Features
“Drums are spiritual – however they are used” | Alai K interview
Prescribing some dance floor therapy with the Kenyan-born, Berlin-based ‘musical witchdoctor’
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Features
Baaba Maal: Return of the Podor Son
A spokesman for his people and proud champion of West African culture, Katharina Lobeck Kane salutes the Senegalese sensation Baaba Maal.
Features
Postcard from Québec, Canada
Yousif Nur returns to Québec with free-form festivals, First Nations history and presidential hotels on his agenda
Features
Tinariwen: Royal Sahara Blues at the BBC Proms
Relentless riffs at the ready as original Touareg rock’n’rollers Tinariwen head to London’s Royal Albert Hall. Tim Cumming sizes up their BBC Proms debut…
Features
Korean singer Jaram Lee on reinterpreting Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea
Jaram Lee dives deep into the story of The Old Man and the Sea for a unique pansori retelling. Christopher Conder reports
Best New Albums
The Best New Albums from Around the World (August 2024)
Introducing outstanding new releases from the Meridian Brothers, Thandiswa Mazwai, The Deep Dark Woods and more
Features
Harp of Darkness: “If I expose the bin-baja harp, something will have to die”
Patrick Jered ventures into Madhya Pradesh in India to unearth the legendary bin-baja harp, widely considered as a pariah instrument
Features
Folk Archives: Tabla Tarang
The tabla tarang is a set of between 10 and 16 tablas with each tabla tuned to a different note
Features
At home with Ali Farka Touré
To record Ali Farka Touré’s album 'Niafunké', World Circuit took a mobile studio all the way to Mali. Nigel Williamson went to meet Touré for Songlines in the summer of 1999 and found out why his commitments at home meant that the mountain had to go to Mohammed
Live reviews
Songlines Encounters Festival 2019 – review
Simon Broughton gives the low-down of all nine concerts from the recent Songlines Encounters Festival at Kings Place in London, May 30-June 2
Features
The great musical genres of the 20th and 21st centuries
The music of the world has been constantly shaped by its wider contexts – from politics to economics and social movements. Here Chris Moss selects the most important genres to have been born across the last 100-plus years
News
Obituary: Toots Hibbert (1942-2020)
The Jamaican reggae legend dies at the age of 77. Garth Carthwright reports
Features
Ten Album Covers That Changed World Music
Chris Moss selects ten album covers that changed the world music scene, featuring Buena Vista Social Club, Fela Kuti and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Features
Lonnie Holley's My World: “I keep seeing what’s happening in the world and trying to make music about it”
Doug DeLoach speaks to the sculptor, painter and musician who prioritises improvisation, with lyrics summoned on the spot and no two shows the same
Features
Balinese gamelan: a complete guide to a unique world of sound
The Indonesian island of Bali resounds with the vibrant, often thunderous music of its gamelans – the ubiquitous percussion orchestras of bronze and bamboo. Andy Channing conjures up the magic of its many incarnations
