Features
Songlines Music Awards 2025: Best Album
The best albums this year, as chosen by our writers, featuring ganavya, Songhoy Blues, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Mulatu Astatke, Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson
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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…
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
At home with Ali Farka Touré
To record Ali Farka Touré’s album 'Niafunké', World Circuit took a mobile studio all the way to Mali. Nigel Williamson went to meet Touré for Songlines in the summer of 1999 and found out why his commitments at home meant that the mountain had to go to Mohammed
Features
The illusion of inclusion: why the Grammys keep failing global music
Ian Brennan on why the Grammys’ ‘Global’ music isn’t truly global
Features
Martin Simpson and Matthew Byrne: songs across the sea
Devon Léger speaks to Martin Simpson and Matthew Byrne about projects tracing folk songs from Britain to the US and back
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
News
Obituary: Kassé Mady Diabaté 1949-2018
Mali has lost one of its greatest singers of all time, Kassé Mady Diabaté, who passed away in Bamako on May 24, aged 69. Lucy Durán writes about the life of a much-loved musician and friend.
A Beginner's Guide
Bassekou Kouyaté: A Beginner's Guide
Simultaneously innovating and upholding the traditions of the ngoni, Bassekou Kouyaté is a name synonymous with his instrument’s modern sound. Nigel Williamson rounds up his sparkling career
Features
Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko: 21 Strings
With Toumani and Ballaké’s epochal New Ancient Strings to be reissued for its 25th anniversary, we speak to Lucy Durán, the album’s producer, about the unique recording and her documentary tracing the history of the kora
Features
Albums of the Year 2024: Songlines Recommends...
Looking back over the past 12 months at the albums that have made the biggest impression
Best New Albums
Best New Albums – January/February 2021 (Mariza, Cocanha, Lolomis, Ayom)
Great new releases from Mariza, Cocanha, Lolomis, Ayom, Star Feminine Band and more... Tracks from all of these albums are included on the free cover-CD with the January/February 2021 issue of Songlines
Features
Essaouira Echoes: Julian Belbachir’s cross-continental project unites Australian and Moroccan musicians
Seth Jordan joins Julian Belbachir for a five-week trek across Morocco to launch a new cross-cultural Moroccan-Australian ensemble
Features
Salif Keita: “The youth are into machines… We are about to lose our traditional instruments”
After announcing his retirement in 2018, Malian singer and musician Salif Keita has slowly returned to the spotlight following a series of shows last year. Now, he’s making the comeback official with an extraordinary new album
Features
Amazigh Renaissance: The Free People
Bianca Carrera meets a new generation of musicians in the Amazigh diaspora who challenge prejudice through their heritage and language
