Kayleigh Watson hears how the Malian musician has maintained strength and positivity throughout her 15 years in music, celebrating her homeland while never being afraid to speak out against injustice
Russ Slater Johnson talks to Jonny Greenwood and Shye Ben Tzur about Sufi poetry, embracing sonic change and the tensions of making music at a time of political crises
Freya Parr visits Brìghde Chaimbeul and the Scottish Ensemble on the Isle of Skye to hear how one unyielding note serves as the cornerstone to intricate musical structures
Mexican Institute of Sound and Meridian Brothers tell Charis McGowan about their Beck-featuring ode to 70s Mexican cumbia, Ruido Tovar
Harmonica-and-percussion duo Stevens & Pound tell Julian May about their distinctive take on the English classicism of Holst and Vaughan Williams
Lucia Gadau meets Rostam to learn how the former Vampire Weekend man is leaning into his Iranian heritage
A cultured talent straddling the worlds of Arabic, classical and jazz, the French-Lebanese trumpeter picks out the albums that shaped his life and sound
As she takes the reins at Morgenland Festival, Shabnam Parvaresh discusses migration, identity and music as cultural diplomacy with Jo Frost
The Egyptian singer-songwriter shifts her focus from politics to love’s vulnerabilities on her long-awaited new album, hears Bianca Carrera
Charis McGowan visits the Azores for a festival built on collaboration, social inclusion and unexpected musical results
Kevin Bourke visits an urban folk fest where Catalan party bands, Australian charisma and homegrown talent prove folk music thrives in the heart of the city
Lucia Gadau meets Maxime Bobo, the free-jazz-loving French saxophonist who, with Malagasy guitarist Behaja, is carrying Madagascar’s ceremonial tsapiky music to the world
Chris Wheatley explores how a childhood prescription inspired Avneesh Bacha to found a label dedicated to preserving and innovating music from Mauritius
“It’s our duty as artists to show the light and the shade of the world.” Lucia Gadau speaks to composer and sitarist BISHI, whose score for Maya: The Birth of a Superhero reframes menstrual taboo
Mary Chiney charts the rise of Alté, the Lagos-born movement that turned away from Afrobeats’ arena-ready polish to make room for interiority, atmosphere and a generation that refused to translate itself
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