Features
Auka: Peak Practice
Meet the Sheffield-based trio who used the isolation time of lockdown to fashion a striking homage to the natural world
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Features
Dispatch from: Asunción, Paraguay
Through fantastical water instruments, Sonidos de la Tierra have been helping bring both music and environmental activism to Paraguay’s communities. Huw Hennessy finds out more…
Features
Eliza Carthy... on morris dancing and the future of folk music
Eliza ponders folk music’s need to evolve and wonders if morris dancing could be key to the tradition’s future
Features
50 Great Moments in World Music
We've noted 50 great moments from 7000BC to the present day – concerts and confrontations, collaborations and conspiracies – all of which have shaped the sounds we're listening to today
Features
Field of Research: Ewan MacColl
On the 110th anniversary of the legendary folk singer’s birth, Allan Moore looks back at his legacy and skill
Features
Celebrating Festivals: A Lost Summer of Music
The summer of 2020 will be remembered as a giant void in the festival calendar with coronavirus causing a deluge of postponements and cancellations from Shetland to Sarawak. In a show of support for the festival community, musicians and Songlines contributors share their favourite festival memories over the years. Read more in the current issue (#160) available now.
Features
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
Features
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
Features
Fireside Stories: Capercaillie recount their unexpected tour of the Middle East
As Capercaillie celebrate their 40th anniversary, founding member Donald Shaw recalls the band’s earliest forays overseas and how perceptions of Scottish music have changed
A Beginner's Guide
Driss El Maloumi: A Beginner's Guide
One of the most in-demand oud players of his generation, Jo Frost discovers an artist whose musical curiosity shows no signs of abating
Features
Songhoy Blues: “[We] like to make people dance… but our social concerns are the reason for the music”
From their discovery in Bamako by Damon Albarn’s Africa Express in 2013 to the global release of their latest stripped-back album in 2025, Robin Denselow traces Songhoy Blues’ journey through exile, resistance and optimism
Features
Eliza Carthy's News of the Whirl: Wassailing We Will Go
‘A Wassail, a Wassail, a Wassail we’ll begin, with sugar strands and cinnamon, and other treasures in…’ In her latest column for Songlines, Eliza is preparing for winter...
Features
“The jazz word in the folk world is something that people get frightened of” | Knight & Spiers interview
Robin Denselow learns how a chance pairing of melodeon player John Spiers and fiddler Peter Knight evolved into one of folk’s most inspired acts, exploring well-worn tunes in new and improvisatory ways
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WOMEX 2024 Playlist
WOMEX 2024 is just around the corner! With organisations and artists descending onto Manchester from all over the world, it's shaping up to be an unmissable event, and we have a great primer to discover some of the artists on offer.
Features
Dudu Tassa: An Iraqi Revival
The songs of the Jewish-Arabic band the Al-Kuwaiti Brothers were much loved across the Arab world. Robin Denselow speaks to Dudu Tassa, the grandson of Daoud Al-Kuwaiti, about reviving these songs
