Features
Folk Calendar 2025-26
Spencer Grady plots out the next twelve months of folk happenings, bringing you essential festivals from across the British Isles as well as a selection of some of our most unusual cultural traditions
Search results for
Features
Albums of the Year 2024: Songlines Recommends...
Looking back over the past 12 months at the albums that have made the biggest impression
Features
The illusion of inclusion: why the Grammys keep failing global music
Ian Brennan on why the Grammys’ ‘Global’ music isn’t truly global
Best New Albums
Best New Albums – March 2021 (Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin, Made Kuti, Urban Village, Edgelarks)
Great new releases from Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin, Made Kuti, Urban Village, Edgelarks and more... Tracks from all of these albums are included on the free cover-CD with the March 2021 issue of Songlines
A Beginner's Guide
Hannah James: Beginner’s Guide
Celebrating the innovative, multi-faceted career of the British singer-songwriter and percussive dance champion
Features
UK Festival Guide 2024
Another year, another full season of festivals to revive the soul and please the senses! Where better to plan your summer of culture than with our annual guide to the best festivals in the UK?
Features
Cosmo Sheldrake: Birdhouse In Your Soul
Jane Cornwell speaks to eco-minded composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Cosmo Sheldrake, whose interest in endangered species and enigmatic writers inspires works such as his new sophomore set, Wake Up Calls
Features
Billy Bragg's My World Interview: “Sometimes I think Woody [Guthrie] was the first punk rocker”
The radical folkie talks to Julian May about Rock Against Racism, Shirley and Dolly Collins, Woody Guthrie, skiffle and retaining his relevance
Features
Manu Chao's Clandestino appeared at the cross-fade of the millennium and sounded perfect – a radical masterpiece
Peter Culshaw reminisces on his time biographing the elusive Manu Chao as his classic solo album, Clandestino, is re-released 20 years on
Features
Stewart Lee interview: “Stand-up is a duet with the audience. It doesn’t mean anything unless people are laughing. Or booing”
The comedian and writer tells Julian May about a childhood fascination with the past and the parallels between stand-up and the music he loves
Live reviews
Green Man Festival, Crickhowell, Wales, August 17-20 2023
Kanda Bongo Man, Etran de L’Aïr and Dur-Dur Band Int bring danceable African sounds to the Welsh mountains…
Features
Taraf de Impex: “it’s exciting to be doing this. Fresh. A new way for Romanians to look at making music”
Garth Cartwright travels to Bucharest to preview the revitalised and reformed Romanian Gypsy band, Taraf de Haidouks, who are making their UK debut as Taraf de Caliu, alongside Impex
A Beginner's Guide
Steeleye Span: Beginner's Guide
Hark to this parcel of rogues, as we place the career of these ever-evolving English folk-rock icons under the microscope
Features
Victory Dance: Interview with Pongo
From war-torn Angola to the ‘northern lights’ of Trømso World Festival, Pongo tells Jane Cornwell, “I have come a very long way”
Features
Songlines Summer Festival Guide 2025
The sun has finally arrived and the festival line-ups are coming in thick and fast, so here’s our guide to some of the best festivals showcasing global artists in the UK and around the world this summer
