1. Aynur

Rabe (Aynur / Dreyer Gaido)

Over a whirling background of strings and percussion Aynur encourages listeners to rabe (rise up) in curling, smooth tones. An album proving her status as a premier voice of the Kurdish people.

2. Tidiane Thiam

Africa Yontii (Sahel Sounds)

Tidiane’s elegant, intricate and pensive guitar work evokes the light sounds of the kora and encourages listeners to stand up for change where it’s needed.

3. Asmâa Hamzaoui & Bnat Timbouktou

L’Bnat (ajabu!)

Hamzaoui and the ‘Daughters of Timbuktu’ pay tribute to women with strident call-and-response, bass-thumping gimbri and the occasional festive ululation.

4. Avalanche Kaito

Talitakum (Glitterbeat Records)

Kaito Winse’s fast-running rap cuts through, above tinny percussion, a chorus of cries and dissonant electronica, in a clattering, crashing, free-flying, perfect storm of noise.

5. Las Lloronas

Out of the Blue (Muziekpublique)

Embrace this international trio’s soft, deft harmonies as they encompass genres raging from Iberian folk to jazz and klezmer in tastefully spare and melancholic arrangements.

6. Canberk Ulas

Echoes of Becoming (Jazzland Recordings)

The strong, yearning sound of Ulas’ duduk leads poignantly in the creation of an ethereal soundscape: a rich, layered meditation on the Turkey-born, Sweden-based musician’s past, present and future.

7. Cyril Cyril

Le Futur Ça Marche Pas (Les Disques Bongo Joe)

With each new track bringing something different, this eclectic album is hard to describe in broad terms: expect motoric beats, psychedelia, desert blues-inspired banjo and much more.

8. Bab L’ Bluz

Swaken (Real World Records)

Yousra Mansour and Brice Bottin plunge into the propulsive rhythms of Gnawa music, melding them perfectly with a rock’n’roll aesthetic that will have you head-banging before you know it.

9. Hajda Banda

Hajda! (Karrot Kommando)

Joyful energy, riddled with frenzied violin, accordion, vocals, cimbalom and more from a band that are refreshing music they have found through archives and musicians from eastern Poland, western Belarus and Ukraine.

10. ZA! + Perrate

Jolifanto (Lovemonk)

Perrate’s detached vocals circle discordant synth and percussion from the avant-garde electronic duo ZA! for an unsettling, compelling sound that develops until its cathartic, hedonistic conclusion.

Read the reviews of all of these albums, and many more, in the June 2024 issue of Songlines. Never miss an issue – subscribe today