Top of the World
Top of the World Aug/Sept 2018
The editor’s selection of the top ten new releases reviewed in the August/September 2018 issue
The editor’s selection of the top ten new releases reviewed in the August/September 2018 issue
The kora has become almost synonymous with the music of Mali. Nigel Williamson examines the career of its chief exponent Toumani Diabaté
Afrobeat is seeing something of a resurgence – with the release of a Fela documentary and new albums from two of the genre’s greats. Max Reinhardt gets into the groove and highlights ten of the best albums.
The 'world music bible', now available exclusively on the Songlines website
Nigeria's best-known cultural exports – juju, Afrobeat and fuji music – barely scratch the surface of the vast and vibrant cultural topography of the nation
Ireland’s traditional music has some innate and elusive quality whose appeal has spread far beyond its shores
The Korean musical identity can be traced to the fifth century, and has been well documented since the fifteenth century, as Rob Provine and Keith Howard reveal
Portugal is best known as the home of fado, the passionate and elegant music of Lisbon and Coimbra
Exploring the land of wax and gold, a country full of fascinating music
The story of Aboriginal music is centuries old and continues to develop in fascinating ways
Laudan Nooshin reports on the revival of Iranian classical music since 1979 and Simon Broughton takes the pulse of the folk and pop scenes
Few African countries have contributed so many important artists to the World Music market: Salif Keita, Toumani Diabaté, Habib Koité, Kandia Kouyaté, Oumou Sangaré and the late Ali Farka Touré being but a few
A lightness of touch seems to be common in the music found in tropical islands
Simon Broughton introduces the music of Hungary, a country of ten million people with a strong musical profile
Jamaica is a serious contender for the title ‘loudest island in the world’. On any night, and especially at weekends, it shakes to the musical vibrations of thousands of sound systems
We've compiled a shortlist of our WOMAD 2018 must-see acts, from Afro-pop to reggae and plenty more in between!
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