Features
LEAF Festival
Amid the Blue Ridge Mountains, the latest edition of North Carolina's biannual gathering prepares to bring together diverse musical artists from across the globe
Amid the Blue Ridge Mountains, the latest edition of North Carolina's biannual gathering prepares to bring together diverse musical artists from across the globe
BBC Radio 3 presenter Georgia Mann takes Simon Broughton on a sonic trip through her world music highlights and the sounds that have moved her
Outstanding new releases from Ben Aylon, La Chicana, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray, Yat-Kha and more...
Totó La Momposina reflects on her journey from a small Colombian village to the international stage
The opening weekend of the much-loved Portuguese festival celebrated its 20th anniversary with four evenings of free concerts in the seaside town of Porto Covo
Poland’s prize-winning Hajda Banda are seeking out the sounds of their country’s eastern border regions. Simon Broughton reports…
The best UK & Irish Folk albums of the year, featuring Martin Carthy, Cerys Hafana, Spafford Campbell, Gigspanner Big Band, Gwenifer Raymond
Jeff Kaliss charts the 50-plus years and many global collaborations of the string quartet, who have just said farewell to two of their longest-serving members
Tim Cumming looks back over the best folk albums reviewed in Songlines in 2020, which have sustained us through this locked down year
Erin Cobby reports from this year’s Glastonbury Festival, where programmers are working to integrate diverse global voices into the line-up
One of Iran’s leading female singers has become world famous with her myriad collaborations. Laudan Nooshin pinpoints some of her career highlights to date
Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap found themselves at the centre of several media storms this year, clashing with authorities while selling out shows worldwide. In an exclusive interview, they tell Erin Cobby that their upcoming third album is a push to refocus attention on what they stand for: promoting the Irish language and fighting colonial injustice
Erin Cobby travels to Corsica to experience Rencontres de Chants Polyphoniques de Calvi, a festival that brings people together through its celebration of the human voice
Our favourite albums from the Middle East in 2025, from Yasmine Hamdan, SANAM, Nadah El Shazly, Maurice Louca, Farah Kaddour & Marwan Tohme
Mdou Moctar has had a great year, with a new album and worldwide tour positioning him as a new breed of African guitar hero… but he’s not alone. Bombino and Etran de l’Aïr are two other electric guitar-heavy bands who are establishing Niger as the capital of ‘desert rock’
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