A selection of essential folk releases from England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales including new albums from Astrid Williamson, Eve Goodman, and Thorpe & Morrison.
Cathy Fink recalls the warm and welcoming woman she encountered and the fun that followed when she decided to track down one of her musical idols, Appalachian singer and songwriter Ola Belle Reed
50 guitarists who have made an impact outside of the usual rock’n’roll axis of axes
After the pandemic forced Seckou Keita to think about concepts of home, he responded with his most adventurous album to date
Mdou Moctar has had a great year, with a new album and worldwide tour positioning him as a new breed of African guitar hero… but he’s not alone. Bombino and Etran de l’Aïr are two other electric guitar-heavy bands who are establishing Niger as the capital of ‘desert rock’
Emma Rycroft speaks to one of Ireland’s most influential folk singers, Christy Moore, about protest songs, family and why he still loves performing
Ian Brennan speaks to Gaelynn Lea, a musician and disability advocate from America’s heartland, about her 21st-century folk music
The US guitarist talks to Daniel Spicer about his artificially enhanced Cuban troupe, learning under Haiti’s Frantz Casseus, playing to Susana Baca’s dance moves and why he prefers Caetano Veloso on record
Giant of Latin jazz, pianist Eddie Palmieri dismissed ‘jazz Latin’ as simply jazz with added congas. Here, Mark Sampson picks out some of his favourite Latin-flavoured recordings by jazz artists who dared to add that dancing drum
Manu Chao makes a triumphant London comeback with a manic acoustic performance at Brixton 02 Academy
Global musicians unite at London’s Grand Junction on October 3 for a night of impromptu artistic alliances
Acclaimed British-Egyptian academic Dr Hannah Elsisi discusses an ambitious new project surveying the sonic and sensory rituals surrounding African migration
Erin Cobby speaks to the singer and multi-instrumentalist influenced by ancient Hindu fables, community spirit and the philosophy of Alice Coltrane
Catalina Maria Johnson visits festivals in the US and Canada bringing global and ancestral music to a new audience
The nomadic Brazilian has taken inspiration from his daughter and current headquarters in London to make the most percussive album of his career. “I privileged the spontaneity of the grooves,” he tells Mark Sampson
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