Songlines - October/November 2025
The October/November 2025 issue (#212) of Songlines is out now. Malkit Singh, the ‘King of Bhangra’, shares his extraordinary journey through music, migration and cultural legacy in a rare interview.
Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero searches out cosmic connections to her roots, Welsh triple harpist Cerys Hafana blends ancient ballads, trance-like rhythms and unsettling narratives, and we travel to Sarajevo to meet Bosnian sevdah band Divanhana.
We speak to Spafford Campbell about their improvisation-driven music, we chat about the past, present and future of Carnatic music with Indian legend L Shankar and we dive into the electrifying world of ‘forest rock’ with Indigenous Brazilian group Kayatibu.
Ian A Anderson talks us through his multifaceted career, Irish accordionist Sharon Shannon tells us the story of ‘Galway Girl’, South Asian percussionist Sarathy Korwar shares ten groundbreaking drummer-led albums, anthropologist Ragnar Johnson recounts his daring 1970s expeditions to Papua New Guinea, and we find ourselves in wartime Kyiv, where CMYK’s ethno-raves are uniting traditional Ukrainian folk music with electronic beats.
Plus, Merlyn Driver, Folk vs AI, Carlos Dafé, Guedra Guedra, Les Disques Bongo Joe, Balkan Psaltery and 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 – Mulatu Astatke, Cerys Hafana, Abel Selaocoe, Meral Polat, Guitari Baro, Yasmine Hamdan, Söndörgő and more – as well as five ‘WOMEX showcase’ bonus tracks from Manhu, BITOI, Bobo & Behaja, Suraros do Tapajos and Yegor Zabelov.
You can buy the latest issue or subscribe to get this and future issues right to your door as soon as they're published. We also offer digital subscriptions that give you access to every one of our 212 issues from 1999 to 2025… and beyond.
