Table of contents for January 2025 in Songlines

We began this year by celebrating Songlines’ 25th year of publishing with a one-off concert at the Barbican and a special issue of the magazine (#195) in which we picked out a significant event to represent each year since the magazine began. It started with Talvin Singh’s breakthrough in 1999 and ended with 2023’s explosion of Irish music (Lankum, Mary Wallopers, Lisa O’Neill et al). It’s interesting to think about what would represent 2024. It’s been a year of legendary figures making unexpected appearances, with Salif Keita officially coming out of retirement (which we were very thankful for, as it meant he could play our 25th-anniversary show!), a rather glorious, unknown recording from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan being discovered and released, and Manu Chao returning with his first studio album…

Can Tago Mago (United Artists, 1971) Before Baba Zula, we had a band called ZeN that focused on collective improvisation. In Spin (US) magazine, they reviewed our album and compared us to Can, so we started listening and became huge fans. We met Can’s drummer, Jaki Liebezeit, by chance in Cologne and told him that we liked his music. This started a lifelong friendship and musical collaboration between him and Baba Zula. He’s a master musician, one of the best drummers in the world, and can play Turkish rhythms inside out. One day, some of us were playing with Liebezeit and he brought us each different Can albums. He gave me Tago Mago, and I’ve loved it since. Brian Eno & David Byrne My Life in the Bush of Ghosts…

BLACK STRING Kings Place, London, October 30 Korean experimental folk outfit Black String offer a rare opportunity to hear the chime of ancient instruments gracefully collide with modern sonic tools. Their compositions are performed like jazz standards, with choreographed sections featuring motifs giving way to vast improvisational journeys. Yoon Jeong Heo (geomungo), Jean Oh (guitar/electronics), Aram Lee (daegeum) and Min Hwang (percussion/vocals) have attributed this freeform influence to improvisational aspects rooted within traditional Korean music. This ancient tradition is on display within the breathtaking call-and-response solos between Hwang’s fast, rhythmic vocals and the instrumentalists. This is blanketed by an airy, digital fog emanating from Oh’s electronic soundscapes and innovative guitar playing. Oh uses a computer to manipulate ambient samples while simultaneously adding dashes of distorted guitar licks at just the…

Alongside the voices of Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo, the piano playing of Rubén González and the chiming tres guitar of Compay Segundo, one of the glories of Buena Vista Social Club was the vibrant trumpet of ‘Guajiro’ Mirabal. Loud and powerful but never flashy, his playing graced tracks such as ‘Chan Chan’, ‘Dos Gardenias’ and ‘El Cuarto de Tula’ and he went on to perform with the Buena Vista touring group until its final concerts in 2015. He also played on many spin-off releases, including the first Afro-Cuban All Stars album and, in 2004, he recorded his own album, Buena Vista Social Club… Presents Manuel ‘Guajiro’ Mirabal, a collection of songs associated with mambo legend Arsenio Rodríguez, on which he was accompanied by other Buena Vista alumni. Born in…

Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, is celebrated on November 22. There are usually a number of concerts to mark the occasion – one of this year’s included the London premiere of Roxanna Panufnik’s Elegy for Fadima, which unusually sets a Nigerian Sufi text. Over the years there have been many compositions dedicated to St Cecilia from Charpentier, Handel and Purcell to Elgar, Herbert Howells and James MacMillan. Particularly notable is the Hymn to Saint Cecilia by Benjamin Britten – who was actually born on St Cecilia’s day. Surely the most spectacular memorial to St Cecilia is the organ in the fortress-like Sainte-Cécile Cathedral in Albi, France. The vast cathedral was consecrated in 1480 and is said to be the largest brick building in the world. Inside, among hundreds…

NØ FØRMAT! p10 Win one of three vinyl bundles from NØ FØRMAT containing a ‘20 years of NØ FØRMAT!’ compilation, Msaki x Tubatsi’s Synthetic Hearts Vol I and Ballaké Sissoko’s Djourou. To stand a chance, tell us: In which year did the label form? Ben Edge p30 We have three copies of Ben Edge’s Folklore Rising to give away. To stand a chance, answer: Which Abbots Bromley tradition features in the book? The Lijadu Sisters p42 To nab one of five Horizon Unlimited vinyls, tell us: In which year was the album originally released? COMPETITIONS Submit your entry for each competition via the website: songlines.co.uk/competitions. Winners will be chosen at random. Only one entry per competition per household. No cash alternatives. If you would prefer not to be sent details…

Katherine Priddy  The Pendulum Swing (Cooking Vinyl) Birmingham-born Priddy’s second full-length album proved a literate and thoughtful showcase for her maturing skills, not only as a songwriter but also as a performer. While her striking debut featured songs written as a teenager, often reflecting her love of literature and poetry, here, after plenty of hard-scrabble gigging, she found herself preoccupied, she says, with “those fundamental, unchanging things at the root of it all: home, family, love.” Delicate and tender but not fragile, increasingly confident but still questioning, classic in style yet adventurous, she sounds more and more like an artist who’s in it for the long run. KEVIN BOURKE Lankum Live in Dublin (Rough Trade Records) For a drone-led, brawny reinvigoration of Irish traditional songs and tunes, you simply cannot beat…

Dar Disku Dar Disku (Soundway Records) Bahrain-raised, London-based DJs and label runners Mazen Almaskati and Vish Mhatre blend samples from across the SWANA region with house, disco, funk and new beat. Despite being active since 2018, Dar Disku is the duo’s first album proper, and while it captures the energy and eclecticism of their DJ sets, it digs deeper into some of those influences, drawing on Algerian rai, khaliji Hi-NRG and habibi house to curate a bold, beat-laden tracklist. To top it off, they’ve roped in a slew of impressive collaborators, including Turkish pop singer Billur Battal and the mighty Asha Puthli. OLIVIA CHEVES Ak’chamel Rawskulled (Akuphone) On the surface, at least, this mysterious Texan duo operate within the same arcane ethnographic zones as world music magpies Sun City Girls,…

Joe Boyd And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music (Faber) Anyone anticipating a world music equivalent of Joe Boyd’s first book, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s – a splendid, gossipy insider’s tale of making records with the likes of Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention and Nick Drake – might have been disappointed by And the Roots of Rhythm Remain. Those who hoped for something deeper and more ambitious were richly rewarded with an epic book that is nothing less than a history of the world, told through its music. Of course, Boyd is part of the story – how could he not be given the albums by the likes of Toumani Diabaté, Trio Bulgarka and Kanda Bongo Man he put out on his Hannibal label…

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/SL204 Flying Bantu Feja Feja Next Music Haling from Victoria Falls on Zimbabwe’s border with Zambia, Flying Bantu have been a fixture on southern Africa’s touring and festival circuit for some years, opening for the likes of the late Oliver Mtukudzi and Johnny Clegg. Led by singer and principal songwriter Tinashe Maoneni, this is the five-piece band’s second album and its frothy, feel-good fusion of rock and reggae with touches of funk and jazz is highly…

Edmundo Arias Guepa Je! Radio Martiko Radio Martiko’s compilation of Lucho Bermúdez’ cumbia from the 50s and 60s was a highlight of 2022. This latest illuminates another of the era’s big three, Edmundo Arias, and it’s equally good. The title is slang for ‘Let’s Go!’, used in cumbia to express exhilaration. ’Nuff said. Martín López y Sus Estrellas Cocinando Vampisoul Vampisoul unlock a dozen more Peruvian tropical curios. Recorded between 1969 and 1971, the bandleader (a policeman using an assumed name!) and the label’s top session musicians serve up a healthy mix of genres prepared with panache and plenty of percussion. Chalino Sánchez Alma Enamorada Craft Latino Fifteen more corridos (narrative songs) from the ‘Godfather’ of the genre. Backed by the accordion and polka rhythms of a Mexican norteño band,…

Gera Bertolone Femmina Sonora Recordings The vocalist and clarinettist Gera Bertolone hails from Sicily, and here puts together an album of original songs which blend traditional approaches with a rock sensibility. This is an intriguing project, combining strings with guitars and drums, but one which comes perilously close at times to what I once memorably heard described as ‘my grandmother has died and my cat as well’ music. There are a lot of rather maudlin Sicilian-inspired power ballads (for example, ‘La Notti Libertà’, ‘Vinni a Cantari’ and the suspiciously ‘House of the Rising Sun’-like ‘Canzuna’) whose strained vocals, to my taste at least, do not suit her voice. However, all is not lost, as other tracks display a sense of play and invention, using the cello in particular to great…

Accra Quartet Gbefalbi (Travellers) FPE Records Accra Quartet are a trio of Ghanaian players joined by an American, although the latter spends most of his musical time in various African lands. Recorded in Accra (of course), the remarkable sound of this record is arrived at via an unusual blend of spaciousness and performing intensity. The quartet’s mostly acoustic sound is driven by a lusty delivery, in terms of structuring riffs and high, clear vocal enthusiasm with robust trombone and toned-down electric guitar chancing upon water-burbling percussion and tiny bongo or woodblock tattoos. Minimalism abounds, but the melodies and rhythms rise beyond these acoustic properties, lending an almost manic quality as they subtly power each extended song. There are instruments that sound bizarrely akin to didgeridoo and jangling Vietnamese strings, with…

01 The Willett Family The Roving Journeyman – English Traditional Songs (Topic Records, 1962) I love the traditional styles of old English singers. This was the first LP of purely traditional English singing, principally by the father, Tom Willett. His sense of pace and swooping melodies still make me swoon. Now, more of the Willett’s songs are available on CD, but at the time of release, this album was a beacon of pure light. JOHN KIRKPATRICK 02 Enoch Kent The Butcher Boy and Other Ballads (Topic Records, 1962) I was a huge fan of Enoch Kent, and this EP really represented him at his best. He chose great songs and would sing them beautifully. Sometimes he would oversing and this led to him losing his voice at one point. He…

Over the past 20 years, we’ve given out 13 Top of the World albums to the French label, NØ FØRMAT!, with many more of their releases receiving stellar reviews – it’s a good track record. To celebrate their anniversary year, we asked the label if we could include five songs from across their catalogue as bonus tracks on this issue’s Top of the World compilation. It’s our way of paying respect to a label that has always surprised us, either through discovering new artists that were not on our radar (Melissa Laveaux, Urban Village, Natascha Rogers), through bringing out the best in established artists (Oumou Sangaré, Blick Bassy, Piers Faccini) or, and this is perhaps their USP, setting up one-off collaborations that never feel contrived and always deliver the goods.…

WOMAD have announced that there will be no UK event in 2025 while they move to a new venue. Their statement reads: ‘WOMAD is moving to a new home, not far from our site for the past 17 years in Wiltshire. To ensure that the festival can continue to thrive for years to come in our new location, we have decided to take a year off in 2025 before returning fully charged in 2026.’ Rokia Traoré is to be extradited to Belgium from Italy, where she was arrested in June this year. The Malian singer has been sentenced to two years in prison in Belgium relating to the custody of her daughter. ‘Rokia suffered an injustice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,’ says her lawyer Maddalena Del…

FEMI KUTI has announced a forthcoming solo album in 2025 with the release of single ‘Politics Don Expose Them’ and a six-date tour taking in Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, London, Glasgow and Newcastle (January 23–29) EARTH UNWRAPPED: SIRENS FOR A WOUNDED PLANET is a new series at Kings Place bringing artists like Sam Lee, violinist Daniel Pioro and Jason Singh to explore our relationship with nature (throughout 2025) Loudon Wainwright III is set to release a new album, Loudon Live in London, and tour the UK with roots supergroup TRANSATLANTIC SESSIONS, beginning at Celtic Connections (January 31 – February 9) Folk musician SETH LAKEMAN is showcasing new album The Granite Way with a headline UK tour (February 19 – March 1) KATHERINE PRIDDY has a new single written with poet laureate…

From his time playing with Le Grand Kallé and Franco to Kékélé, the band he helped to found several decades later at the turn of the millennium, Papa Noel’s career as a guitarist spanned almost the entire history of modern Congolese music. Born Antoine Nedule Monswet in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) on December 25 1940 and entirely self-taught, he made his first studio recording when he was 17 on ‘Clara Badimwene’ by the veteran bandleader Leon Bukasa, who along with Franco and Joseph Kabasele was one of the progenitors of Congolese rumba. Legend says that Bukasa named him Papa Noel after learning he had been born on Christmas Day, though other reports have said that Noel simply reversed the name of his mentor, Leon. Shortly after, he joined the band Rock-a-Mambo,…

It’s an Earth Special featuring Sam Lee and our practical guide to being a musician and music lover during a climate crisis. We report from Colombia’s Petronio Álvarez Festival, the largest Afro-Latin event in the world. We speak to Songhoy Blues about a new album taking them back to their roots, we talk to an exciting new voice in Turkey, Melike Şahin, and we get to know anarcho-folk institution The Levellers with a Beginner’s Guide. We’ll also be reporting from Kashmir, India where beatboxing is taking on a new life and from Kampala, Uganda’s famous Nyege Nyege Festival. Plus, Australia’s Emily Wurramara, Lisa O’Neill’s symphonic new show, the Portuguese artists to keep an eye on, and much more.…

“AT A TIME WHEN LISTENING TO A STYLE OTHER THAN CARNATIC WAS CONSIDERED DAMAGING, MY FATHER SENT ME TO LEARN WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC TOO” It is no exaggeration to say that Dr L Subramaniam is one of Indian music’s most important figures worldwide. At a young age, he began playing Indian classical music, primarily from the Carnatic tradition, and with his brothers, became a violin icon in India. As Subramaniam established himself as an instrumentalist of note, he performed at prestigious concert halls around the world, playing alongside the likes of Ravi Shankar, George Harrison and Herbie Hancock. Simultaneously, he never shied from working beyond Indian classical, recording an influential album, Garland (1982), with Danish musician Svend Asmussen and defining his vision to unite different musical cultures on 1999’s Global…

A YEAR OF PROTESTS AND BOYCOTTS Erin Cobby takes a close look at the music industry’s muddled reaction to the war between Israel and Hamas 2024 has been a big year for the overlap of music and politics. However, no topic has made its mark on 2024’s musical community quite like Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which is characterised as ‘genocide’ by the UN special committee. Since the escalation of violence following the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, we’ve seen individuals, festivals and venues grapple with either taking a stance or maintaining a silence. In February, Arts Council England (ACE) updated their policies, warning against arts organisations making ‘overtly political or activist’ art. While they stated that this new ruling had nothing to do with the conflict in…

Various Artists  I’m Glad About It: The Legacy of Gospel Music in Louisville (Louisville Story Program) ‘Who cares about secular music when we got ten Aretha Franklins in every church and I can hear them for free every Sunday morning?’ writes Ben Jones in the liner notes to this astonishing collection of gospel music recorded in Louisville, Kentucky between 1958 and 1981. Across 57 tracks, or 27 on the double vinyl version, Louisville Story Program highlight the sheer variety, joy and God-loving spectacle of gospel music, with many tracks by artists unknown outside of their state. With stunning, personal and authoritative liner notes, this is clearly a labour of love and a reminder of the glorious music being made outside of the music industry’s machinations. RUSS SLATER JOHNSON Various Artists  Even…

Few groups have risen to prominence in 2024 like the Northern Irish trio Kneecap. Named after a paramilitary punishment, their first single, ‘C.E.A.R.T.A’ (Irish for ‘Rights), was released in 2017, and a year later was followed by their debut release 3CAG, its title a nickname for MDMA that the group themselves created. The 30-minute mixtape championed both the power of home-grown community and drug-fuelled nights out, acting as a perfect introduction to the group and their preoccupations. It was a healthy start, but no one could have predicted their meteoric and international rise in 2024. In June came Fine Art, turning the themes from the first album into a cohesive narrative and interspersing tracks with vox pops from their favourite pub. The message remained: partying is political. Produced by grime…

Adeem the Artist Anniversary (Four Quarters Records) If anyone’s poised to take the Americana mantle from Jason Isbell, Adeem the Artist would be my choice. They’re a triple threat, able to write pitch-perfect country songs (‘Part & Parcel’), deeply moving protest folk (‘Night Sweats’ about the horrors in Palestine) and swoon-worthy queer love ballads (‘One Night Stand’). As a non-binary, queer artist beholden to the Nashville country/Americana machinery, Adeem’s got quite the uphill battle, but with songwriting talent this prescient, I don’t know who else you should be looking at for the voice of resistance in a new age. DEVON LÉGER Alex E. Chávez Sonorous Present (Artivist Entertainment) Chicago-based sonic theorist, scholar and musician Alex E. Chávez, known for his work with bands Dos Santos and Caramelo Haze, creates exquisite…

We are delighted to announce the winners of the 17th Songlines Music Awards, our annual celebration of the best music being made across the world. Find out which albums our writers deemed the finest being made across Africa & the Middle East, the Americas, Europe, Asia & Pacific and beyond this year, as well as our World Pioneer, Best Newcomer and the record that surpassed all as our Best Album of the year. From Niger to Nashville, kora to qawwal, folk balladeers to artful jokers, here are the winners and shortlisted albums. The following albums were released in 2024 and reviewed in Songlines (from issues #195 to #203 inclusive). An award for Best Album, as chosen by our readers, will be announced in our following issue, February/March 2025. AFRICA &…

Prisoner Shanachie Entertainment There have been many fine reggae artists to come out of Africa since Bob Marley played in Zimbabwe in 1980 and inspired an explosion of interest in reggae music all over the continent – the greatest of them, however, was Lucky Dube. The dreadlocked South African singer should have turned 60 this year. Instead, he died in 2007, murdered at the age of 43 in a Johannesburg suburb by carjackers who gunned him down in front of two of his children. If Dube was undeniably Africa’s reggae king, there’s also a strong argument that he was the most potent artist in the genre to emerge from anywhere on the planet as the world struggled to fill the void left in the reggae firmament following Marley’s death in…

To what extent was samba part of growing up in Rio? I was born in samba. I come from a neighbourhood that is very characteristic of this rhythm. My parents and my whole family were involved with the samba school and carnival… At the start of my career, what I sang most was samba and sometimes bossa nova… Samba is a fundamental part of my growth as a person and artist. What other music was part of your life in Rio? As well as samba and bossa nova, I listened to traditional Brazilian folk music such as jongo, maracatu and côco. In the 1990s, I was a fan of boy and girl bands [from] England and the US… also rock. At the same time, I listened to Sarah Vaughan and…

In the short while that Sandy Denny was in Fairport Convention – between 1968 and 1969 – she contributed one of their most famed recordings and songs: ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes?’ She’d written the song, a torn reflection on time passing, between 1967 and 68, first performing it with the Strawbs and allowing Judy Collins to record it first. Simon Nicol, multi-instrumentalist and founding member of Fairport, remembers hearing it for the first time in the summer of the year Denny joined the band. “I dropped in [to visit her] and she sang me the song. We were sitting on her bed and she was still reading [the lyrics]… I think she was still tweaking it… Even though there was a recorded version by that time with the…

LAURIE ANDERSON Amelia ‘As always, it’s Anderson’s voice that captivates so beautifully. Her poetry underlines an essential impermanence all of us, especially those who wield power, should note.’ – The Wire HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF The Past Is Still Alive ‘Like an On the Road for the age of face tattoos and fentanyl addictions. An evocative ode to America’s dispossessed, rooted in the present but also steeped in its past.’ – The Times NATHALIE JOACHIM Ki moun ou ye ‘Ki Moun Ou Ye prioritises authenticity, revealing a more introspective and experimental musical journey, portraying a truer expression of Joachim’s evolving musical voice.’ – Songlines SILKROAD ENSEMBLE & RHIANNON GIDDENS American Railroad ‘Dazzling. Every bit as rich, diverse and exploratory as we might hope for, often breathtakingly so. A truly…

There’s a great chemistry between the band and Mulatu. What was it like to work with him? He’s now 80 and not in a rush, which did pose us some challenges. There’s a lot of us and we’re used to being fast because studio time is expensive. That was an interesting lesson. But with the sessions we’ve done since then we’ve taken it easier and instead of doing ten takes, there’s just two or three which often produces better results. I feel like we learned something from his approach. And it was great to talk to him… he would be in the control room telling a story and suddenly everybody would take a break and listen to the story of something that happened 30 years ago in Addis Ababa. Everybody’s…

Selda (Türküola, 1976) Selda’s astonishing self-titled debut album is the sound of a young artist stretching way beyond her folk roots. With backing tracks by one of the key Turkish psychedelic bands, Moğollar, it uses rock beats, searing electric guitar and wailing polyphonic synthesisers to create a brave new future-folk. It was reissued in 2006 by Finders Keepers Records. Selda (Türküola, 1979) Released at the height of her fame (and, somewhat confusingly, also entitled simply Selda) the singer and activist’s fourth album contains even more vociferous calls to action and a languorous, heartbroken setting of banned communist poet Nâzim Hikmet’s anti-war text ‘Kıymayın Efendiler’. It was reissued in 2013 by Pharaway Sounds. Halkım (Majör Müzik, 2011) Selda’s most recent studio album finds her aesthetic largely unchanged in the 21st century.…

The Magpies ‘Midnight Oil’ A bittersweet Bella Gaffney-penned yuletide single from the transatlantic folkies who are spreading cheer during December: Newcastle (12), Southport (13), Bradford (14) and Shrewsbury (15). Opheim, Tillung, Økland, Brunborg and Eilertsen – Helgasong A revitalisation of Norway’s Christmas hymns, including many tunes that haven’t been played in years, from five stellar musicians. ‘I Denne Søte Juletid’, with Opheim’s swooping vocals, is sublime. Rami Atassi – New & Ancient Christmas Music For those who like their carols with a touch of Arabic microtonality and spiritual jazz here’s a far-out release from fretless guitarist Atassi. You’ve never heard ‘Auld Lang Syne’ quite like this. Simon Mayor – Winter with Mandolins An eclectic selection of mandolin-led tunes, from classic carol ‘I Saw Three Ships’, through Handel and Basque numbers,…

Born from a family of court musicians in Udaipur, RAM NARAYAN (1927-2024) quickly rose to fame through his skilful portrayal of khayal, a major form of Hindustani classical music. Appearing in iconic films of the 1960s like Mughal-e-Azam, Narayan is also lauded with popularising the sarangi, a short-necked three-stringed instrument, cementing its place in the classical genre by performing it internationally at venues like the Royal Albert Hall and at the BBC Proms… Creating atmospheric, ambient music, cellist and composer VOJTĚCH HAVELS (1962-2024), alongside his wife Irena, drew from all corners of the world when producing their unique brand of minimalist music. Starting in what was then Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, the pair grew in prominence, including being invited to play at the Ohio festival MusicNow and to star in…

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 Relief and Recommendations When I read in issue #202 that the guitar was to take ‘centre-stage with the Best 50 Guitarists in the World’ in issue #203, I immediately felt a pang of scepticism over what this would cover. I have played guitar for many years and love listening to the instrument in its multiple forms… I am an avid reader of music magazines and the top 50 or 100 compilation of this and that is a common feature, but it can be a somewhat tired format that presents repetitive and predictable listings rather than offering a fresh perspective. When issue #203 arrived… the first thing I noticed was that the heading of 50…

Niningashi Heavy Way (Time Capsule) Japanese folk meets US acid, folk and rock. Heavy Way is, tragically, the only album Niningashi ever recorded. According to the liner notes, it was written at a time when bandleader Kazuhisa Okubo and the Japanese population more broadly found themselves torn between the temptations of the quiet country and the excitement of the city. The softer, bucolic strains of ‘Semai Boku No Heyade (In My Small Room)’ certainly indicate an inclination towards the pastoral. It features honky-tonk harmonica, rudimentary percussion, plonking piano, the creak of a door and the shout of a band member. Okubo sings steadily, his warm voice accentuated by a soft harmony. ‘Natsu (Summer)’ and ‘Hitoribotchi (On My Own)’ are similarly calm takes, with a traditional Japanese folk sound laced through…

“Just express yourself!” one woman implores as another responds, shaking bells. The camera pans out to reveal a group, ankle-deep in leaves, dancing wildly in a windy woodland. Other clips reveal sombre solo dances in dwindling sunlight, accompanied by the autumnal rustle of foil blankets; hooded ravers clasping scythes and berried branches; a montage of globally distributed solo dancers, capering on sands in Mexico and Japan, the verges of the south English coast and inner-city parks. Costumes range from the funereal, the morris-inspired and the downright bizarre, with much headgear. The dancing is morris, morris-adjacent and idiosyncratic. All are enthusiastic. The reason? Dusking. Dusking first appeared in October 2023, the brainchild of artist-researcher Lucy Wright, by way of her ‘Hedge Morris’ initiative and social media conversations. Following a move to…

“It’s been dizzying, to be honest,” chuckles Mali Obomsawin about the prolific year she’s been having. She’s about to perform with Jake Blount at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and she confides that her year is not over yet. “By the end of 2024,” she continues, “there will have been a fourth piece of music recorded by me!” Her performance with Blount was related to one of those pieces of music, symbiont, released by Smithsonian Folkways. A collaboration with Blount, it included new takes on songs and hymns from the American South and was featuring in the Kennedy Center programme alongside traditional songs from the Indigenous Abenaki Nation in New England and southern Canada, to which Obomsawin’s family belongs. Her first album of the year, Deerlady, released by Out…

Alvorada Faz Tempo ARC Music When I first arrived in Brazil, one of my first experiences with live music was a roda de choro in the local square. Choro (or chorinho) originates from Rio de Janeiro and is an appealing mixture of Afro-Brazilian syncopation, instrumental jazz and 19th-century European dance music, including waltzes, polkas and quadrilles. Though it’s a traditional genre, maybe even predating jazz, there is a new generation of players who are rejuvenating this once old-fashioned style. Alvorada are a group of London-based musicians consisting of some natives and Brazilian expats who play mainly their own compositions but with an eye to adopting other rhythms and styles of Brazil. ‘Borbulhando’ is a bubbly samba with jazzy overtones and charming clarinet soloing. There’s the light-fingered flute playing of Rachel…

There are surprising new sounds in roots music in North America these days, so that’s the theme for this month: surprise. Who’s making music that upends the old traditions, that draws new global connections, that builds new sounds? It’s no exaggeration to call Marcella Simien Creole royalty. Not only is she the daughter of the great zydeco luminary Terrance Simien, she’s also from one of the first Creole families to settle in the Opelousas region of Louisiana (where Clifton Chenier was born). Her new album, To Bend to the Will of a Dream That’s Being Fulfilled (Swamp Soul Music ★★★), though, is a surprise, tapping into spoken word, philosophical thoughts and musical yoga elements, though you’ll still hear zydeco accordion (sounding like a harmonium on ‘Lelia’), washboard and some Creole French…

AyoZaad Amen Amwin Lemur/Believe Promoted as an ‘exceptional collective of musicians electrifying the Indian Ocean,’ AyoZaad are dominated by the electronica of Italian-Australian DJ and producer Ribongia, who is joined by Mauritian singer Emlyn, Mauritian singer-guitarist Manu DesRoches, Australian-Mauritian singer-percussionist Jason Heerah, singer Bastien Picot from the smaller Indian Ocean island of La Réunion, and yet another singer, Ophélie Sauteur from Cameroon, West Africa. It’s an intriguing line-up, but those expecting a set of Indian Ocean vocals and Mauritian séga influences would be disappointed. Amen Amwin is a Ribongia album of electro-soundscapes and beats, though with soul, ballads and African influences mixed in with songs that constantly change direction. It’s all slickly performed, with varied and classy vocal work, but singers this good deserve the chance to stretch out beyond…

A chameleonic performer whose work goes from art-pop conceptualism to rock guitar pyrotechnics, Annie Clarke, better known by her moniker St. Vincent, has never been afraid of experimenting or new experiences. In fact, most of her albums have involved some kind of persona, with several online listicles dedicated to the unpacking of them all. Among other flights of wonder, she’s delved into a 90s grunge aesthetic on Actor (2009), swayed to a brass band with David Byrne on Love This Giant (2012) and donned the garb and iconography of a cult leader on the rock-focused Masseduction (2017). This November saw her exploring in a different direction as she released Todos Nacen Gritando, the Spanish translation of her hugely successful 2024 album All Born Screaming. Touring Latin America and Spain over…

On November 14 I published an article in The Conversation entitled ‘Band Aid at 40: how the problematic Christmas hit changed the charity sector’. It was agreed to give Bob Geldof the right of reply given the criticisms made of the fundraising strategy. His profanity-laden response is included at the end of that piece. The article caused a stir and was re-run by many publications. A celebrity spat then developed that focused on Ed Sheeran and the rapper Fuse ODG who criticised Band Aid for the song’s problematic representation of Africa. That’s just one issue though. Tony Hadley, from the 1980s pop group Spandau Ballet, who sung on the original 1984 recording even said that Sheeran should ‘shut up’ and that he didn’t ‘know what his problem is.’ Geldof,…