Features
Songlines Music Awards 2025: US & Canada
The best albums from the US & Canada this year, featuring Alison Krauss & Union Station, Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’, Parchman Prison Prayer, Peggy Seeger and Sam Amidon
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Features
Dispatch: Mardi Gras in Louisiana
Russell Higham visits Louisiana, home of the world-famous Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans and Lafayette, where he finds a state proudly and positively celebrating its musical connections to the wider world
Features
Best Albums 2020: Fusion
All of these albums received a maximum of five stars when reviewed in the 2020 issues of Songlines. Featuring Xylouris White, Sunny Jain, Derek Gripper, Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn and many more
Features
Fireside Stories with Dele Sosimi: “Fela was a radical who taught us about radicality. I still miss him”
Dele Sosimi spent the 80s globetrotting with Fela, even taking the reins of his 20-piece band, bringing joy and peace to Lagos’ chaotic commune where they lived, played and partied
Live reviews
Ethiopia In Brussels: Mulatu Astatke & Black Flower review
Ethio-Jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke played a retrospective set from his golden era on the opening night of the Brussels Jazz Festival
News
Jake Xerxes Fussell Clicks Into Gear On New Gibson & Toutant Track
Self-confessed folk freak and Songlines favourite joins underground indie-Americana darlings for groove-riding escape fantasy
Live reviews
BRDCST, Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Apr 7-9
Joe Rainey, Gaye Su Akyol & Sainkho Namtchylak sang at the hyper-diverse festival that bills itself as 'The Ideal Antidote For Paranoia & Hysteria'
Features
Jake Xerxes Fussell: “It was always traditional music that I took the most seriously”
Paul Slade finds out why the singer, guitarist and song collector was always destined for a life in folk music and how his latest album unexpectedly paid homage to a dearly departed friend
Live reviews
Zakir Hussain & Les Amazones d’Afrique: Live In Brussels
Martin Longley reports from a long weekender in Brussels with tabla legend Zakir Hussain, pan-African supergroup Les Amazones d'Afrique and frenetic Ugandan DJ Kamire.
Features
Meeting Avalanche Kaito: “There is rhythm, there is noise, the sound of the texture is crazy”
Belgian trio Avalanche Kaito, led by Burkinabé griot Kaito Winse, have driven their post-punk assaults to combustible extremes on their latest album
Features
Label of Love: Planet Ilunga
Chris Wheatley catches up with the owner of a Belgian imprint curating the rhythms of Congolese rumba
Features
“How am I going to be a legend?”: Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino at 50
Rossella Pinto, one of the original members of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, and her son Mauro Durante, their current bandleader, reflect on the group’s 50-year history of preserving and promoting the popular pizzica music of southern Italy
Live reviews
Black Flower and Shake Stew, Brussels Jazz Festival, January 13-14
Jazz goes global in the Belgian capital with two troupes combining horn-heavy arrangements and adventurous international rhythms
Features
SONICO: Celebrating Tango’s Great Unknown
Simon Broughton meets SONICO, a Belgian ensemble dedicated to reviving the repertoire of Eduardo Rovira, an overlooked and innovative Argentine composer
News
Fatoumata Diawara Joins Gorillaz For New Song Machine Cut
Animated heroes meet African Queen on their follow-up to 'Momentary Bliss'
