Features
Notting Hill Carnival: a celebration of Europe's largest street festival
Local resident Christopher Conder explores the past and present of the largest street festival in Europe, Notting Hill Carnival
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Best New Albums
Best New Albums – May 2021 (Ballaké Sissoko, Peggy Seeger, Piers Faccini, Jon Boden)
Outstanding new releases from Frente Cumbiero, Ballaké Sissoko, Peggy Seeger, Piers Faccini, Jon Boden, Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola and more. Tracks from all of these albums are included on the free cover-CD with the May 2021 issue of Songlines
Features
Meet The Cavemen, Nigeria's New Highlife Sensations
As their latest album attests, Nigerian duo The Cavemen are all about Love and Highlife. Erin Cobby speaks to the brothers about their rapid evolution to the top table
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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
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Roots Round-up (Khu.éex', Saltwater Hank and more)
A selection of essential releases from the US and Canada including new albums from Khu.éex', Saltwater Hank and Sam Reider & The Human Hands
Features
The return of Afro Celt Sound System
The global groove and harmony evangelists return with their first album since the death of founder Simon Emmerson. Jane Cornwell chats to original members, and now bandleaders, Johnny Kalsi and N’Faly Kouyaté
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Rachel Newton and Lauren MacColl shine a light on the Scottish witch trials
Jo Frost speaks to Scottish folk artists Rachel Newton and Lauren MacColl whose Heal & Harrow project aims to raise awareness of the women who were persecuted as a result of the Scottish witch trials
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Erol Josué interview: “I wanted to participate in the reconstruction of Haiti’s national heritage. I needed to be there”
The vodou priest, singer, actor and choreographer Erol Josué is on a mission to dispel the myths and misconceptions about Haiti’s musical religion
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Ichiko Aoba: “I was diving in the ocean with just the breath in my lungs, swimming with whales, listening to them sing”
Breakout Japanese folk star Ichiko Aoba speaks to Paul Bowler about formative influences and reveals how the experience of free diving off the coast of Japan helped inspire her latest album
A Beginner's Guide
The Unthanks: Beginner's Guide
Tim Cumming assembles an anatomy of melancholia as he speaks to Tyne and Wear’s finest folk-singing sisters about their career and catalogue
Features
Maya Youssef, the Syrian qanun player on the search for her spiritual home
Maya Youssef’s second album is a stunning meditation on the essence of home. The Syrian qanun player speaks to Alexandra Petropoulos about how the music helped her find her own spiritual home
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Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino: "We wanted to fit our style, and pizzica, into the idea of a Western pop song"
Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino perform the vibrant pizzica music of southern Italy. Ciro de Rosa speaks to bandleader Mauro Durante about how they brought this rhythmic tradition into the 21st century
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Songlines Best Albums of 2017
Songlines’ editors Jo Frost and Simon Broughton select their favourite albums of 2017
Features
Baaba Maal: Return of the Podor Son
A spokesman for his people and proud champion of West African culture, Katharina Lobeck Kane salutes the Senegalese sensation Baaba Maal.
Features
Jake Blount interview: “I wanted to find a way to represent our traditions while also looking forward”
American banjo and fiddle player Jake Blount explains to Alexandra Petropoulos how he’s using the sounds and lessons of history and the global climate crisis to envision a new future for Black spiritual music
