Wednesday, March 2, 2022
“We're using art as our ammunition” | Azueï
In their attempt to unify the cultures of Kiskeya, this unique ensemble from Haiti and the Dominican Republic are making waves both at home and abroad
Features
Thursday, February 17, 2022
“A sound full of country funk and spiritual joy” | Introducing Changüí, the music from Cuba’s sugarcane fields
As the world celebrated the anniversary of Buena Vista Social Club, a compilation showcasing another traditional Cuban sound, changüí, snuck under the radar. Garth Cartwright reports on this syncopated dance music
Monday, February 14, 2022
South Korean Instrumental Albums | The Essential 10
South Korea boasts a wealth of artists who are performing both time-honoured and progressive music on traditional instruments. Here Simon Broughton selects ten of the country’s finest instrumental albums
Monday, February 14, 2022
Karolina Cicha: Karaite Kid
Having recorded albums in Yiddish and Tatar, and songs in most of Poland’s minority tongues, Karolina Cicha talks about the Karaite people and their language
Friday, February 11, 2022
Karine Polwart: A Beginner's Guide
The Scottish musician has become one of the most lauded names on the European folk scene. Tim Cumming follows Polwart’s career from her trad band origins to the award-winning singer-songwriter we know today
Monday, February 7, 2022
“You have to get it inside your heart” | Barbora Xu
The Czech artist talks about the Finnish and Chinese zithers feeding her distinctive sound, which bridges two seemingly disparate cultures
Friday, January 28, 2022
Auka: Peak Practice
Meet the Sheffield-based trio who used the isolation time of lockdown to fashion a striking homage to the natural world
Thursday, January 27, 2022
“Geomungo playing is a combination of melody, percussion and bass” | Hwang Hyeyoung
One half of the South Korean duo Dal:um, Hwang Hyeyoung speaks about her deep-toned, bamboo-plucked zither
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Marja Mortensson: The Sámi Way
Around half of the 80,000 indigenous Sámi people live in Norway. Simon Broughton talks to one of the country’s rising musical stars, Marja Mortensson, about how she’s invigorating the joik tradition. Photos Knut Åserud & Tom Askew-Miller
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Spell Songs: Eclectic Light Orchestra
Catching up with the stellar folk collective who are casting their illuminating charms on a world in need of a little magic
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
“I met a Hardanger fiddler who said if you give me your fiddle, I'll give you my farm” | Gro Marie Svidal
Heiress to a piece of Norwegian musical history, Gro Marie Svidal talks about the allure of her unique Hardanger inheritance
Monday, January 17, 2022
Sona Jobarteh interview: “It’s either education or your culture, and that was a big problem for me”
Gambian kora player Sona Jobarteh speaks to Lucy Hallam about how she is shaking up the continent’s antiquated education system and dragging the griot tradition into the 21st century
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Indian-Rock Fusion Albums | The Essential 10
The Beatles’ fusion of Indian music into Western pop inspired a monsoon of similarly adventurous experiments. Nigel Williamson offers a chronological selection of the most inventive albums of the last 50 years
Monday, January 10, 2022
Noam Vazana: Ladino Life
Israeli-born vocalist Noam Vazana composes songs in the Jewish Ladino language and speaks here to Simon Broughton about her fascination with this dying tongue
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
“I opened up this box and there was this sitar, it was the most awesome thing I’d ever seen” | Tommy Khosla
The stereotype-shattering sitarist talks about their deeply singular musical approach informed by dance, electronics and family reminiscences
