following on from Cleckheaton Folk Festival, who recently put on their farewell edition. The first to announce was Towersey, which has been running for 60 years. It began as a fundraiser in a barn and evolved into a modern, outward-looking event organised by three of the grandchildren of the festival’s founder. For four days the festival becomes a village in itself; it has provided a stage for acts as big as KT Tunstall and The Wonder Stuff, to more traditional fare: small bands, new acts, jugglers, storytellers, morris dancers and people who just go to sit in…

Ciro de Rosa Ciro dubs himself a disseminator of traditional and world music. A Songlines regular, he edits BlogFoolk Magazine, produces radio programme Globofonie and takes us to his native Naples on p75 Francesca Rechere A London-based writer, curator and filmmaker, Francesca’s work explores Black and African diasporic responses to systemic and structural racism. This issue she speaks to Leyla McCalla about finding the joy, p22 Devon Léger A writer based in Seattle, WA, Devon writes for Folk Alley and No Depression, as well as being our US & Canada roots columnist. A French-Canadian fiddler, he surveys the Channel Islands’ musical history on p40 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…

COLOMBIA: A proposed new law aiming to combat noise pollution is under debate by the Colombian Congress. Ley Contra el Ruido has been drafted in reaction to thousands of complaints which show Colombians want less noise in their lives. The sound of traffic and the use of loud devices in public are two of the main areas in which the law will aim to reduce noise… KENYA: Rappers Movaz Warombosaji Nation and Sabi Wu both released versions of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ with new lyrics following the Kenyan government’s passing on June 25 of the controversial Finance Bill 2024, which aims to raise taxes to pay off the country’s debt. The bill was withdrawn after protestors set parliament on fire the day it was passed; many protestors have been…

After the release of their latest Pete Townshend-produced album, THE BOOKSHOP BAND (touring until December 12) are part way through a 70+ date tour of the UK’s best independent bookshops, with many more shows to come. Experience the sound of KOKOKO! (touring until October 3), dubbed ‘the soundtrack of Kinshasa’s tomorrow,’ at an upcoming festival or tour date, including Latitude, Deer Shed, Green Man and a show at London’s Village Underground on October 1. SUMMER OF SNAPE (July 26 – August 31) will welcome Sona Jobarteh, Altan, Seckou Keita and drum-and-dance workshoppers The Wooden Roots Experience as part of a packed arts program. Bringing Mediterranean psych-rock is Cypriot band BUZZ’ AYAZ (September 25-29), the new project of Monsieur Doumani’s Antonis Antoniou. Following the success of Look Over the Wall, See the…

Valletta, Malta, has what is believed to be the oldest surviving record shop in the world. From Republic street, the main pedestrian thoroughfare, St John Street runs one way up to St John’s Co-Cathedral and the other way steeply down to the sea. It’s hard to miss the large HMV sign with Nipper the dog at No 98, the site of Anthony D’Amato Records. I don’t know whether it’s deliberate, but above the window there’s a black circular air-conditioning unit that looks just like a vinyl record. You step inside over a marble slab in the doorway declaring it was established in 1885. But were there records to sell in 1885? Actually no. It seems D’Amato started as a furniture store. But records of various sorts – notably the flat…

Vari-Colored Songs (Dixie Frog, 2013) McCalla grew up reading the works of US poet and social activist Langston Hughes and so, for her debut, decided to set his poetry to music. Perhaps most impressive are the Haitian-creole songs, such as her take on ‘Mèsi Bondye’, dotted throughout. A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey (Jazz Village, 2016) Playing cello, banjo and guitar, McCalla focuses on songs from the Haitian folk canon and the Creole traditions of Louisiana, as well as penning originals, such as the glorious title-track, which make clear her impressive songwriting talents. Capitalist Blues ([pias]/Jazz Village, 2019) Not only a hard-hitting song cycle about the damaging effect on the poor of capitalism’s inequalities, but a musical awakening as McCalla records with a full band and…

Thandiswa Mazwai How does Sankofa speak to Zabalaza and Zabalaza to Sankofa? Both are an attempt at reclaiming lost identities and lamenting the slow progress of changing the ‘Black condition’. Both respond to the traditional with modern sonic languages, attempt to visualize a future that celebrates our collective beauty as children of the soil, and both came out in an election year. What did Zabalaza do for you as an artist? Zabalaza made me who I am. There was something about the timing and subjects in the work, that really captured the country’s imagination. 20 years later I am stopped everyday by people who express how important it became to their entire family. Zabalaza is my magnum opus. The archive recordings from Rhodes University – how vital were they to…

‘Romagna Mia’ with Riccardo Tesi To begin talking with Italian accordionist Tesi about his new album we first have to go back 30 years to find out why he recorded an Italian style of music called ballo liscio. “In 1994, I was recording for a French label, Silex, and my producer asked me to do an album about this music,” Tesi remembers, “Because in this period there was a re-discovery of the French musette – in Italy, it’s called liscio, and in France, it’s called musette. The [French] accordion players Richard Galliano and Marcel Azzola had worked on an album, Paris Musette, that was a big success. My producer said, ‘you have to do the same thing in Italy.’ I said, ‘oh no, I hate this music, I don’t know…

So, let’s start at the beginning. How did you discover Huun-Huur-Tu? Did you know them before recording with them? Yes, I was on tour with ELO in 2019 and… I’d been listening to some frequency-healing music, meditation records and something of theirs came up. I was well into throat-singing over the years, my dad [George Harrison] had played me a lot when I was a kid, but I’d never heard specifically of Huun-Huur-Tu. And then I started obsessively absorbing all of their records. I was also listening to a lot of Bulgarian Ladies Choir, and there’s a record called Fly, Fly My Sadness, it’s a kind of mash-up between ‘[The] Orphan’s Lament’, which was a famous Huun-Huur-Tu old folk song, and the Bulgarian Ladies Choir. It just blew my mind,…

Black Angels (Nonesuch, 1990) It took Harrington 17 years to develop himself and the ensemble to the point of recording the piece which had inspired him to form the quartet. It was worth the wait. With the title-work described by its composer Crumb as ‘a kind of parable on our troubled contemporary world,’ Black Angels showcases Kronos’ extended technique and doubling on instruments such as gongs and glasses, as well as an innovative approach to multi-tracking. Pieces of Africa (Nonesuch, 1992) The dazzling diversity of musical forms across Africa is evidenced in Kronos’ choice of native composers here, as is the quartet’s ability to adapt themselves to other instruments and voices. The album earned the group an induction into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. Early Music (Lachrymæ Antiquæ)…

Ten of our longest-standing contributors pick albums released during Songlines’ lifetime that are well overdue another listen Troubadours of Allah Sufi Music from the Indus Valley (WERGO, 1999) A wealth of previously unheard musicians, from Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab, as well as top vocalists Pathane Khan, Hamid ali Bela and Nasiruddin Khan Saami and musicians playing rare instruments like the ancient alghoza and the murli (also known as pungi), the latter usually employed to charm snakes. Utterly enchanting, with excellent production quality and lots of atmosphere. JAMEELA SIDDIQI Sékouba Bambino The Griot’s Craft (Stern’s Africa/Syllart, 2012) Even without understanding the lyrics (which mostly praise patrons, plus a protest against female excision), this album shows us why Sékouba, a jeli (griot) from Guinea, has been a top star across the Mande…