Features
Daymé Arocena: “I am letting people see inside me with the music”
The young Cuban singer Daymé Arocena has had a rapid rise to fame. She tells Jane Cornwell about her journey so far and her tribute to Santería’s female orishas
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Lady Donli: “That’s what music is for me – the transmission of joy”
With Afrobeats and African pop on the rise, Lady Donli has emerged as one of Nigeria’s most interesting artists. At home with Afrobeat and satirising modern African life with smooth R&B hooks, she’s led by her fans: “People are the foundation of music,” she tells Erin Cobby
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Bluegrass pioneer Alice Gerrard previews new solo album with ‘You and Me’ single
High-lonesome heroine drops conjugal comforter ahead of latest solo full-length release
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Mariza on Amália Rodrigues: “She represents, for me, the diva of the 20th century”
2020 marked the centenary of the birth of the ‘Queen of Fado,’ Amália Rodrigues. Simon Broughton speaks to Mariza, the heir to Amália’s crown, and fado historian Rui Vieira Nery about her legacy
Features
Kaushiki Chakrabarty interview: "when I sing, I feel a kind of bliss comes over me"
Khayal singer Kaushiki Chakrabarty speaks to Jameela Siddiqi about her demanding yet expressive North Indian classical vocal style and how she got her remarkable start in this mainly masculine genre
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Mari Boine interview: “I was on my way somewhere, but now I’m really, really me”
Fiona Talkington speaks to Sámi activist and singer Mari Boine who, now in her 60s, finally feels confident in her own work
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Seun Kuti: “Love for me is a force that can change the world” + Video Premiere
With a new album ready, his first in six years and one featuring an all-star cast – Damien Marley, Sampa The Great, Lenny Kravitz – Seun hopes to make a breakthrough: “Reaching the people without the mainstream is not easy,” he tells Jane Cornwell
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Liraz interview: “I refuse to be silenced like women in Iran, who see my videos and tell me ‘Thank you!’”
The Israeli-Iranian singer and actress Liraz talks to Jane Cornwell about rediscovering her Iranian roots, singing in Persian and the risks taken to fulfil her desire to record with fellow Iranian musicians
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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
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Youssou N’Dour | My World: “Africa has no cultural frontiers, it mixes genres effortlessly. That’s the future for me”
Having recently turned 60, the Senegalese star is taking stock and looking to the future, as reflected in his My World playlist. He talks to Daniel Brown about his choices
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“I'm rebelling against what the music industry and social media was telling me to do” | Natalie Wildgoose interview
Utilising a panoply of pianos across the Yorkshire Dales and her grandfather’s reel-to-reel recorder, the lo-fi folk artist invites us to Come Into The Garden
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“The music takes me over. I dive in so deep that I go into a trance… Music is who I am” | Rokia Koné interview
The new voice of Mali, Rokia Koné, teamed up with producer-to-the-stars Jacknife Lee for an album sure to go down as a classic. Jane Cornwell catches up with this seemingly improbable, though quite inspired, pop partnership. Photography by Karen Paulina Biswell
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“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
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60 Years of Fania Records
Celebrating 60 years of Fania Records, we ask Daymé Arocena, Silvana Estrada, Roberto Fonseca, iLe, Meridian Brothers, Orquesta Akokán, Nathy Peluso, Ana Tijoux and many others to pick some Fania classics. Introduction by Erin Cobby. Interviews by Russ Slater Johnson
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Quickfire: Linda Ayupuka
We speak to the Ghanaian Afro-gospel singer about the important albums in her life and a most memorable musical encounter
