Features
Live Review: Danú, Irish Cultural Centre, London (June 21, 2025)
A night of joyous misrule at London's Irish Cultural Centre from the 30-year-old seven-piece Danú
Search results for
News
A Song for Freedom: Lemez and Maksym’s Tribute to Ukrainian POWs
A new campaign, The Stronger We Become, are releasing their first track to raise awareness of the situation for Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees
Features
Musicians in Detention: “These people are hiding in plain sight, and rotting away”
Australia’s hardline treatment of refugees is under fire as high-profile artists join the campaign in support of two detained Kurdish musicians: Farhad Bandesh and Mostafa ‘Moz’ Azimitabar. Jane Cornwell reports
News
Ebo Taylor (1936–2026)
Ghanaian guitarist and bandleader who fused traditional highlife with funk and Afrobeat in the 1970s, then found global recognition decades later and continued to be a tour de force
Features
Essential 10 Iranian Albums
Founded in 2001, 127 are a cornerstone of Iran’s alternative scene. Erin Cobby asks the group’s drummer Yahya Alkhansa to map out the country’s underground music scene in ten albums
News
Let Them Speak: Indigenous Voice Referendum
Australia is holding a referendum that may lead to its Indigenous people gaining political recognition. Seth Jordan reports from two of Australia’s most important Indigenous events on the opposing campaigns
Features
Watch: Punch Brothers – ‘Jumbo’
Punch Brothers release a fourth live session video attached to their new album All Ashore. Their song 'Jumbo' is a thinly veiled attack on Donald Trump.
Features
The 4 Corners and Centre of Amayo’s Universe
Amayo, former frontman of Antibalas, has released a solo album honouring traditional Edo customs and his martial arts training. He picks the albums (and film) which led to this moment
Features
Rhythm Nation: Jamaica's 60 Years of Independence
With Jamaica marking the 60th anniversary of its independence this year, David Katz traces the sounds that built a nation, marvelling at the island country’s remarkable aptitude for musical innovation
Features
“Fires needed to be extinguished, all kinds of things would go on”: Rikki Stein on managing Fela Kuti
In a new autobiography, Rikki Stein reflects on a non-stop career working with some of the world’s most visionary musicians: Fela Kuti, The Master Musicians of Joujouka and Jimi Hendrix being three examples. Russ Slater Johnson gets Stein to sit still for a minute and attempt to summarise it all
Live reviews
Ethno Port review – 'A weekend of inspired sounds'
Ethno Port festival returned to Poznań for a weekend of global sounds.
Features
Spotlight: Africa Oyé 2022
Liverpool’s celebration of African music and culture returns to Sefton Park this year to commemorate three decades of good music. Jim Hickson reports
Features
Lagon Nwar: a borderless groove forged in Ouagadougou, La Réunion and Paris
Meet a feverish quartet tying a knot between jazz, psych, maloya and Burkinabé music
Features
The Afghan Youth Orchestra offer hope in troubled times
Encounters with the Afghan Youth Orchestra find Simon Broughton upbeat about the state of the region’s traditional music
Essential 10
Essential 10 When Jazz Goes Latin Albums
Giant of Latin jazz, pianist Eddie Palmieri dismissed ‘jazz Latin’ as simply jazz with added congas. Here, Mark Sampson picks out some of his favourite Latin-flavoured recordings by jazz artists who dared to add that dancing drum
