Songlines - July 2026
The July 2026 issue (#219) of Songlines is out now. We celebrate the enduring legacy of Pentangle, the jazz-folk pioneers whose influence continues to grow – speaking to the musicians they inspired and to founding singer Jacqui McShee, now the group’s sole surviving original member. We are in conversation with Brazilian singer-songwriter Seu Jorge, who discusses his Carioca roots, his love of bossa nova and the David Bowie connection. Our Beginner’s Guide is devoted to Charanjit Singh, the Indian synth master and Bollywood session veteran who became an unlikely godfather of acid house. We travel to Maa Country to meet the Maasai and Samburu artists fusing traditional song with contemporary production across Kenya’s Maa heartlands. We report from SPOT Festival in Aarhus, Denmark, where the Nordic folk scene is thriving. And we meet Tara Fatehi and Pouya Ehsaei, the London-based duo whose improvised night From the Lips to the Moon channels poetry, electronics and revolving guests into a revelatory live experience. Elsewhere, Miss Pat Chin, the pioneering co-founder of VP Records, recalls a lifetime shaping reggae’s global industry; we trace the rich sounds of the Bahamas in our Essential 10 Bahamian Albums; Zakia Sewell reflects on how Pentangle opened up a hidden Britain that spoke to her multi-ethnic heritage in My World; we meet Israeli oud maestro Yinon Muallem for Songbook, tracing ‘Misirlou’ from its Eastern Mediterranean roots to surf-rock glory, and Ailbhe Kenny explores the role of music-making among people seeking asylum. Our Folk Frontiers feature profiles a new wave of English folk talent, with Brown Wimpenny, Wakefire and Jim Moray pushing the genre in bold new directions. We also publish our annual Folk Calendar, a guide to the most important folk festivals and rituals on the British Isles. There’s also Rosalía, Super Panela, Olivia Chaney, LUIZA, Milo J, Natacha Atlas, Balladeste and Outhere Records and the Mozambique Music Meeting – plus all the usual news, listings, reviews and competitions.
Print and digital subscribers will also receive our accompanying Top of the World compilation featuring our pick of the month’s best new music, as well as five handpicked Pentangle-inspired bonus tracks.
You can buy the latest issue or subscribe to receive this and future issues delivered to your door as soon as they’re published. We also offer digital subscriptions that give you access to every one of our 219 issues from 1999 to 2026… and beyond.
