Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson

TITLE: What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow
LABEL: Nonesuch Records
RELEASE DATE: April 18

Giddens has a busy summer ahead of her, with Carolina Chocolate Drops reuniting for the first-ever Biscuits & Banjos (April 25-27) festival in North Carolina, which Giddens is organising. In line with that CCD reunion, she has recorded an album with one of the band’s original members, Justin Robinson. What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow is a glorious collection of 18 of the duo’s favourite North Carolina tunes, all recorded outdoors with Robinson on fiddle and Giddens on banjo. Giddens explains: “With the assaults on reality going on in the world today, we wanted to offer another kind of record, like walking back onto a gravel or dirt road while a stampede goes the other way… With the cicada choir, this record could’ve only happened at a certain time in the last 120 years. We doubled down on place, time, realness and old-fashioned front-porch music. It’s a reminder that another way exists, with music made for your community’s enjoyment and for dancing – not solely for commercial purposes.” Giddens and Robinson will be touring the album as part of the Rhiannon Giddens & The Old-Time Revue from April through June in North America. RSJ

Madalitso Band

TITLE: Ma Gitala
LABEL: Bongo Joe Records
RELEASE DATE: June 13

Over 20 years ago, friends Yobu Malinga and Yosefe Kalekeni had the idea to create their own instruments to better recreate the sounds they heard on the radio while growing up in Malawi. What emerged was a homemade one-string slide bass (babatone), a cowskin foot drum thumped with one’s heel and a four-string guitar, which, when played alongside Yobu’s vocals, created something wholly unique. Fast-forward to this summer, and the pair are set to release their fourth album. Meaning ‘guitars’, Ma Gitala encompasses all that have made Madalitso Band internationally known: upbeat folk melodies infused with accelerating, percussive rhythms, daring the listener not to dance. On this record, however, they have taken this infectious spirit one step further by featuring several guests, adding sax and the traditional sansi (mbira) to the album’s sonic landscape. However, it’s the inclusion of a children’s choir on the album’s titular track, capturing a sense of joy and playfulness, that will have audiences beaming. EC

47SOUL

TITLE: Dualism Pt. 1 & Pt. 2
LABEL: Cooking Vinyl
RELEASE DATE: May 2 & Autumn

The Palestinian shamstep pioneers are back with a two-part release. Dualism Pt. 1 is released in May, and unsurprisingly, given the ongoing genocide in Gaza, it explores themes of grief and resilience. ‘Ya Kho’ and ‘Ghost Town’ are both haunting, sombre tracks influenced by the pain of the conflict, especially how it has broken families and left so many Palestinians displaced and isolated. ‘Power’ has a stronger level of defiance as it critiques global power structures designed to bypass personal emotions. It’s a challenging listen at times, but necessary with so much to process and share. The second EP, Dualism Pt. 2, will be released later in the year, and we are told it carries a more hopeful tone. As incumbent US presidents behave like the world is their workforce to restructure, we hope it finds a more hopeful climate at the time of release. RSJ

Kayatibu

TITLE: Ni Hui: Voice of the Forest
LABEL: Da Lata Music
Release Date: May 9

On page 51 of this issue, we review a collaboration between Brazilian musicians Luiz Gabriel Lopes, Paulo Novaes and members of the Huni Kuin Indigenous tribe. In many ways, that album by TXAI BAND is an introduction to this upcoming release from Kayatibu. The big difference is that this album just features the Huni Kuin musicians, and it’s a surprising listen. ‘Tere Ana Paima’, with its percussive stomp and incantatory vocals, sounds like a long-lost 70s psych-tropicália gem; ‘Dauti’ is the ultimate Amazon campfire singalong and ‘Nai Basa Masheri’, with those haunting slide guitar lines, is not too dissimilar to the African country & western vibes of Jess Sah Bi & Peter One. What’s interesting about the Huni Kuin is how they want to ensure that their music is no mere curiosity, and that other cultures will take something from it. Here’s Rita Hunikuin, one of the group’s leaders: “Music is how we communicate with the world. It transcends barriers – it’s how we express who we are and make ourselves heard. For us, it is the voice of the forest coming alive.” With a major Indigenous mobilisation planned for April 7–11, in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, it’s time that we played our part in that communication. RSJ

Meklit

TITLE: TBC
LABEL: Smithsonian Folkways
RELEASE DATE: September

Meklit Hadero is busy. If you’ve not heard it yet, check out her podcast, Movement with Meklit Hadero, which platforms the stories of immigrant musicians (Emel Mathlouthi, Sid Sriram and Daymé Arocena are some of the interviewees) and has a third season coming this year. She’ll also be reforming her Movement Immigrant Orchestra for another big event following a successful debut last year, and she is set to do something she’s not done before, and that’s to release an album containing traditional Ethiopian songs. The album, which is yet to be titled, moves from the dreamy ‘Tizita’ where Meklit’s ethereal voiCe is supported by a harp to upbeat tracks like ‘Abebayehosh’ and ‘Dale Shura’, which hit with strong bass lines and horn riffs. It’s a work which contains multitudes. “This record reimagines a slate of Ethiopian traditional music, including from my father’s tribe Kembata, which I’ve never done before!” she says. “Of course, it’s steeped in Ethio-jazz, and being a songwriter, I simply had to add a few originals in there too.” EC

Mishra & Deepa Shakthi

TITLE: Turn O Spinning Wheel
LABEL: Self-Released
RELEASE DATE: Late October

Sufi vocalist Deepa Shakthi and Sheffield-based folk collective Mishra began collaborating in 2022, and they’ve been regular companions ever since, touring in 2023 and putting out two singles, which give an inkling of what to expect from their debut album together. It promises to be a collection of traditional Asian and English folk songs, weaving together different techniques, languages and instrumentation to create something satisfyingly recognisable yet wholly unique. If their last single, ‘ABHAYAM (Without Fear)’ – based on the shree raga – is anything to go by, we should be in for a treat. EC

Femi Kuti

TITLE: Journey Through Life
LABEL: Partisan Records
RELEASE DATE: April 25

Femi has a new album coming, his first since 2021, and the first in which Femi has been in charge of every aspect of the production, as producer, composer and arranger. It’s also his most personal to date. Here’s Femi to explain: “Journey Through Life is basically a summary of my life from my childhood to adulthood. All through my life, family has been a solid foundation, from my parents, grandparents, to my siblings, cousins and now my children, my nieces and nephews, soon my grandchildren, and true to my song at the end of the day, for me family is all that matters. I believe many events happen in our lives that draw us away from each other like an undercurrent, but the essence is to manage such events and let love prevail.” A joyous album full of pathos, it’s also not afraid to address politics, such as on the album’s first two singles, ‘Politics Don Expose Them’ and ‘After 24 Years’, rallying cries against corruption and political failure. RSJ

Carolina Oliveros

TITLE: TBC
LABEL: Chulo Records
RELEASE DATE: July

Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Carolina Oliveros may not be a household name, but this album could change that. Previously, Oliveros has fluctuated between the progressive Latin psych-outs of her NYC group Combo Chimbita and the raw drum-and-vocal traditions of Bulla En El Barrio and Tonada, both groups that have been key in revitalising interest in Afro-Colombian bullerengue. This new album sits somewhere in between, though with the bonus of Orquesta Akokán’s Jacob Plasse as a co-producer, which brings in a whole analogue Nuyorican salsa-meets-Cuban son vibe that allows Oliveros’ stunning voice to fire on all cylinders – she’s always had the power but never has she had the space and environment to thrive as she does here. With stunning cameos from Puerto Rican salsa singer Papote Jimenez and Orquesta Akokán themselves, this is one to look forward to. RSJ

Ella Hanshaw

TITLE: Ella Hanshaw’s Black Book
LABEL: SPINSTER
RELEASE DATE: Spring

We have to admit to knowing little – make that nothing! – about Ella Hanshaw before being tipped off about this upcoming release from US label SPINSTER. Hanshaw (1934-2000) was a songwriter and musician who grew up in West Virginia and dreamed of being a country star. In the end, her life followed a different path as religion provided all the fulfilment she needed. However, she never gave up music, amassing a variety of gospel songs that she believed were a gift from God. This album contains recordings compiled by her granddaughter from home and church recordings that showcase both her gospel songs (Big Black Book) and her broken-hearted country songs (Little Black Book) that make up both parts of Ella Hanshaw’s Black Book. The music we’ve heard, whether secular or sacred, is stunning, and it’s testament to SPINSTER that they’re putting so much energy into getting Ella Hanshaw’s music out into the world. RSJ

Nadah El Shazly

TITLE: Laini Tani
LABEL: One Little Independent Records
RELEASE DATE: June 6

Egyptian-born, Montréal-based singer and composer Nadah El Shazly established herself as an important Arabic voice on her 2017 debut album Ahwar. Here was an artist indicative of the exciting underground music scene emerging from Cairo, yet also tied to the city’s history and musical roots. Laini Tani continues that vision and, if anything, amplifies the message. She teams up with 3Phaz (an essential name in the Cairo underground) as co-producer and Sara Pagé, who plays harp and electronics. There’s mawwal influence in the vocals, beats inspired by zar ceremonies and harps tuned to a variety of maqam (scales) but there’s also disquiet, a level of noise that speaks of Cairo’s cacophonous every day, as well as Nadah’s own turmoil. The album feels deeply personal. Nadah perhaps explains it well when she discusses the album’s place in her native country: “Contrasting heavy lyrics with a dance beat has always been a main characteristic of Egyptian music, offering a chance to express things that are otherwise harder to confess.” RSJ