Table of contents for February/March 2025 in Songlines

It’s been six years since I last attended the wholly unique Nyege Nyege Festival, and while the surroundings may have changed, the self-proclaimed ‘Afro Galactic Carnival’ on the Nile River – taking place November 14–17, 2024 – retains a near-frenzied spirit of creativity that pushes it into the radical. Now ‘Africa’s largest music festival’, with over 300 artists from East Africa and beyond, the ethos and vibe of Nyege Nyege is one of cross-cultural collaboration and celebration. This is evidenced by the multiple stages, of which there are seven, loosely grouped around a golf course in Jinja, which has been transformed, largely by reclaimed materials, into a gigantic playground, equipped with a Ferris wheel which looks, and feels, like it was made out of old school chairs welded together. The…

WIN Levellers p36 Win one of three vinyls of the Levellers’ new album Collective / Live. To stand a chance, tell us: What was the Levellers’ 1990 debut album called? Songhoy Blues p38 We have five vinyls of Songhoy Blues’ Héritage to give away. To stand a chance, answer: Who produced Songhoy Blues’ debut album Music in Exile? Sam Amidon p82 To nab one of three Sam Amidon Salt River vinyls, tell us: What was the name of Amidon’s “teenage contra dance band”? 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 of other Songlines products and services, or products from other carefully…

For over 30 years, the Levellers have entertained and inspired their legion of loyal fans in equal measure, tapping into a long tradition of socially motivated folk music and adding elements of punk, pop and rock. Now, a new live album, recorded at London’s Hackney Empire, sees the band rework their back catalogue in acoustic form, but to really understand this unique group, you need to revisit their origins. 1988 in the UK was a year full of strikes, the year in which Margaret Thatcher became the longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century and in which Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. “It was a very political time for everybody,” explains founding member of the Levellers, guitarist and singer Mark Chadwick, “people weren’t afraid…

In the days leading up to the annual Petronio Alvarez Festival, the five-day event’s imprint on the city of Cali, Colombia, appears in unexpected places. Standing in line to change money at Western Union, a man in the queue has arrived from Washington, DC. He’s here for “the Petronio”, as it’s come to be known. In a restaurant in the colonial neighbourhood of San Antonio, there are striking photos on the wall of the country’s Pacific coast people, whose music is the centre of the festival, all as part of an exhibition timed for the event. Walking along the downtown boulevard bordering the river that bears the city’s name, there’s music: the unmistakable sound, like melodic raindrops, of the marimba. It’s Hugo Candelario and 26 marimba and bombo maestros, the…

Having worked with artists such as William Kentridge, is there a visual aspect to your composition process? I never quite thought of it in that way until I started scoring films and series about nine years ago. It was then I started appreciating the relationship between sound and image. Now, when composing in the jazz space I don’t specifically think of images, but there is definitely a type of storytelling to the music and the way the trio performs my compositions. When working with Mr Kentridge, I can’t help but be inspired by his very visceral images. What made the timing right for another trio album? As mentioned, I’ve been writing a lot of film, series and theatre scores in the last eight years… With composition in those spaces, it’s…

Ever since we lost Canyon Records, there have been far fewer pow wow albums coming out it seems. So it’s nice to see something new in the field, especially from Joel Wood of the renowned Wood family who run the Northern Cree pow wow drum, one of the best North American pow wow groups. Wood’s new album, Nîkan (Joel Wood★★★★), has songs from the pow wow world, but sung in a slightly more intimate style, as well as prayer songs. The singing is glorious and uplifting and once you’ve acquired the taste for pow wow music – which can be a bit abrasive at first – you’ll find yourself wanting more. At 91 years old, the great Willie Nelson is still releasing fantastic music, and more importantly taking chances. His…

AKKOR Gülbaba Records Best known as the lead singer of the Turkish retro psychedelic rockers BaBa ZuLa, Melike Şahin has now set out on a solo career, and this is her second studio album, following 2021’s debut, Merhem. It is a defiant and joyous declaration of survival and determination in a troubled world. While Şahin’s sound is rooted in Turkish folk music and the Middle Eastern melodic forms of the 70s and 80s, she also brings something very international to her sound. Recorded in London, AKKOR is as full of funk, disco and psychedelic reverb to counter an often melancholic strain that brings to mind a Turkish Mariza (the Portuguese fado star) and gained her the sobriquet ‘the queen of sadness’. The hints of wah-wah pedal, manic organ breaks and…

Kan Ya Makan (Once Upon a Time) ACT Music Four years after an adventurous solo debut which took us on an exhilarating journey through the Arabic world, Franco-Algerian singer, cellist and songwriter Nesrine Belmokh has brought out another impressive opus. Kan Ya Makan is more reflective, oscillating between doubt and great optimism; a call to life and love. Her cello, as always, plays a central part in her creations, generating energising arpeggios and basslines together with the subtle backing of fellow artists Vincent Huma (guitar) Grégoire Musso (bass, keyboards), Anissa Nehari and Rhani Krija on percussion, and trombonist Paco Soler. Perfectly blending with the vocal melodies, Belmokh’s vibrant voice delivers captivating, poetic lyrics in French, English and Arabic, each word a musical component in itself – English translations of the…

What’s the music scene like in Margate? In the seven years that I’ve lived here, it’s gone from very small to Margate being on the map in terms of a destination for bands to play from all over the world! This is thanks to people like Sammy Clarke who promotes most of the alternative music nights in various small venues around the town. What’s exciting you in Margate music-wise right now? Robert Stillman, Falle Nioke, Thandii, Clementine Blue and Margate Radio. What’s your favourite venue to play? Where Else? (formerly Elsewhere). It’s the kind of venue that takes you back in time. A proper gig venue where you’re intimately at one with the band and the audience. It’s a dark and grungy basement (actually an ex-car phone warehouse) and it…

Margaret Barry, the legendary Cork-born musician, is perhaps best known for her time as a street singer. In the 1930s and 40s, she travelled Ireland, singing at fairs, markets and sporting events. But in the 50s, Margaret pursued a new means of living, swapping Ireland’s roads and fairs for North London’s pubs. One in particular became central: The Bedford Arms on Arlington Road, Camden Town. The 1950s saw many of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians emigrate to England in search of work, leading to a boom of Irish music in London, with traditional sessions becoming a staple of many pubs, particularly those in the north of the city. Margaret Barry first travelled to London in 1953, at the invitation of Alan Lomax to appear on the BBC television series Song Hunter,…

For me, doing a Sandy Denny song is like going into a vintage shop, finding a great old sheepskin coat that just fits perfectly and looks amazing on you, and you know that it’s been loved and worn by someone else, someone who fitted into it perfectly too. But somehow, it’s meant for you and the universe has brought it to you, and now it’s yours. Her vocal range is note-for-note where mine sits, so I don’t have to change the key to any of her songs or any of the notes, they’re exactly where you want them to be. And because the melody writing is so careful, the stresses are exactly where they need to be, they are written that way, there can never be wild variation because it’s…

TOP OF THE WORLD TRACKS 01 Melike Şahin ‘İfşa’ From Akkor on Gülbaba Records / Day Dreamer Turkish folk sounds swirl around wah wah effects, psychedelic keys, scratchy glitching and the smooth vocals of Şahin as she sings defiantly and fiercely of finding her strength and voice. See p58 02 Nesrine ‘Dunia’ From Kan Ya Makan (Once Upon a Time) on ACT Nesrine’s warm, rich voice reflects on the spiralling joys of love, anchored by a groove-heavy, biting, driving and melodic bassline complete with sparse percussion and backing choir. See p64 03 Songhoy Blues ‘Boutiki’ From Héritage on Transgressive Records A rolling Malian masterpiece that deftly unfolds its eclectic mix of desert blues, kora classicism and wide-reaching guitar riffs, all held together by Aliou Touré’s mellow vocals. See p47 04…

Lisa O’Neill’s orchestral debut on November 15 2025, begins with the classical world inviting her in. Before arriving on stage, the Irish National Symphony Orchestra play John Williams’ ‘The Flying Theme’ from the film E.T. A silver full moon is placed high at the back of the stage, looking over them as they play. The composition, O’Neill explains in the programme, was the first piece of classical music she heard growing up. “Like many children in the 1980s”, she recalls, “I had fallen in love with this extraterrestrial and this music was the language of the heart taking flight.” As the music swoops, soars and tumbles around Dublin’s National Concert Hall, a shimmer of bells is heard from the back. O’Neill tiptoes through to the stage, smiling and gently ringing…

How has the music and legacy of your father influenced your work? Having a father like Francis Bebey can of course have a profound impact on an artist’s work. My father worked with a unique blend of traditional African sounds and modern influences. This instilled in me a deep appreciation for cultural heritage and innovation. What did it mean to you to cover one of your father’s most well-known and celebrated tracks, ‘The Coffee Cola Song’? I had many different reasons for wanting to record my own version of it. For years I have wanted to bring the music of the ‘pygmies’ [the Indigenous Baka people of Cameroon] to the ears of a larger audience. In 2017, I was asked to record the pygmy flute (n’dehou) parts for a song,…

We don’t tend to hear much about the independent popular music scene in Iran, but there’s been an active and growing movement since the late 1990s, despite often precarious circumstances for musicians. Named after a gigantic mythical fish from the gulf region of southern Iran, Damahi is one of the most popular grassroots bands to have emerged in recent years as part of a wider trend of mixing Iran’s regional traditions with contemporary popular global music. Based in Iran, Damahi’s members are Dara Daraee (bandleader and bass), Hamzeh Yeganeh (keyboards and banjo), Ebrahim Alavi (guitar and oud), Reza Koolaghani (vocals) and Ahmad Abbasnia (drums and percussion). Formed in 2014, the band’s distinctive sound comes from being steeped in the vibrant music heritage of Iran’s southern provinces of Hormozgan and Sistan…

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://linktree.com/SL205 Patrick Bebey Ponda Africa Seven With Ponda, Cameroonian pianist and singer Patrick Bebey delivers a record that seamlessly fuses jazz, African tradition and Western folk and pop elements. The album is rooted in the influence of Bebey’s musician father Francis, whom he covers several times, most notably with the well-known ‘The Coffee Cola Song’. This track highlights the contrast between negative portrayals of Indigenous tribes, who live close to nature, with what Francis saw as…

Alvaro Lancellotti listens carefully to the close harmonies of Os Tincoãs and the early work of Jorge Ben Jor on the gentle and relaxed Arruda, Alfazema e Guiné (Amor in Sound★★★). In fact, the wonderful sambista Mateus Aleluia, who made his name in Os Tincoãs, sings on album highlight ‘A Calma’, his deep baritone voice giving ballast to the swaying arrangement and delicate guitar picking. Tássia Reis presents her perfectly serviceable set of Brazilian R&B on Topo da Minha Cabeça (XIU★★★). It’s very smooth and creamy in places, but with elements of neo-soul and MPB that pique one’s interest. On ‘Previsível’ the production of Metá Metá’s Kiko Dinucci throws some grit into the Vaseline, and there’s an ode to plus-sized women on ‘Rude’ with EVEHIVE grinding to her mixture of…

Birna By Norse Music/Sony Music Four years in the making, Warduna’s new album is a journey into the world of Birna – the she-bear in Old Norse. It opens with what sounds like a heartbeat, and the sound of beating hearts pulsates throughout the album, notably on ‘Dvaledraumar,’ driven by the slowed-down heartbeat – nine beats per minute – of the semi-hibernating bear. The music of Birna is recognisably, distinctively, Wardruna, but their sound has developed and this is a more expansive album than 2021’s Kvitravn. The Norwegian dark-folk band is fronted by Einar Selvik, the singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer who has created authentic-sounding soundtracks for television and videogames (such as Vikings and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla). Over the years that Birna has been gestating, Selvik has led Wardruna on a…

Mapambazuko Nyege Nyege Tapes Nyege Nyege are known for avant-garde releases. This record is no different. Titi Bakorta and Ale Hop join forces to bring together the former’s soukous guitar prowess and the latter’s hypnotic drums and production; combined together in a disjunctive fashion that brings a tension and energy to the tracks. Songs such as ‘Bonne Année’ are tonally experimental and contain surprising sonic transitions, down to Ale Hop’s futuristic and heady creations. While leaning into the modern production, many of the tracks are still structurally traditional soukous with Titi’s guitar underpinning them with the repetitive and energising power of soukous, creating orally interesting tracks that are great to dance to. ‘Así Baila el Sintetizador’ is a stand-out in which bizarre synth sounds interplay rhythmically with the guitar; a…

Songs of the Roma Slap the Moon Records This exploration of the rich Gypsy heritage of Balkan music is the second album by Scottish guitarist Simon Thacker with the cellist Justyna Jablonska and it’s a gem. Joined by Polish singer/violinist Masha Natanson and the Hungarian pair of cimbalom player Gyula Csík and double bassist Gyula Lázár, they reimagine songs by Esma Redžepova, Fanfare Ciocărlia and Romanian lăutar Gabi Luncă plus Roma folk standards such as ‘Ederlezi’. Thacker’s arrangements are wildly imaginative, combining Romani tradition, classical and flamenco tropes and avant-garde experimentalism, Jablonska’s playing is breathtaking and Natanson’s wonderfully expressive voice is one minute keening and the next as sweet as a sugarplum. There’s an energy and intensity throughout and plenty of wit to go with the elegiac beauty. TRACK TO…

What are you listening to at the moment? Siempre Diferentes by Los Beta 5 and a compilation of cumbia called Super Bailable Vol 9. Also, I’m listening to Paul Simon’s Graceland. It’s not bad! What are your all-time favourite albums, and why? Hunky Dory by David Bowie, Tonight’s the Night by Neil Young, Into the Music by Van Morrison… Oh and Sister Lovers [also called Third] by Big Star. These are records I just return to again and again. I don’t know why. My fingers find them even before my brain fires up. Which musician (living or dead) do you most admire, and why? That’s difficult to say. Because if I mention one, I leave out 1,000. But Jimi Hendrix. He had a certain freedom about him. And Alex Chilton…

Merging folk-rock and psych, Bon Enfant are a funky quintet from Québec. Check them out at Where Else? (FEB 6). Funk and soul trailblazer Dexter Wansel plays a unique dining and entertainment experience at Olby’s Soul Cafe (FEB 9). French singer-songwriter Laura Cahen is bringing her synth-supported poetic love songs to the Tom Thumb Theatre (FEB 22). Taking over Dreamland Amusement Park is Margate’s Reggae Festival (JUL 12), featuring Dawn Penn, Congo Natty and Mad Professor. Just a stone’s throw from the beach. In nearby Broadstairs, the annual Folk Week is celebrating 60 years (AUG 8–15)! Highlights include Martin & Eliza Carthy, Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman. A festival running for over 20 years which hopes to establish Margate as the ‘home of soul’, the Margate Soul Weekender (AUG 1–4)…

The tabla tarang is a set of between 10 and 16 tablas, usually arranged in a semi-circle around a player, with each tabla tuned to a different note. In the late 1800s, the famous Hindustani musician Vishnu Digambar Paluskar would use such tablas to teach singing. When one of his students joined the Uday Shankar Ballet’s music ensemble in 1930, this little-known instrument began to be popularised. Kamalesh Maitra (1928–2005), a prodigious tabla player, joined the Uday Shankar Ballet in 1950 and was encouraged to master the tabla tarang, which he undoubtedly did, becoming one of its greatest exponents. Up to that point, the tabla tarang had been used for solos within a performance – Maitra was the first to perform whole concerts, raags, on the instrument. In 1974 he…

The musical history of Bulgaria dates back thousands of years. The introduction of two-inch tape andWestern musical influence in the 20th century gave way to a rich recorded history that spans ancient vocal traditions, shimmering synth-pop, raucuous wedding music and shepherd songs flown into space. 1 Various Artists A Harvest, A Shepherd, A Bride: Village Music of Bulgaria (Nonesuch, 1970) Collecting together Bulgarian folk music recorded by song collectors Ethel Raim and Martin Koenig in 1968, this album is notable for including an iconic song by Valya Balkanska, essential in developing Bulgaria’s musical identity. Her rendition of ‘Izlel je Delyo Hajdutin’ (Delyo the Haiduk has Gone Outside), as included on this album, was among the songs sent into space on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977 to represent human culture for…

An act of defiance and solidarity, the new show by Canadian-Iranian singer Farnaz Ohadi unfolded within the packed auditorium of the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto in mid-November under grey skies. Ohadi left Iran in her teens, unable to sing, perform or even just live her life as a young girl, and emigrated to Canada with no knowledge of English or Western culture. Now she took the stage, veiled all in black, carrying a vase, herself a symbol of the perseverance of women against state and cultural persecution. It was a powerful opening for a show that fused classical Persian song and poetry by Rumi, Hafez and Omar Khayyam with Spanish flamenco, worlds colliding in a way that seemed natural yet belied the years of hard work, research and training…

Mary Smith Sgiath Airgid (Macmeanmna, 2004) When Mary sings, it’s like she embodies every singer who’s sung that song before her. She’s a great friend of mine now, one of my favourite people in the world, but also my favourite singer in the world. The way she conveys the songs, it’s that thing about the tradition, the ‘carrying stream’ and the song being greater than the singer. You have that sense of heritage… but at the same time she has this incredible voice and a way of ornamenting songs and musically delivering the songs, it’s like every time she sings you’re hearing it for the first time. In Gaelic song it’s all about the words… the words take precedence and that’s what you get with her. Iain MacDonald & Iain…

The Poland-based 1000HZ Records is a venture dedicated to enabling otherwise overlooked artists from across the globe to finance and promote their work. “It all started in Malawi”, recalls Piotr Dang Cichocki, who runs the label alongside Polish Vietnamese visual artist Dang Thuy Duong. “It developed”, he continues, “from my double occupation: anthropologist and musician.” It was while undertaking fieldwork in the landlocked, southeast African country that Piotr “recorded beautiful and strange music.” Speaking of the genesis, he adds: “I realised that I could not do anything with it but to publish with my own means.” 1000HZ is a nonprofit, with between 70% and 85% of revenue going directly to their artists. Piotr’s initial idea was to help the Malawian musicians to set up individual Bandcamp accounts. “But soon it…

Thus far one of Morocco’s best-kept musical secrets, the Zamane Festival is a community-based event that takes place in the small town of M’hamid El Ghizlane [also home to Taragalte Festival], in the southern Draa valley, on the edge of the Sahara desert near the Algerian border. Presented by the local Joudour Sahara organization, and supported by the non-profit Playing For Change Foundation – which recently created a small music school in M’hamid – the third annual festival (November 29 – December 1, 2024) highlighted the many distinct cultures of the region, emanating from the mix of Arabic, Amazigh (Berber) and Touareg (Tamasheq) people. 2024’s theme was the importance of camels to the region. The three-day festival opened at the stunning Jardin Joudour, an incredible palm-tree oasis that looked akin…

“As 2024 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on one of the most profound experiences of my musical journey: performing alongside the incomparable Zakir Hussain. What an honour it was to share the stage with a true legend. His mastery of rhythm, his unshakable dedication to his art, and his generosity as a collaborator have been a constant source of inspiration. Thank you Zakir, for the music, the wisdom, and the endless joy. You’ve shaped not only my own musical journey but the world’s understanding of rhythm itself. Your legacy will continue to resonate far beyond the stage.”  Béla Fleck (X) “Maybe another day I’ll have words for this grief. Right now, I’m just broken-hearted and thinking of his family with all the love in the world. He…

Charis McGowan asks three musicians how the music industry can be an important asset during the current climate crisis The music sector tends to fly under the radar as a polluter, yet it is still an industry that operates under capitalism, prioritising profit over sustainability. According to PRS for Music, the UK’s music industry alone releases 540,000 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent, meaning all greenhouse gases) per year; from printing vinyl to hosting festivals. Yet musicians can create change by changing touring habits, educating through song and demanding greater accountability from event promoters. Action also extends to music journalists and listeners: we have the power to change small habits – from buying an eco-friendly vinyl to boycotting a high-polluter event. For advice on positive change in the face of…

Songhoy Blues are back with a glorious and unexpected new album that’s a plea for unity in their battered homeland, Mali. They may be known for their rousing blend of desert blues, rock and funk, but Héritage takes a very different approach. They are still a guitar band but now concentrate on acoustic rather than electric styles. And they are joined by distinguished Malian guests, including Afel Bocoum (who worked for many years with the great guitarist Ali Farka Touré), kora virtuoso Madou Diabaté, and other exponents of traditional instruments such as balafon, soku fiddle, peul flute, kubur lute and various types of ngoni. Oumar Touré, their bass player, says the album is a result of COVID-19 and the continuing crisis in the country. “Since we started the band, Malian…

Héritage Transgressive A decade on from Songhoy Blues’ explosive debut Music in Exile, it’s probably time to stop calling the band from Timbuktu the young punks of desert blues. Certainly, Héritage, their fourth album, takes a step back from the heavy, crunching guitar rock of past records in favour of a deeper, more nuanced and traditional exploration of Malian roots music. Drummer Nathanael Dembélé seems to have gone and the remaining trio are here joined by traditional instrumentation including kora, one-string fiddle, kamalengoni, flute, balafon and calabash percussion. The result is a collection of semi-acoustic songs that draw on the rich panoply of Malian styles from Touareg rhythms to Mande griot music via the Wassoulou sound associated with Oumou Sangaré, and more. Garba Touré still gets to unleash some rocking…

Salt River River Lea Recordings Recorded by Sam Amidon (guitar, fiddle), Sam Gendel (saxophone, synthesizer) and Philippe Melanson (percussion) in Gendel’s Los Angeles home studio, Salt River contains all of the ingredients that make Amidon’s music uniquely expressive and irresistibly charming. Selected from a trove of folk, rock and jazz material which Amidon has been tweaking for decades, the ten tracks on Salt River include Lou Reed’s ‘Big Sky’, the Sacred Harp hymn ‘I’m on My Journey Home’, the Anglo-American shanty ‘Golden Willow Tree’, Yoko Ono’s ‘Ask the Elephant’ and Ornette Coleman’s ‘Friends and Neighbors’. Reimagined arrangements imbue each song with unexpected character and new meaning while Amidon’s distinctive singing voice resonates with an oddly seductive, honeyed timbre, which lends itself to the music’s exploratory nature. Minimalist instrumentation delivers maximal…

Curyman II Diamond West Records ‘Curyman’, the opening track of Rogê’s (Roger José Cury) follow-up, revisits the final, brief ‘O Vento’ from 2023’s Curyman (reviewed in #187), thus cutely updating a winning formula: enhancing this LA-based expatriate Brazilian’s underlying songwriting talents with the opulent strings of legendary arranger Arthur Verocai (on roughly half the tracks) and a signature retro-modern production by The Budos Band’s Thomas Brenneck. Curyman II again combines rhythmic numbers, like ‘100% Samba’, which recall the samba-funk of Jorge Ben, with more contemplative numbers, like the aforesaid opener or ‘A Lenda Do Abaeté’, either way instilling a sense of refreshed tropicália. It’s no accident that there’s a glorious remake of João Donato’s classic from 1973, ‘A Rã’ (The Frog). Verocai’s signature is particularly clear on the instrumental ‘Old…

Vinde Todas Microscopi Carme López Fernández has been studying and working on gender roles in Galicia’s musical tradition. Vinde Todas, her debut album as Carmela, is based on a female perspective that the performer and teacher has been researching these last years. And that is precisely why Carmela chooses to begin and end her album with field recordings – reminding us of where it all starts, despite everything that may happen. Each song is named after different women. And what Carmela beautifully shows on Vinde Todas is how she is feeding on these Galician voices and adding her own. Taking the example of the brilliant ‘Lina e Lola, Fumaces’, we hear her limpid voice singing a traditional melody over a raw percussion, but little by little the background becomes more…

This month’s folk round-up offers rich pickings, stretching from County Mayo to Leipzig, with a stop at Oxford’s canals, accompanied by some well-timed festive tunes. The waterways of Oxford inspire Three Idle Women and their debut, All Hands Together (Three Idle Women★★★), a mix of traditional songs and original compositions. Their rendition of the trad classic ‘Lowlands’ is delivered simply and evocatively, standing out as a fine interpretation. Originals like ‘Boatie Boy’, ‘Green As’ and ‘Turbulent Waters’ showcase the trio’s songwriting prowess and gift for storytelling. Jane Rouse, Charlie Henry and Steph Pirrie are far from idle, contributing concertina, ukulele, whistle, piano and even musical saw to an album that paints a lush soundscape of the Oxford canals. At its core, however, are the trio’s irresistibly mesmerising three-part harmonies. County…

My Name is Giridhar Udupa 7K! Having performed as a sideman with a myriad of world-class South Asian and Western artists, percussion virtuoso Giridhar Udupa releases the first solo album of his decades-long career. Produced in collaboration with electronic artist Sam Shackleton, this work is an intriguing blend of layered percussion and modern studio production. A master of the ghatam (clay pot drum) prevalent in Carnatic music, Udupa’s effortless control over ever-shifting cycles of rhythm is evident from opening track ‘Aadi – The Beginning’, wherein labyrinthine percussion patterns are underscored by ominous synth pulses. ‘Khushi – Joy’ sees Udupa utilising the ghata tarang, a set of pitched ghatam that adds another layer of melodic rhythm to beautiful effect, culminating in a thrilling tihai climax. ‘Chakra – The Wheel’ centres Udupa’s…

Alejandra Cardenas (aka Ale Hop) The Peruvian musician shares her thoughts on her adopted home Where are you based, and how long have you been there? I’ve been based in Berlin since 2015, so it’s been nearly a decade now. Is it home? And if not, where is? Yes, Berlin is home – it’s my creative hub and centre of operations. However, home used to be Lima, Peru, where I first started playing music in the 2000s. I relocated because touring internationally from Peru was incredibly difficult, and the South American electronic/experimental music scene remains fragmented due to long distances between countries, limited resources and political instability. How would you describe the current atmosphere where you live? What’s the general feeling? It’s not great! For immigrants, there’s a sense that our…

Songlines’ pick of the bunch… Landless (Feb 8, London) While their albums are wonderful, seeing Landless live took my love of them to an entirely new level. Singing mostly a cappella and trad songs, the Dublin-based quartet showcase the tightest harmonies, always levelled perfectly one against the other. The variation between their voices – some softer and deeper, others airier and high-reaching – and the control they have are astounding. Seeing them in concert brings home just how intricate each arrangement is, and how well it works. Their song choices veer between heart-aching, loving, defiant and dark. They give me goosebumps from the very first note, every time. They don’t often make it to London either, so make sure you catch this one! SHOWS & TOURS UK & IRELAND Transatlantic Sessions…

BOOK I read and loved Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea books over 2023–24 but only just found out she wrote one final eight-page story called ‘Firelight’, just before she died. I can’t explain how moving it was to even discover this existed, never mind read it. The series had accompanied me through quite a challenging time. The only place it seems it’s published is in the Complete Earthsea Stories, a big brick-like volume, which of course, I had to get a hold of, and after I’d read the story, wrapped up as a Christmas present for my partner. FILM I’m just catching up on the films of John Sayles. The pick of the bunch for me is Lone Star, a very unusual and intriguing ‘revisionist’ western with Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña…