Songlines Magazine (May 2017, #127)

+ FREE CD

The Best Music from Around the World

75

REVIEWS

Oumou Sangaré

A defiant voice for African women

+

SONGLINES MUSIC AWARDS MUSIC FROM…

Lebanon, India, Poland, Iran, Cambodia, Lithuania and more

This year’s nominees!

RICARDO RIBEIRO

Questioning the conventions of Portuguese fado

£5.95 ISSUE 127 MAY 2017 www.songlines.co.uk www.facebook.com/songlines

WELCOME

Editor-in-chief Simon Broughton Publisher & Publishing Director Paul Geoghegan Editor Jo Frost Deputy Editor Alexandra Petropoulos Art Director Calvin McKenzie Advertisement Manager James Anderson-Hanney Marketing Manager Edward Craggs Online Content Editor James McCarthy Reviews Editor Matthew Milton News Editor Alex de Lacey Listings Editor Tatiana Rucinska World Cinema Editor John Atkinson Sub Editor Emma Baker Editorial Assistant Rachel Cunniffe Cover Photo Benoit Peverelli Contributing Editors Jane Cornwell, Mark Ellingham & Nigel Williamson Subscriptions Director Sally Boettcher Editorial Director Martin Cullingford CEO Ben Allen Chairman Mark Allen SUBSCRIPTIONS

UK: 0800 137 201 Overseas: +44 (0)1722 716997 subscriptions@markallengroup.com ADVERTISING

Aural odysseys

T

his issue is packed with journeys: some are actual physical ones and others are of a more metaphorical variety. Our fabulously glamorous cover star Oumou Sangaré has

pursued a life-long mission to sing out about injustices and issues she feels strongly about – from polygamy, FGM and suicide to promoting female education in Mali. As she tells us, she speaks to everyone, men and women, through her songs (p26). The Portuguese fado singer Ricardo Ribeiro has been on a quest that has seen him considering the priesthood, working as a herdsman to finally finding what he describes as his destiny and becoming one of fado’s leading voices.

He’ll be at Songlines Encounters Festival on June 1 (see p21) and you can find out more about his particular journey on p36.

Then there’s Soumik Datta and his brother Souvid who have recently undertaken an epic trip around India in search of some of the country’s overlooked musicians. You can read about their experiences on p32 and look out for the TV series, Tuning 2 You, which will be broadcast on Channel 4 this month.

Nautical voyages with a musical theme are the basis of my chat with Jacob Edgar, who adds another string to his bow as cultural specialist on Lindblad-National Geographic’s expeditions (see p40).

Finally, if you live in London or happen to be passing through, do go and check out the exhibition of world music photography, Beyond the Beat, at the Royal Albert Hall. Music takes us all on journeys and if you can’t experience it in situ, then we hope to take you there vicariously via a stunning collection of images.

Music takes us all on journeys... we hope to take you there vicariously

Jo Frost, editor

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE INCLUDE

+44 (0)20 7501 6683

www.markallengroup.com

Songlines is published by MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Rd, London, SE24 0PB, UK +44 (0)20 7738 5454 info@songlines.co.uk www.songlines.co.uk © MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, 2017. All rights reserved.

No part of the Songlines may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the Publishing Director.

The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the editor or Songlines Advertisements in the journal do not imply endorsement of the products or services advertised.

ISSN 1464-8113.

Printed by: Pensord Press Ltd, Blackwood, NP12 2A Record trade distribution WWMD Ltd 0121 788 3112 Newstrade distribution COMAG 01895 433600

David Forsdike David has a Masters in world music from Sheffield. A keen choral singer, he combines his love of music with a passion for wine. This issue, he catches an intimate performance by Jim Moray (p71).

Jim Hickson Jim is an ethnomusicologist and freelance writer from the North-West, currently based in Berlin as WOMEX’s media and communications man. He examines the impressive career of Johnny Kalsi on p76.

Russell Higham Russell is a freelance journalist and travel writer based out of London and Brighton who enjoys African and Middle Eastern music. Read his live review of Black Flower (p71) and his report from Beirut (p81).

Songlines was launched in 1999 and is the definitive magazine for world music – music that has its roots in all parts of the globe, from Mali to Mexico, India to Iraq. Whether this music is defined as traditional, contemporary, folk or fusion, Songlines is the only magazine to truly represent and embrace it. However, Songlines is not just about music, but about how the music fits into the landscape; it’s about politics, history and identity. Delivered in both print and digital formats, Songlines, through its extensive articles and reviews, is your essential and independent guide to a world of music and culture, whether you are starting on your journey of discovery or are already a seasoned fan.

@SonglinesMag

facebook.com/songlines

www.songlines.co.uk ISSUE 127

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CONTENTS

32 Tuning 2 You

Ken Duncan

40 36

Adriano Fagundes

Souvid Datta

UPFRONT

FEATURES

REVIEWS

REGULARS

06 Top of the World CD 09 What’s New 14 Introducing...

22 Songlines Music

48 Africa 52 Americas 54 Europe 60 Asia 63 Pacific 64 Fusion 66 DVDs 67 Classical & Jazz 68 World Cinema 70 Live Reviews

72 M y World:

Abraham Brody

& Orkesta Mendoza 16 Simon Says...

17 Letters 19 Spotlight: Mor Karbasi 20 Songlines Music Travel 21 Songlines Encounters Festival 2017

Awards 2017

This year’s nominees

26 Oumou Sangaré

The Malian singer makes a long-awaited return

32 Tuning 2 You

Soumik Datta and his Indian journey

36 Ricardo Ribeiro

The Portuguese singer follows his fado destiny

40 Lindblad-Nat Geo

Musical expeditions on board the NG Orion

Sven Dullaert

“Music matters... even if a song can’t change the world, it can make people change the way they look at it” Zeid Hamdan speaking from Beirut , p81 W W W . S O N G L I N E S . C O. U K

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Stewart Levine 75 P ostcard from Palenque, Colombia 76 B eginner’s Guide to Johnny Kalsi 78 F estival Pass: Globaltica, Poland 81 D ispatch from Beirut 83 Q uickfire 85 M y Instrument: Catriona McKay 87 Gig Guide 94 Overseas Festivals 97 Soapbox 98 E ssential Ten: World Music Divas

15 Introducing...

Orkesta Mendoza ISSUE 127

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TOP OF THE WORLD

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01 Orchestra Baobab ‘Foulo’ 02 Los Hijos de la Montaña ‘Amor de Lejos’ 03 Ibibio Sound Machine ‘Give Me a Reason’ 04 Khusugtun ‘Mongol’ 05 Siobhan Miller ‘Banks of Newfoundland’ 06 Tamikrest ‘Mawarniha Tartit’ 07 Tunde Jegede & Derek Gripper ‘Where Rivers Meet’ 08 The Hot 8 Brass Band ‘Can’t Nobody Get Down’ 09 Jaune Toujours ‘Réfugiés Sans Frontières’ 10 Baluji Shrivastav ‘Journey to Sedna’

TOP

OF THE WORLD

ISSUE 127

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TOP

OF THE WORLD

CD 127

Free tracks

On your free CD – the editor’s selection of the top ten new releases reviewed in this issue

PLUS 5 tracks chosen by Stewart Levine

THE BEST NEW RELEASES

11 Franco et le TP OK Jazz ‘AZDA’ 12 Amoya ‘Nweti’ 13 The Congos ‘Fisherman’ 14 Tabu Ley Rochereau ‘Kaful Mayay’ 15 Cesaria Evora ‘Petit Pays’

+ STEWART LEVINE’S PLAYLIST Featuring Orchestra Baobab, Ibibio Sound Machine, Baluji Shrivastav, The Hot 8 Brass Band, Tamikrest, Franco et le TP OK Jazz, Cesaria Evora and more...

Exclusively with the May 2017 issue of Songlines. STWCD103.

This compilation & © 2017 MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd

STWCD103 This compilation & © 2017 MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd info@songlines.co.uk, www.songlines.co.uk Executive producer Paul Geoghegan. Compiled and sequenced by Jo Frost & Alexandra Petropoulos.

Design by Calvin McKenzie. Mastering by Good Imprint. CD pressing by Software Logistics Ltd. The producers of this CD have paid the composers and publishers for the use of their music.

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Strata (Songprint Recordings) & © 2017 Songprint Recordings. Courtesy of Songprint Recordings

05 Siobhan Miller ‘Banks of Newfoundland’ (4:01)

An Anthology of Mongolian Khöömii (Buda Musique) & © 2016 Routes Nomades under exclusive licence to Buda Musique. Courtesy of Buda Musique

Best of Baluji Shrivastav (ARC Music) & © 2016 ARC Music. Courtesy of ARC Music

10 Baluji Shrivastav ‘Journey to Sedna’ (4:44)

20sth (Choux de Bruxelles) & © 2017 Choux de Bruxelles. Courtesy of Choux de Bruxelles

09 Jaune Toujours ‘Réfugiés Sans Frontières’ (3:24)

Cesaria (Lusafrica) & © 1995 Lusafrica. Courtesy of Sony

15 Cesaria Evora ‘Petit Pays’ (3:50)

The Voice of Lightness (Sterns) & © 2007 Sterns. Courtesy of Sterns

TOP OF THE WORLD PLAYLIST TRACKS SLTOTWCD-127-sleeve.indd 1

Mali in Oak (Globe Music) & © 2016 Globe Music & Shakespeare’s Globe Trading Ltd. Courtesy of Globe Music

07 Tunde Jegede & Derek Gripper ‘Where Rivers Meet’ (4:12)

13 The Congos ‘Fisherman’ (6:08)

Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng (World Circuit) & © 2017 World Circuit Ltd. Courtesy of World Circuit

01 Orchestra Baobab ‘Foulo’ (4:15)

TOP OF THE WORLD SELECTION

Kidal (Glitterbeat) & © 2017 Glitterbeat. Courtesy of Glitterbeat

Cineta (Forlane) & © 1992 Forlane. Courtesy of Disques Dom

12 Amoya ‘Nweti’ (4:19)

06 Tamikrest ‘Mawarniha Tartit’ (3:42)

Francophonic Vol 1 1953-1980 (Sterns) & © 2008 Sterns. Courtesy of Sterns

11 Franco et le TP OK Jazz ‘AZDA’ (7:34) STEWART LEVINE’S PLAYLIST

10 tracks from this issue’s best new albums + 5 bonus tracks exclusively with the May 2017 issue of Songlines

127

Los Hijos de la Montaña (Vacilando 68) & © 2017 Vacilando 68. Courtesy of Vacilando 68

Heart of the Congos (VP Records) & © 1977 VP Music Group Inc. Courtesy of VP Music Group Inc

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From Kidal on Glitterbeat Records

It’s hard to believe that there are many

original vocalist is packed with familiar

bands in contemporary Western rock

Afro-Cuban rhythms and lyrical brass

music who could shake your bones

arrangements, with a new prominent

harder than these Touareg rockers. This

place given to the kora. See p49

track’s a real speaker rattler. See p50

02 Los Hijos de la Montaña ‘Amor de Lejos’

07 Tunde Jegede & Derek Gripper

From New Age soundscapes to Latino

This joint composition showcases the

mock-goth, this Tex-Mex band has

collaborative magic produced by these

twangy guitars, old-school synths, blasts

two musicians. A special communion

of brass and saloon-bar piano. See p52

between exceptional players. See p48

03 Ibibio Sound Machine ‘Give Me a Reason’

08 The Hot 8 Brass Band ‘Can’t Nobody Get Down’

A catchy opening number with an eerie,

A joyously fresh-sounding fifth album,

futuristic synth motif. This is a fiercely

full of greasy street-funk grooves as well

funky second album full of confidence

as hints towards a softer side. Hard times

and swagger, fronted by British-Nigerian

have not hindered New Orleans’ hardest

vocalist Eno Williams. See p65

working brass band. See p53

04 Khusugtun ‘Mongol’

09 Jaune Toujours ‘Réfugiés Sans Frontières’

Ethnomusicologist Johanni Curtet has

Sounding as fresh as when they first

delved into the archive of Mongolian

started, this 20th anniversary double CD

Radio from 1954-2016 to explore the

includes previously unreleased live and

development of khöömii (throat singing)

demo tracks from the Brussels-based,

in all its diverse variations. See p61

guitar-less band. See p55

05 Siobhan Miller ‘Banks of Newfoundland’

10 Baluji Shrivastav ‘Journey to Sedna’

An upbeat opener to an enchanting

Intriguingly bluesy, this track refers to the

second album of mostly new

Inuit goddess of the deep sea. But Indian

arrangements of traditional songs,

classical music remains at the core of this

expertly played and with the purity of

compilation from multi-instrumentalist

Miller’s voice shining through. See p57

Baluji Shrivastav OBE. See p60

From Uyai on Merge Records

From An Anthology of Mongolian Khöömii on Buda Musique

From Strata on Songprint Recordings

06 S O N G L I N E S

02 Los Hijos de la Montaña ‘Amor de Lejos’ (4:51)

14 Tabu Ley Rochereau ‘Kaful Mayay’ (7:49)

10

05

On the Spot (Tru Thoughts) & © 2017 Tru Thoughts. Courtesy of Tru Thoughts

09

04

08 The Hot 8 Brass Band ‘Can’t Nobody Get Down’ (6:44)

08

06 Tamikrest ‘Mawarniha Tartit’

This heartfelt dedication to the group’s

From Los Hijos de la Montaña on Vacilando 68

03

03 Ibibio Sound Machine ‘Give Me a Reason’ (4:20)

From Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng on World Circuit

Uyai (Merge Records) & © 2017 Merge Records. Courtesy of Merge Records

07

02

01 Orchestra Baobab ‘Foulo’

04 Khusugtun ‘Mongol’ (4:32)

06

01

‘Where Rivers Meet’ From Mali in Oak on Globe Music

From On the Spot on Tru Thoughts

From 20sth on Choux de Bruxelles

From Best of Baluji Shrivastav on ARC Music

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+ STEWART LEVINE’S PLAYLIST 11

11 Franco et le TP OK Jazz ‘AZDA’ From Francophonic Vol 1 1953-1980 on Sterns The lyrics of this track by the Congolese guitarist are actually a commercial for a local car dealership. “They could make a song out of anything! But if you’ve got a groove, you can get away with a lot.”

12

12 Amoya ‘Nweti’ From Cineta on Forlane

Mozambican band Amoya is fronted by singer Mingas, who started with Orchestra Marrabenta and spent several years as a Abby Ross

backing singer for Miriam Makeba. “It’s just a great pop song in any language.”

13

13 The Congos ‘Fisherman’ From Heart of the Congos on VP Records

“Mick Hucknall really loved reggae and he turned me onto it when he re-released it on his Blood and Fire label in 1997. I thought it was the best reggae album I’d ever heard... it’s a masterpiece.”

14

14 Tabu Ley Rochereau ‘Kaful Mayay’

“ The African acts [at Rumble in the Jungle-Zaire 74 concert] were playing at the height of their powers. I remember BB King saying he didn’t want to follow Franco. They were proud and they were ready, and you can hear the excitement on the tapes” Turn to p72 for the full interview with Stewart Levine

From The Voice of Lightness on Sterns

“It’s just such a great sound,” says Levine.

Tabu Ley Rochereau was Franco’s only rival as the greatest Congolese bandleader – both artists played at the Rumble in the Jungle-Zaire 74 concert.

15

15 Cesaria Evora ‘Petit Pays’ From Cesaria on Lusafrica

“She’s 100% unique and she sounds to me like an old pair of favourite shoes,

SONGLINES IS NOW ON APPLE MUSIC Songlines is one of Apple Music’s official music curators, creating bespoke playlists featuring many of the artists we cover each issue.

Listen to our playlists at www.bit.ly/songlinesplaylists

although she never wore them on stage.

There was something that seemed to attach her to the soil.”

W W W . S O N G L I N E S . C O. U K

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INTRODUCING...

Abraham Brody

The violinist and performance artist talks to Simon Broughton about the varied traditions he draws on to create his extraordinary shows

Brian McWilliams

A

braham Brody is a violinist and singer, but that’s just the start. He wants to make his performances into experiences rather than concerts. At a show I saw with Czech singer and violinist Iva Bittová last year, they created powerful aural landscapes and textures that packed a real emotional punch.

“My work has two paths, which mix and separate sometimes,” Brody says.

“One path is coming from folklore and the music of my roots, and the other is the contemporary arts side and doing performance works in galleries and making videos.” On the second path, in 2014 in Switzerland he created The Violinist is Present, an

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event curated by the hugely successful performance artist Marina Abramović.

It’s a one-on-one experience where Brody sits in front of you and plays on the violin the music he sees in your eyes. “I want to give the public some power in the performance so they feel connected to the work of art,” Brody says. “I like nonverbal dialogue. Music is a communication that can bridge all languages and cultures.”

Brody was born in New York and grew up in New Hampshire, but for the past six years he has lived in London.

He studied classical violin, folk singing and performance art, but his ancestral roots are in Eastern Europe. On his mother’s side his grandparents were

from Lithuania and western Ukraine.

His father’s side is more American, but with some Scottish roots.

He’s talking to me on the phone from Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. “It’s complicated but really interesting for me because all these cultures come out in my music. I had a concert last weekend and people said that they could hear not just the Lithuanian feeling, but also the Jewish and Slavic roots, so I am who I am. I’m trying to go back to all these different traditions and somehow piece them together for myself. I’m looking for my identity as a human being through my music.”

This ambition takes him back to some of the most elemental sounds such as the polyphonic sutartinės, a unique ingredient in Lithuanian folklore, and old Ukrainian repertoire. He spent last summer in Siberia investigating shamanism in Buryatia. He’s drawn to ancient ritual and the spirit world.

In April, Dash Arts have organised a duo performance in London with the Ukrainian folklorist and accordion player Mariana Sadovska. They will each perform their solo repertoire and collaborate on some Ukrainian pieces before heading out into the Carpathians in the summer to explore the music around Brody’s grandmother’s village.

“My solo repertoire comes mostly from Lithuanian folk songs that I’ve learned and reinvented in my own way with violin, voice, other instruments and Loop Station to make this whole layering sound-world,” he explains. “I’m drawn to traditions that connect me to something older and more deep. I want to take people there and change their consciousness somehow.”

ATE Brody and Mariana Sadovska +D perform at London’s Rich Mix on April 25, see www.richmix.org.uk

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Orkesta Mendoza

Russ Slater chats to the Mexican musical polymath Sergio Mendoza about his influences and various projects, prior to his UK tour

T

alking to Sergio Mendoza, Orkesta Mendoza’s softly spoken bandleader, you get the impression of how different life can be either side of the US/Mexico border, and how incredible it is that his own music has been able to traverse the two countries so freely. His first musical memories hail from Mexico, when he was living in the border town of Nogales, Sonora. At an early age he would listen to cumbias and rancheras, learning to play the melodies on the family keyboard. Then when he was around eight years old his family moved north to Nogales, Arizona, back when the border didn’t seem so immutable.

Though only a few miles north, the move meant a big change in culture.

“I remember the first day of school,” Mendoza says. “There was free paper and pencils and that was a big shock to me. In Mexico you show up to your class and there’s nothing but a desk and a chalkboard.” Of bigger impact though was the change in his musical habits.

“I started letting go of all that [Mexican] music and just listened to everything American,”

WIN We have three copies of

Mendoza tells me. “My friends looked down on all the Mexican stuff because they thought it was cheesy.

So we started listening to classic rock, rock’n’roll and grunge.”

It would take years, many fateful rock groups and a stint in a local salsa band until Mendoza would finally get in touch with his roots again. By that time he’d become known in the Tucson, Arizona music scene when Calexico’s Joey Burns got in touch, asking if he wanted to play with them. “I was the perfect combination of a guy they wanted to play with. Somebody who was Latin but also loves rock’n’roll.”

He’d also come to a point where he was ready to re-embrace his earliest musical influences, going back to mambo and cumbia. “I wanted to learn Pérez Prado’s style,” says Mendoza, “so we decided to do a Prado tribute. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, but Joey Burns and the local promoters were like, nah, you’re going to do this again and started booking us. Then right away I started writing songs in a similar style, and that’s how we made those first [Orkesta Mendoza] recordings.”

Three albums later – the latest one, Vamos a Guarachar, was reviewed in #124 – and Orkesta Mendoza are as strong as ever, moving fluidly between Mexican and American music with a fiery mix of ranchera rock’n’roll, indie mambo and psych cumbia. Their music represents the cultural fusions that could only exist on the border.

Mendoza, who continues to play with Calexico, as well as the Mexican Morrissey tribute band Mexrrissey, and Los Hijos de la Montaña (an experimental indie-pop collaboration with fellow US Latino Luz Elena Mendoza) is the perfect example of this.

“I feel like I fit in both worlds,” he replies, when I ask him whether he feels more Mexican or American.

Thankfully, unlike the hard hand of politics, music does not seek to erect walls. Though, you can be sure that, if it did, Orkesta Mendoza would do their best to shake them down.

ATES Orkesta Mendoza tour the UK +D +

in April, see Gig Guide for details.

A LBUMS Los Hijos de la Montaña is a Top of the World this issue, see p52

Vamos a Guarachar to give away. Answer: What indie rock band is Sergio Mendoza a member of?

See p17 for competition rules

Josh Harrison

ISSUE 127

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Songlines Music Travel

Dedicated trips for music lovers worldwide, bringing you the excitement of real music directly where it’s made MOROCCO ESSAOUIRA GNAWA FESTIVAL June 27-July 3 2017 A weekend in the Moroccan port town of Essaouira during this vibrant festival.

COLOMBIA WHERE THE HEART BEATS August 9-19 2017 An 11-day trip to Colombia to discover and appreciate its musical culture up close.

Gareth Richards

ROMANIA AT HOME WITH THE GYPSIES September 2-10 2017 Includes visits to Clejani, the home of Taraf de Haidouks, and Zece Prăjini, the home of Fanfare Ciocărlia.

COLOMBIA: WHERE THE HEART BEATS

MOROCCO: ESSAOUIRA GNAWA FESTIVAL

AUGUST 9-19

JUNE 27-JULY 3

For many lovers of Latin music, Colombia has the most interesting scenes in South America right now.

On this trip we will visit three contrasting cities: Bogotá with its alternative scene, Medellín, which is the heart of the country’s recording industry, and Cartagena with its Afro-Caribbean sounds. Led

by Songlines contributor Russ Slater, you will gain unique access to artists and musicians and get to know the country through its sounds and traditions.

Essaouira, a picturesque port town on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, is the centre of Gnawa music and each year it hosts the extraordinary Gnawa and World Music Festival. Leading Gnawa musicians and international artists play a range of musical styles well into the night. Our tour offers a long weekend in Essaouira, with two days to enjoy the full range of music on offer, the atmospheric old walled medina and the long, beautiful beaches beyond.

“ A superb trip – educational, cultural, absorbing and a feast for all the senses – the music, colour, tastes, smells and sights.

I hope to take this and other trips again with Songlines” Raxa Melita, Essaouira trip

Visit www.songlinesmusictravel.com Call +44 (0)207 501 6741 Email tours@mastertravel.co.uk

CHINA A MUSICAL JOURNEY September 9-18 2017 As well as exploring the music scenes in Beijing, Xian and Shanghai, we also visit the Great Wall of China.

INDIA RAJASTHAN MUSICAL ADVENTURE Sept 28-Oct 10 2017 Visit one of the most soul-inspiring parts of the world during the Jodhpur RIFF folk festival.

SENEGAL NEVER MIND THE MBALAX November 19-28 2017 Immerse yourself in the local sounds and rhythms of Senegal’s capital, Dakar.

CUBA RUMBA & REVOLUTION! March 14-28 2018 Explore the rich variety of music from one of the top music destinations.

All dates shown are ex-destination.

The Songlines Music Travel Tours are operated by Master Travel Ltd. The air holiday packages advertised are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 3800. Please see our booking conditions for more information. ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services advertised.

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OM TICKETS FR

£N9SA.LE5N0 OW O

Kings Place, London, June 1-3 2017

Ayse Thornett

Now in its seventh year, Songlines Encounters Festival returns with an exciting programme of artists we feel passionate about. Expect compelling collaborations, two UK premieres and thrilling music from Portugal, India, Senegal, Lithuania, Norway and the UK Kefaya

FRIDAY JUNE 2, HALL 2, 8PM

Kefaya

THURSDAY JUNE 1, HALL 1, 8PM

FRIDAY JUNE 2, HALL 1, 8PM

Ricardo Ribeiro – UK premiere

Bollywood Brass Band & Jyotsna Srikanth

Ricardo Ribeiro is without question, the top male fadista of his generation. Much loved in Portugal, amazingly, this will be Ribeiro’s first solo UK concert. Renowned for the purity of his approach, the haunting quality of his voice is remarkable.

His most recent CD is nominated in the Songlines Music Awards (p22).

Read more about him on p36.

For 25 years, Bollywood music has been the mainstay of London’s Indian-style wedding band. But now, with superb South Indian violinist Jyotsna Srikanth, they raise the rafters with Carnatic Connection, featuring South Indian movie hits, including AR Rahman.

Many of the arrangements are played to dynamic film sequences.

Bollywood Brass Band with Jyotsna Srikanth

London-based but truly global in attitude, Kefaya only released their debut album, Radio International, last year (nominated in the Songlines Music Awards 2017, see p22). Yet their rapid rise in popularity has been phenomenal.

The core members are guitarist Giuliano Modarelli, keyboard player Al MacSween, bassist Domenico Angarano and drummer Joost Hendrickx, but the collective often features guests from around the world. Don’t miss them in the intimate environment of Hall 2.

SATURDAY JUNE 3, HALL 2, 5PM

Solo & Indre· – UK premiere

Literally meaning ‘Wind Eye,’ Vindauga is Old Norse for ‘Window.’

This perfectly describes this meeting of musical minds from England, Scotland and Norway as Vindauga/Wind Eye throws open new windows on these musicians’ traditions, with the wind blowing in a strong element of fearless experimentation. Vocalists Sam Lee and Unni Løvlid (below), Sarah-Jane Summers (fiddle), Erlend Apneseth (Hardanger fiddle), Juhani Silvola (guitars) and Andreas Utnem (harmonium) bring together virtuosity and an expressive energy.

Previously known as Folk Conexions, this collaboration premiered at Celtic Connections in 2016 to much critical acclaim.

Ingvil Skeie Ljones

Pritpal Ajimal

An innovative duo of West African kora and Baltic zither. Solo Cissokho is a singer and kora player from Senegal and Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė is a singer and kanklės player from Lithuania. The Lithuanian kanklės is a zither that has variants small and large across the Baltics. The Songlines review of their album described it as ‘spontaneous improvisations to create a mesmerising flow of acoustic music.’ Simon Broughton chairs a Q&A and demonstration with the musicians to open the show.

SATURDAY JUNE 3, HALL 1, 8PM

Vindauga/Wind Eye feat Sam Lee – London premiere

Unni Løvlid

For tickets www.kingsplace.co.uk/sef2017 +44 †(0)20 7520 1490 25% discount for Songlines subscribers

When booking tickets, subscribers can use the discount code printed on this issue’s carrier sheet (the sheet of paper on the front of the magazine). Already recycled it? Email subscriptions@markallengroup.com

W W W . S O N G L I N E S . C O. U K

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Terms and Conditions: †Limited to 30 tickets and excludes Online Saver tickets. Available online, by phone and in person.

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2017 The Nominations Now in their ninth year, the Songlines Music Awards champion the vast variety of superb musicians from around the world that we cover within the pages of Songlines. All these albums have been reviewed during the past year (from #115 to #124). The nominees in the geographical categories were chosen by our hotshot team of reviewers and the Best Artist and Best Group nominees were voted for by Songlines readers. The winners of all nine awards, including the Newcomer and World Pioneer Awards, will be announced in the June issue (#128), out May 12.

WO R D S N I G E L W I L L I A M S O N

THE AWARDS ALBUM Featuring 20 tracks from the nominees in the five geographical categories (see p24), the Songlines Music Awards 2017 compilation album is now available on CD exclusively from

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BEST ARTIST

BEST GROUP

Aziza Brahim

Afro Celt Sound System

For Abbar el Hamada on Glitterbeat

Born and raised in a desert refugee camp and now resident in Spain, singer Aziza Brahim has become the most potent voice of the dispossessed Saharawi people from the territory now known as ‘Occupied Western Sahara.’ Her relaxed and cool voice creates a striking juxtaposition with the political anger of her lyrics of the songs on Abbar el Hamada. This classy and highly polished set was a Top of the World in #116.

Félix Lajkó For Most Jöttem on Fonó

Hungarian violinist Félix Lajkó inhabits an undefinable world between folk, improvisation and jazz. This live album was recorded at a concert in Budapest and is one of his best recordings in years. Most Jöttem is full of novel arrangements of traditional tunes and his own compositions, his virtuoso fiddling accompanied by viola, double bass and three backing singers. A Top of the World in #120.

For The Source on ECC Records

After a silence lasting more than a decade, the return of the Afro Celt Sound System could easily have sounded like an anachronistic relic. But if fans found much that was reassuringly familiar in their trademark global dance fusion of African rhythms and haunting Irish melodies, they also sounded reinvigorated – bigger, better and bolder than ever before. A Top of the World in #118.

Bollywood Brass Band feat Jyotsna Srikanth For Carnatic Connection on Bollywood Brass Band

The BBB’s latest tour de force reimagines South Indian classical and film music with the pulsating energy of an Indian wedding procession. Srikanth’s violin soars above this bold adventure and at times enters into breathtakingly competitive interplay with the brass on a set that is as joyous as it is raucous. A Top of the World in #124.

Baaba Maal

Kefaya

For The Traveller on Marathon Artists

For Radio International on Radio International Records

After just one new studio album in 15 years, the Senegalese singer appeared to have lost his mojo. But The Traveller turned out to be a stunning comeback. Including some choice key collaborators such as Johan Hugo of The Very Best, this is a mature but exhilarating set on which the personal and the political were seamlessly intertwined into one of the most purposeful statements of his career. A Top of the World in #115.

Recorded during travels and collaborations with guest musicians from across India, Palestine, Spain and Italy, the debut album from the UK-based collective Kefaya finds common ground between folk traditions from around the globe, radical politics and sound system culture, delivered with a fizzing energy and commitment. A Top of the World in #122.

Ricardo Ribeiro

Värttinä

For Hoje é Assim, Amanhã Não Sei on Warner Music Portugal

For Viena on Westpark Music

One of the finest male fado singers of his generation and still only in his 30s, Ricardo Ribeiro’s voice has a character and emotional range that is well beyond his years. Here he combines classic fado from Amália Rodrigues’ repertoire with less conventional fare, ranging from the upbeat to the poignant, but always delivered with a convincing intensity. A Top of the World in #120.

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Three decades after their debut album, the Finnish folk group essayed an astonishing return to both form and to their roots. Viena is inspired by the trio’s visits to hear runo singers in Karelia. It is brimming with clear, sharp vocals and immaculate playing, and bristling with energy. Long-time fans have hailed it as one of the finest albums in Värttinä’s long and illustrious career. A Top of the World in #116.

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Benoit Peverelli

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OUMOU SANGARÉ

Mali’s Muse Malian diva Oumou Sangaré is making a long-awaited comeback. Pierre Cuny speaks to her about returning to the recording studio and the themes that inspire her songs

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ver the years, the reputation of Oumou Sangaré, one of the greatest living Malian singers, has grown from a socially conscious local artist to a leading African public figure. Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation and a prosperous businesswoman, Oumou has continually maintained the flame of rebellion against injustices. It has always been via music that this figure of African women’s emancipation has transmitted her ideals.

Ever since the elegant reissue last year of Oumou’s successful 1990 recording Moussolou on World Circuit, it was common knowledge in Mali that her new album was on the point of coming out. For fans of the African diva, it was going to be a huge event – not only in Mali but also throughout the continent.

Together with Laurent Bizot, head of No Format!, the French label she has chosen to produce her new musical adventure, Mogoya, Oumou decided to completely shake up her soundscape – very much a conscious decision. She explains: “I selected No Format because they have operated with a large number of African musicians. Laurent has worked for several years with Salif Keita, he knows Malian music very well and he loves black music.” The label also works with other Malian virtuosos such as the supreme kora player Ballaké Sissoko and griot singer Kassé Mady Diabaté, a national treasure in Mali.

“Happily, relations with World Circuit and Nick Gold remain solid and we are in complete agreement with this change,” smiles Oumou. Four outstanding albums were produced

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during 1993 to 2009 with World Circuit, as well as a double-CD compilation, which was released in 2003.

Taking the tapes on which she had been working over the past two years with Swedish producer and bass player Andreas Unge, Oumou travelled to the northern suburb of Paris and met with the three studio magicians who make up the collective known as A.L.B.E.R.T. In their studio jam-packed with sound equipment resembling something like Ali Baba’s cave, the young French musician-producers Vincent Taeger, Vincent Taurelle and Ludovic Bruni had recently completed the last Tony Allen album among other luminaries.

On the strength of her melodies, lyrics and voice alone, the team went to work. Maintaining the essential kamalengoni of Benogo Diakité, the electric guitar of Guimba Kouyaté and occasional drums of Tony Allen, they totally remixed and played over the tapes. Oumou was ecstatic and pushed them to continue. “We did not want Mogoya to sound like something which could have been produced in 1998 or 2000,” explains Bizot. The three musicians advanced with feeling and when they saw that Oumou was confident – telling them to “go for it boys” – they knew they had got it. The result is an album sprinkled with judicious sound effects that creative DJs will undoubtedly be playing to heat up dance floors across the world.

The kamalengoni (or ‘young man’s harp’) propels the sound. This eight-stringed instrument, based on the original Wassoulou ritual hunter’s harp, is the soul of Oumou’s music and her melodies are all accompanied by it. In her concerts

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TUNING 2 YOU

Indian Odyssey S

oumik Datta, the multi-talented sarod player, has cropped up quite often in these pages, but now he’s showing his skills as a TV presenter in a six-part series on Indian folk music on Channel 4. Tuning 2 You: Lost Musicians of India visits six different regions searching out largely unknown and under-celebrated local musicians – achieved with the help of the Bagri Foundation and Kickstarter. “The main purpose was to draw attention to these musicians and the music, which is so under-appreciated and show how beautiful it is,” says Soumik. “And to give other Indians living in the US or Europe a route back into this country. It has certainly helped me do that.”

It took around eight weeks of filming over several trips.

And it’s very much a family affair, with Soumik in front of the camera and his brother Souvid behind it. He’s a very accomplished cinematographer too. Alongside the two brothers were others on additional cameras and sound. You get the impression it’s a nimble and flexible team – yet there’s also impressive aerial photography from a drone, offering an important glimpse at India’s landscapes and cityscapes.

Soumik Datta was born in West Bengal, but has lived in London since the age of 11. He’s returned a lot for tours and concerts – often in West Bengal – and was aware of how folk musicians are marginalised as India rapidly develops. “I also wanted to connect with a wider India,” he says. The premise for the programmes is simple. Soumik (pictured left) sets out

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A fascinating musical journey around India is soon to be broadcast on TV. Simon Broughton speaks to Soumik and Souvid Datta about the inspiration behind the series P H O T O S S O U V I D D AT TA

with his sarod to seek out local musicians. Where he can, he collaborates with them and elsewhere he’s an enthusiastic spectator. “This was completely out of my comfort zone as a musician who is used to buses that take me from the airport for a concert or to a hotel,” he admits. “This was something else, and I was supposed to be in charge and had no idea what to do.”

He begins in Kolkata, West Bengal and goes to meet mystic Baul musicians in and around Santiniketan. There’s the charismatic singer Tarak Das Baul (above, left), a larger-thanlife character with cascading hair singing under a banyan tree – it’s a wonderful, timeless image of Baul tradition. “God is in music,” says Basudev Das Baul, another singer, “if you call God with faith and emotion, he will come.” Soumik also admits he’s interested in searching for something deeper for his own music. We never discover whether he finds it, but the sarod is rather like a more sophisticated version of the dotara, the lute that Baul musicians play, so it fits in well. Of course, Baul philosophy is too complex to be unravelled in a few minutes, but there are some choice quotes. “The Baul searches for that cosmic deity who holds the universe,” says Rabi Baul.

The team also go to Purulia, one of the poorest areas of West Bengal, but it is rich in folk music. They see colourful chhau dancing and the distinguished singer Amulya Kumar (above, middle), who sings the lovely jhumur songs of the region.

This first leg is the easiest bit because Soumik is a Bengali speaker, but from West Bengal the further five episodes go

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Africa REVIEWS Girma Bèyènè & Akalé Wubé Éthiopiques 30: Mistakes on Purpose Buda Musique (67 mins)

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Legendary Ethiopian crooner revisits the golden age

NIGEL WILLIAMSON

TRACK TO TRY Sankara

Kanazoé Orkestra Miriya Buda Musique (58 mins)

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Burkina Faso’s balafon bloke breaks out on his own We are blessed to have recently seen many releases by West African musicians who wish to retain the values of their Mande traditions.

Seydou Diabaté, known as ‘Kanazoé’, is a balafon and kamalengoni player from Burkina Faso. Having learned his instrument in a traditional village environment, he progressed to performing and recording with several ensembles including his cousin Mamadou Diabaté’s group Percussion Mania, when they recorded Kanuya together. This is his first recording with his own band, the

Kanazoé Orkestra, and it confirms his exceptional expertise and also the musicality of the group he has put together. The Orkestra is fronted by vocalist Zaky Diara, accompanied by Kanazoé’s own vocals and those of Mamadou Dembelé – all three coming from griot descent and singing in the Dioula language.

Dembelé plays ngoni and flute and the band is rounded out by saxophone, percussion, bass and drums. This creates a full sound with impressive interplay between balafon, ngoni, flute and sax – much of which is jazz-flavoured as much as it is rooted in the Mande tradition.

Kanazoé’s rippling balafon is quite astounding, but it is the combined effort and musical prowess of the entire group that make this recording such an unmitigated joy.

MARTIN SINNOCK

TRACK TO TRY Nanifa

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OFTHE WORLD

JIM HICKSON

TRACK TO TRY Tewèdjign Endèhu (Ahun Negèrign)

Élage Diouf Melokáane

A multi-stringed kora-guitar duo in perfect harmony

Senegalese Cirque du Soleil star’s soft-rock Wolof beats Born in Senegal but resident in Canada for the past 20 years, percussionist Elage Diouf has toured the world with Cirque du Soleil, providing the beats behind the troupe’s Delirium show. His first solo album Aksil was released in Canada in 2010 but this follow-up is his first recording to get an international release. Singing

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TRACK 7

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Tunde Jegede & Derek Gripper Mali in Oak Globe Music (53 mins)

Pump Up the World (50 mins)

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Cesare Di Giglo

For the better part of 20 years, Buda’s Éthiopiques releases have been the go-to series for Ethio-jazz and traditional music from Ethiopia. You won’t find that here. Éthiopiques 30 covers a wide range of styles, from cheesy country ballads to slinky rock, from smooth and groovy soul to hard funk and, OK, maybe a little bit of jazz.

All of it, though, is dripping in that classic Ethiopian sound.

Crooner Girma Bèyènè was a star in the ‘Swinging Addis’ period of the 70s, but recorded very little of his own music – it was his compositions and arrangements that gained more notoriety. After being off-the-radar, living in the US for 25 years, he slowly made his way back onto the Addis music scene, and in 2015 he was invited to play with French collective Akalé Wubé – it became obvious then that a recording was necessary. Bèyènè and Akalé Wubé have recreated and reimagined the songs from the singer’s golden era, along with one Akalé Wubé original, the instrumental ‘For Amha’.

Bèyènè’s age-worn voice and evocative spoken-word passages add extra emotional dimensions to his classics, while Akalé Wubé’s arrangements are sometimes sleek, sometimes raucous. This album is immaculately cool.

in a warm and soulful voice and driving the songs with his own virtuosic African percussion, it’s essentially a mix of Youssou-styled Wolof rhythms and soft rock, best illustrated by his rather affecting cover of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Secret World’, the piano ballad ‘Just One Day’, a duet with the Canadian rock singer Johnny Reid, and the galloping pop-rap of the football anthem ‘Foula ak Fayda’.

There’s a retro feel to much of the album musically and Diouf ’s themes are often historical – the first track is dedicated to Nelson Mandela and features a recording of his voice, while the reggae-tinged ‘Sankara’ is about the struggle for African independence from the colonial powers. It’s an engaging slice of diasporic Afro-pop, beautifully played and handsomely produced, but ultimately less than essential.

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In 2015 kora and cello player Tunde Jegede and South African guitarist Derek Gripper played a candlelit concert as a duet at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London as part of a series of performances curated by the classical guitarist John Williams. Gripper’s remarkable transpositions of 21-string kora music for the six-string guitar have been much praised in Songlines. It was the only concert in the series in which Williams did not join the performers on stage. Feeling that even his virtuosity had nothing to add to their stringed magic, Williams sat in the audience and marvelled.

This collaboration features repertoire from both musicians. Their duets are as elegant and graceful as you would expect, but the most extraordinary thing is that it’s almost impossible to tell which notes are coming from which instrument. Jegede’s cello on ‘Songs of the Eternal’ adds a different texture and their one joint composition, ‘Where Rivers Meet’, leaves the listener hoping their collaboration will flower further.

It comes beautifully packaged with a 40-page booklet of informative notes and photos that enhances the feel of a very ‘special’ musical communion in a way that a soulless digital download never can.

NIGEL WILLIAMSON

TRACK TO TRY Jarabi

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Africa REVIEWS Mamadou Kelly Politiki Clermont Music (51 mins)

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Malian desert near-royalty meets some American mates

ROBIN DENSELOW

TRACK TO TRY I’Sagnagnote

King Ayisoba 1000 Can Die Glitterbeat Records (44 mins)

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Ghana’s crown ruler of kologo kicks up a ruckus It’s as absurd to generalise about African albums as it would be American or European albums.

But over the years there’s definitely been a plethora of tasteful recordings tailor-made for a particular kind of world music audience. It’s therefore exciting when occasionally an African album (from Ghana in this instance) bucks the trend and is almost shocking in its edgy, confrontational insistence.

Producer Zea (aka Arnold de Boer of the Dutch post-punk band The Ex) does a masterly job of subtly integrating hip-hop bottom-end and electronica atmospherics that never sound shoehorned in. There’s some great guests too: Orlando Julius’ counter-intuitively relaxed sax on the galloping ‘Dapagara’; and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry doing his ‘elder statesman of dub’

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Youri Lenquette

As a guitarist and singer-songwriter who worked alongside the great Ali Farka Touré and Afel Bocoum, Mamadou Kelly is practically Malian music royalty. This is his third album as a soloist, and he is backed once again by his group BanKaiNa, with Brehim Cisse playing the small, mandolin-like djourkel, and Alpha Ousmane Sankaré and Ibrahim Nabo adding calabash and other percussion.

But for this set, recorded in the little town of Saugerties in New York state, they are joined by a group of Americans adding guitar, bass and drums, with the Grammy-winning Cindy Cashdollar playing steel and lap-steel guitar. The result is a classy, at times gently hypnotic set.

Mamadou Kelly has an easy, relaxed voice, and his rolling songs are driven on by his own guitar work and restrained backing from the Americans, with Cashdollar adding some fine wailing guitar effects.

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Orchestra Baobab Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng

TRACK 1

World Circuit (43 mins)

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Baobab bids farewell to their former leader Despite the title, the first album from the legendary Senegalese dance band in a decade is not a tribute album in the usual sense. Instead, it is a set of mostly new songs that simply carry a heartfelt dedication on the cover to original vocalist Dieng, who died in November 2016 after singing with the group in every phase of its career since the early 70s. It would be crass to say he’s not missed, but one of Baobab’s strengths was that they have always boasted several lead vocalists and the sturdy voices of founder members Balla Sidibé and Rudy Gomis and the presence of Dieng’s son Alpha cover his loss without skipping a beat, while guest vocalists Cheikh Lô and Thione Seck (who left Baobab to go solo in 1979) provide further sinuous vocal variation.

routine on the title-track, rambling on about Queen Elizabeth while flute, buzzing bass synth and hand drums thunder away in the foreground. But the star is King Ayisoba himself, who makes one think of an unholy mix of Tom Waits at his most wilfully noisy and Busta Rhymes being, well, Busta Rhymes. ‘One day we’ll bury the ghosts from the past,’ sings producer Zea on the wall of tribal noise that is ‘Wekana’.

They are half-way there already.

HOWARD MALE

TRACK TO TRY 1000 Can Die

The rock-steady Afro-Cuban rhythms and sweetly lyrical brass arrangements also remain reassuringly familiar. Yet there have been changes. For the first time, a kora has a permanent place in the line-up, the dreamy cascades of notes from Abdouleye Cissoko taking centre stage in the classic Baobab shuffle on tracks such as ‘Fayinkounko’ and ‘Magnokoputo’, plus the acoustic ‘Mariama’, which sounds quite unlike anything else in the Baobab canon. To an extent, the kora fills the substantial gap left by veteran guitarist Barthélémy Attisso, who has returned to his law practice in Togo. His replacement, René Sowatche, a young guitarist from Benin, makes some spirited contributions, despite being very much a junior partner in the enterprise. It’s good to have them back.

NIGEL WILLIAMSON

TRACK TO TRY Mariama

Janka Nabay Build Music Luaka Bop (38 mins)

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Bold, brash Casio adventures from Sierra Leone This modern street music from Sierra Leone is based on a form of ceremonial Islamic masquerade procession music known as bubu.

Janka Nabay fled Sierra Leone in 2003

during the ten-year civil war to the US where he created a new electronic variation of a style that was originally performed on bamboo flutes.

This new interpretation is an odd mishmash of sounds – highly rhythmic with frenetic Casio keyboards and drum programming.

It’s brash – his voice is raucous and pretty awful, and the lyrics are banal – but that’s probably the point of it.

Some of the tracks have strangely hypnotic psychedelic keyboard. ‘Game Ova’, for example, could have been

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Fusion REVIEWS Baro Drom Orkestar Genau!

Agualoca Records (50 mins)

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Italian power Gypsy dance?

The international debut from the Italian quartet claims to represent the ‘Power Gypsy Dance’ style. What exactly this is, Baro Drom’s publicists don’t bother to explain but they do note that the band ‘mix klezmer, Armenian and Balkan music and pizzica with an unconventional ensemble.’ Pizzica is an important musical style in the Puglia region of southern Italy (Baro are from Florence). But as for the other elements of their musical make up – well, nothing here strikes me as particularly reminiscent of klezmer, Armenian or Balkan music, although I’m sure there are melodies and the like incorporated.

Baro Drom (Romani for ‘Wide Road’) sound more like disciples of Philip Glass, playing intense, jagged, violin-led music. As with Glass’s sawing strings, I felt a headache coming on well before the album was through. They certainly are competent players but have yet to find an individual identity.

GARTH CARTWRIGHT

TRACK TO TRY Lento

Carminho Carminho Canta Tom Jobim Warner Music (46 mins)

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Tribute to a bossa nova colossus When standing in front of a giant, expect to remain caught under his shadow – for better or for worse.

Carminho, one of the brightest new voices to bring fado back to the limelight, decided to state her love for Brazilian music by recording an album entirely dedicated to Tom Jobim’s seminal work. And while doing so – as a testament to her utter respect and profound devotion – she picked up where Jobim had left off: she has recorded this album with Jobim’s last band, Banda Nova. Singing his repertoire with his musicians, she is clearly deep into Jobim’s territory. That closeness to Jobim can be a little underwhelming at first. And perhaps that is why Carminho steps onto higher ground every time she moves further from Jobim’s trademark style and closer to her own fado. Whenever she ventures into jazz-like performances,

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such as the gorgeous rendition of ‘Retrato em Preto e Branco’, solely accompanied by Jaques Morelenbaum’s cello, the album takes off. Sharing the stage with Marisa Monte, Chico Buarque and Maria Bethânia also proves a smart move. Definitely a grower, but it’s a shame it doesn’t skyrocket a bit more often.

GONÇALO FROTA

TRACK TO TRY Retrato em Preto e Branco

Flo Il Mese del Rosario Agualoca Records (42 mins)

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Italian song the right side of pop Breaking moulds works best when you can demonstrate you’ve nailed the mould.

The first two tracks of this scintillating second album from Italian singer Flo are sassy, sophisticated songs on which she displays an impressive vocal range while her three-piece band plus assorted guests provide a backdrop of bouncing Gypsy-ish swing. On the third track, ‘Malemaritate’ – about sin and society, rural roots and city stresses – she raises her game, showcasing sudden rhythmic shifts, blistering flamenco-style guitar, tongue-twisting raps and megaphone shouts. Following this is ‘Ad Ogni Femmina un Marito’, an unashamedly romantic song with a slow, soft quasi-Celtic folk rhythm, and Flo’s powerful, dramatic Italian vocals sweeping all over it.

The mood swings and sheer variety mesmerise, and make listening akin to attending a virtual cabaret. Flo, who has acting experience, gives her songs a huge amount of colour and drama. Madredeus, Pink Martini and Rosa Balistreri all come to mind as Flo explores a multiplicity of ideas, emotions and Neapolitan and Sicilian sub-genres. But she’s totally her own woman; a thrilling exponent of Italy’s unique pop/world crossover scene.

CHRIS MOSS

TRACK TO TRY Malemaritate

Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita Transparent Water World Village (60 mins)

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Strings hammered and plucked In October 2000 Cuban pianist Omar Sosa made his UK debut in the most inauspicious surroundings: the

bar of Glasgow’s Tron Theatre, on an upright piano before some 30 souls.

No one who was there will forget it and if you’d like a taste of what it was like, you’ll find it here – not least because Sosa’s partner that night, Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles, features significantly on this conversational, quietly spiritual collection. Over the next five years Sosa revisited Glasgow annually, each time with a different troupe and in Nottingham-based kora master Seckou Keita he’s found yet another empathic soul to work with in a cosmopolitan crew that also includes Wu Tong, the Chinese flute player with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble.

The music they create is understated, often meditative, but also rhapsodic, as Sosa distils his African roots and jazz studies into beautiful, direct melodies that entwine with Seckou’s kora and the pair’s chantlike vocals. ‘Black Dream’ works Japanese moods into its contemplative atmosphere. ‘Tama-Tama’ waltzes beguilingly and the murmuring ‘Peace Keeping’ sums up the album’s ethos and its sense of flowing creativity.

ROB ADAMS

TRACK TO TRY Another Prayer

Ot Azoj Dža Dža Dzum AAC Records (55 mins)

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Where Balkan music meets hilarious cultural satire Back in the 1980s, the writer Malcolm Bradbury wrote Rates of Exchange, an eye-wateringly funny novel set in a fictitious East European country called Slaka. He satirised political bureaucracy, a predilection for heavy industry and reinvented folklore. This album from long-established Dutch klezmer group Ot Azoj – their ninth – adopts a similar approach with music from the land of ‘Molvania.’ A country – presumably Balkan – that probably once had a large Jewish population.

The five members of Ot Azoj play violin, sax, accordion and tuba with Ulaş Aksunger on percussion and vocals. There’s swing, jazz, Balkan brass, crazy time signatures and plenty of nods to Jewish music. There’s musicianship and inventiveness but most importantly humour and joie de vivre – in the style of 3 Mustaphas 3, or even Borat. The description of ‘Gecko Coček’ says, ‘the South Molvanian gecko species moves its body in a special rhythm. Researchers

have described it as half coček, half swing.’ Bring it on.

SIMON BROUGHTON

TRACK TO TRY Molvanski Bulgar

Twelfth Day Cracks in the Room Orange Feather Records (37 mins)

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No dodgy plastering here Eased into existence via a Kickstarter campaign and produced by Chris Wood – his first production job on music other than his own – Cracks in the Room was recorded at a studio on the Scottish Borders. It is fiddle player Catriona Price and harpist Esther Swift’s first album since 2014’s mini-LP, Shell Story, and it stands at the crossroads where classical, folk, dream pop, unusual vocal harmonies and an oddball lyricism meet and travel together. The style is clear and minimal, with no overfilling of the spaces; the sharpness of their voices has an exultant dynamic besides the angular delicacy of their playing.

Heavily informed by a recent ambitious project they launched called Routes to Roots, in which they travelled to destinations including Québec, Malawi and Mongolia to share folk music traditions with local musicians, Cracks in the Room is eclectic and open. But they also draw from their upbringings in Orkney and the Scottish Borders and root the tunes and lyrics firmly in their own experience.

TIM CUMMING

TRACK TO TRY Cracks

Yorkston/Thorne/Khan Neuk Wight Delhi All-Stars Domino Records (52 mins)

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Unlikely trio continue their IndoScots jazz-indie folk trek Last year the sarangi player Suhail Yusuf Khan, Scottish singersongwriter and guitarist James Yorkston and double bass player Jon Thorne released Everything Sacred, a bold and brave Indian-folk-jazz fusion that evoked memories of the early world music experiments of the Incredible String Band. Since then they’ve toured steadily and you can hear on this second set how the fluidity of their interplay has now become almost second nature.

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Fusion REVIEWS Taylor’s ‘En Attendant Joachim’ and Muriel Anderson’s delicate ‘Winther’s Waltz’. Inevitably, though, a whole album of guitar instrumentals performed by virtuosi players in honour of a celebrated guitarist is likely to appeal more to guitar devotees than to the general listener. Pierre Bensusan contributes ‘Waltz for Paula’ while Jacques Stotzem’s driving ‘L’écho des Savanes’ and Roland Dyens’ haunting ‘Nous Trois’ are both astonishingly beautiful. Fittingly, the album concludes with Dadi’s version of ‘Song for Chet’.

TONY GILLAM

TRACK TO TRY Nous Trois by Roland Dyens

LAUTyodeln: Fern-Nah-Weit Trikont Records (60 mins)

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Munich is alive with the sound of yodelling

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OFTHE WORLD

Ibibio Sound Machine Uyai

TRACK 3

Merge Records (47 mins)

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An Afrobeat, post-punk, art-rock, electro riot The UK-based band fronted by British-Nigerian vocalist Eno Williams continue from where they left off – with confidence and swagger – on this, their second album. There has been much talk of an African highlife and Afrobeat influence on their music, but rather bizarrely what mostly springs to mind on hearing opening number ‘Give Me a Reason’ is Gary Numan. The oft-repeated descending synth motif is pure ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ in its eerie futurism. There’s also a little Off the Wall-era Michael Jackson and Remain in

As a result the album is less varied than its predecessor, their styles more fully integrated into a cohesive whole.

Khan’s ‘Chori Chori’ is perhaps the most Asian-sounding piece, but the embellishments of Yorkston’s guitar and Thorne’s inventive double bass nudge it into Nitin Sawhney fusion territory. Yorkston’s ‘Bales’ is a bucolic slice of Scottish indie-folk made haunting by Khan’s sarangi while the traditional ballad ‘The Recruited Collier’, sung by both Yorkston and Khan, is perhaps the highpoint before the album ends in meditative mood with Thorne’s lovely ‘One More Day’. A quick explanation of the title: Yorkston hails from East Neuk in Fife, Thorne from the Isle of Wight and Khan

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Light-era Talking Heads in there somewhere, which is all good, of course. Such diverse influences inject an edge less apparent on the first album. Solid muscular grooves are filled out by intricate percussion, storming distorted guitar, stabs of brass and bubbling bass while Ms Williams’ Grace Jones-like capacity for authoritative hollering and rabble-rousing – some of it in the Ibibio language, some in English – continues to be the perfect foil for a band this diamond-hard and fiercely funky.

Wonderfully attention-demanding stuff.

HOWARD MALE

TRACK TO TRY Give Me a Reason

from New Delhi. It turns out to be something of a golden triangle.

NIGEL WILLIAMSON

TRACK TO TRY The Recruited Collier

VARIOUS ARTISTS Hommage à Marcel Dadi Acoustic Music Records (45 mins)

HHHHH

Late Nashville country picker saluted by his geetar brethren Tunisian-born French guitarist Marcel Dadi was a master of the fingerpicking style associated with

Chet Atkins and Merle Travis. A popular performer, composer and interpreter, he was also held in affection as a guitar teacher, thanks to his instructional videos and the tablatures that accompanied his albums. Tragically, in 1996, after being honoured in Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame, Dadi was killed when TWA Flight 800 exploded.

Marking the 20th anniversary of his death, German label Acoustic Music Records has decided to assemble a host of outstanding guitarists to pay tribute to Dadi’s music.

Care has been taken to vary the tempo between upbeat tracks such as Albert Lee’s version of ‘Swingy Boogie’ and more reflective pieces like Martin

This is a selection of the finest yodels performed at LAUTyodeln, a festival in Munich last June. It displays the wide variety of yodelling, from the rustic jűűzli of central Switzerland – the traditional ‘Dr Sunnähälbler’ here is beautifully done by a capella band Natur Pur – to ‘Yodelmove’, Erika Stucky’s strange, entrancing yodel composed as a film soundtrack.

The horn quartet Weisenbläser der Münchner collaborate with the trombone and alpine horn duo Windbone in a wild partnership, a set of tunes that wanders from the Alps to the Arabian desert. Christian Zehnder yodels to the accompaniment of the wippkordeon, a squeezebox of his own devising, played vertically.

Baka Beyond appear, too, with yelli, yodels learned from the Baka forest people of Cameroon. Without a ndong (single-note flute) to hand, which the performer usually mixes with her voice, Su Hart resorts to a miniature whisky bottle, which works well.

Yellow Bird contribute ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ and Black Patti ‘Blue Yodel No 1’, so Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers get a look in, as is only proper at any gathering of yodellers. In all, there are artists from seven countries and, as well as demonstrating stylistic range, they reveal the expressive potential of yodel: wild, joyous, yearning and hilarious.

All human feeling can be captured in the chest voice to falsetto flip.

JULIAN MAY

TRACK TO TRY Dr Sunnähälbler by Natur Pur

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Gig Guide

ON TOUR

Maria Camillo

Darol Anger & Republic of Strings American fiddler pays rare visit

Expert fiddler Darol Anger has recruited a new cohort of both emerging and acknowledged players to join his fiddle ensemble. Together as The Republic of Strings, the group brings to life Anger’s visionary take on a variety of string music from around the world. Their broad range of material draws upon pieces and influences from Scandinavia to Africa, Brazil to Manhattan,

making stops in Ireland, Chicago and more along the way. A number of original pieces, some composed in the garage, also make it into the show. Audiences can expect more than a set of bluegrass tunes from the group; their sound almost defies genre classification, but is certainly packed with expert musicianship. This is a rare opportunity to see Anger live.

3 MAY The Sugar Club, Dublin +353 (0)1 6787188; 4 MAY The Courthouse, Tinahely +353 (0)402 38529; 5 MAY National Opera House, Wexford +353 (0)53 9122144; 6 MAY Baltimore Fiddle Fair +353 (0)86 375 3380; 9 MAY Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray +353 (0)1 2724030; 10 MAY Glór, Ennis +353 (0)65 6843103; 11 MAY The Linenhall, Castlebar +353 (0)94 9023733; 12 MAY McGrory’s Hotel, Culdaff +353 (0)74 9379104; 13 MAY Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge +353 (0)45 448327.

Hura Nights: Sounds of the Anatolian Underground Library Club FREE jananturan.co.uk; Nicola Conte & Stefania Dipierro Jazz Cafe 020 7485 6834; Tarun Bhattacharya, Ronu Majumdar & Kousic Sen The Bhavan 020 7381 3086; Lakuta + Native Sun Rich Mix 020 7613 7498; Mirabai Ceiba Union Chapel musicglue.com; 29 APR Vaisakhi Festival Trafalgar Square FREE london.gov.uk/events; RANT Cecil Sharp House 020 7485 2206; Kulwinder Billa Thistle, Heathrow chillitickets.com; M Lalitha & M Nandini The Bhavan 020 7381 3086; 30 APR Bengali Baul & Vaishnav Music Festival Rich Mix FREE richmix.org.uk; Kunle Ayo + Lokua Kanza Jazz Cafe 020 7485 6834; Shreya Ghoshal The SSE Arena 0844 815 0815; Lionel Loueke Ronnie

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Scott’s 020 7439 0747; Prabhat Rao & Prateek Shrivastava The Bhavan 020 7381 3086; 4 MAY The Disorientalists Rich Mix 020 7613 7498; 4-5 MAY Agudo Dance Company: Silk Road Sadler’s Wells 020 7863 8000; 5 MAY Kongo Dia Ntotila Portico Gallery 020 8761 7612; 5-6 MAY Manu Dibango Ronnie Scott’s 020 7439 0747; 6 MAY Shantanu Bandopadhyay The Bhavan 020 7381 3086; 7 MAY The Coal Porters Union Chapel musicglue.com; 8 MAY Tamikrest Nell’s Jazz and Blues 0871 220 0260; 9 MAY Tamikrest Cafe OTO 020 7923 1231; 11 MAY Vardan Hovanissian & Emre Gültekin Rich Mix 020 7613 7498; Quercus Kings Place 020 7520 1490; 12 MAY Kentucky Cowtippers Central Bar Foyer at RFH FREE 0844 875 0073; 13 MAY Songhai: Toumani Diabaté, Juan & Josemi

Carmona & Javier Colina Barbican 020 7638 8891; 13-14 MAY Orchestra Baobab Jazz Cafe 020 7485 6834; 15 MAY Yasmine Hamdan Scala 0844 477 1000; 16 MAY Maarja Nuut Rich Mix 020 7613 7498; 17 MAY Oumou Sangaré Village Underground 0871 220 0260.

SOUTH 7-9 APR Grinagog Festival Torquay grinagogfestival.com; Banbury Song & Ale Weekend banburyfolkfestival.co.uk; 8 APR Quercus Turner Sims, Southampton 023 8059 5151; Saidi Kanda’s Mvula Mandondo Chidham & Hambrook Village Hall 07802 500050; Old Blind Dogs Ferndown Village Hall 01202 897958; 10 APR Mairearad &

Anna Colchester Arts Centre 01206 500900; 12 APR Mairearad & Anna Hambledon Folk Club 02392 632719; 14 APR Saidi Kanda’s Mvula Mandondo + Rafael Bereto’s Sonpikkante Ropetackle, Shorehamby-Sea 01273 464440; 15 APR-13 MAY Sam Lee’s Singing with Nightingales Ashford, Colchester and Lewes singingwithnightingales.com; 21 APR Jim Causley Music Institute, Guildford wegottickets.com; 21-23 APR Folk Weekend Oxford folkweekendoxford.co.uk; 22-30 APR Burgess Hill Fairtrade Festival burgesshillfairtradefestival.com; 27 APR Erratica: Remnants Old Fire Station, Oxford 01865 263990; She’Koyokh Radlett Music Club 01923 859291; 29 APR Club Africa Komedia Brighton komedia.co.uk/brighton; Chris Wood Shelley Theatre, Bournemouth 01202 413600; Flats & Sharps Union Hotel, Penzance 01736 362319; 2 MAY Antonio Forcione’s Sketches of Africa Bedales School, Petersfield ticketsource.co.uk; 2-7 MAY Hastings Folk Fest hastingsfolkfest.org; 7 & 16 MAY An Dhá Komedia Brighton 0845 293 8480; 10 MAY Quercus SJE Arts, Oxford 01865 305305; 13 MAY Coope Boyes & Simpson Turner Sims, Southampton 023 8059 5151; Antonio Forcione Trio Long Street Blues Club, Devizes 01380 725614; Maya Youssef The Anvil, Basingstoke 01256 844244.

WALES & WEST 7 APR Old Blind Dogs The Old Malthouse, Bristol eventbrite.com; 26 APR India Electric Co Medina Theatre, Newport 01983 823884; 29-30 APR Bristol Folk Festival bristolfolkfestival.co.uk; 30 APR RANT Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan 01239 621200; 9 MAY Coope Boyes & Simpson St David’s Hall, Cardiff 029 2087 8444; 10 MAY Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin Norwegian Church, Cardiff 029 2087 7959; Coope Boyes & Simpson The Roses, Tewkesbury 01684 295074; 12 MAY Flamingods + Yama Warashi Colston Hall, Bristol 0117 922 3686; Maarja Nuut RWCMD, Cardiff 029 2039 1391; 12-14 MAY Tredegar House Folk Festival Newport tredegarhousefestival.org.uk

MIDLANDS 13 APR-13 MAY Sam Lee’s Singing with Nightingales Huntingdon singingwithnightingales.com; 15 APR

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Gig Guide 831114; 12 MAY Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool 0151 291 1777; Nirupama & Rajendra’s Abhisaar The Capstone, Liverpool 0151 291 3949; Gods and Mortals Indian Dance Sunderland Minster 0191 561 3456; 12-14 MAY Crossover Bluegrass & Old-time Music Festival Clonter Opera Theatre, Congleton crossoverfest.com; 13 MAY Nirupama & Rajendra The Cornerstone, Liverpool FREE 0151 291 3949; Manran Sage Gateshead 0191 443 4661; Maarja Nuut Howard Assembly Room, Leeds 0844 848 2727; 13-14 MAY Góbéfest: Transylvanian Hungarian Arts Festival Albert Square, Manchester FREE gobefest.com

E3UK Live Punjabi Spectacular Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham 0844 338 8222; Urban Folk Quartet Alstonefield Village Hall, Peak District wegottickets.com; 27-30 APR Raunds Music Festival raundsfestival.com; 28 APR-1 MAY The Big Session Buxton buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/ the-big-session; 30 APR Swingamajig Festival Digbeth swingamajig.co.uk; Qalandar Festival mac, Birmingham macbirmingham.co.uk; 2 MAY Daniel Bachman + Jake Xerxes Fussell The Blue Moon, Cambridge wegottickets.com; 5-7 MAY Folk on the Pier Cromer folkonthepier.co.uk; 9 MAY Flamingods Norwich Arts Centre 01603 660352; 11 MAY Don Bikoff + David Youngs The Blue Moon, Cambridge wegottickets.com; Coope Boyes & Simpson Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek 01538 386112; Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin Derby Gaol 01335 360882; 13 MAY Eduardo Niebla Winteringham Village Hall, Scunthorpe 01724 735076.

SCOTLAND

NORTH 7 APR John Tams & Barry Coope The Met, Bury 0161 761 2216; Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars Howard Assembly Room, Leeds 0844 848 2727; Daoirí Farrell Roots Music Club, Doncaster 07939 148603; 8 APR Three Cane Whale The Witham, Barnard Castle 01833 631107; 9 APR She’Koyokh NCEM, York 01904 658338; 14-16 APR Sheffield Folk Sessions Festival sheffieldseshfest.org.uk; 15 APR John Tams & Barry Coope Village Hall, Mottram St Andrew 07904 072190; 20 APR Antonio Forcione The Doghouse Jazz Bar, Ramsbottom 07715 572304; Yogesh Samsi The Tetley, Leeds 0113 244 5523; 21 APR Antonio Forcione NCEM, York 01904 658338; 21-23 APR Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering northumbriana.org.uk/gathering; 22 APR Vaisakhi Celebrations Gateshead Civic Centre gemarts.org; AfroCubism Revisited Howard Assembly Room, Leeds 0844 848 2727; Hans Raj Hans + Rafaqat Ali Khan + Hamid Ali Naqeebi Alhambra Theatre, Bradford 01274 432000; 28-30 APR Todmorden Folk Festival todfolkfest.co.uk; 28 APR-1 MAY Scandimoot Scandinavian Weekend Clapham and Settle scandimoot.org.uk; 28 APR-1 MAY Wath Festival Wath-upon-Dearne wathfestival.org.uk; 29 APR Tarun Bhattacharya, Ronu Majumdar & Kousic Sen The Capstone, Liverpool FREE 0151 291

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ON TOUR

Jon Boden Solo tour for Bellowhead’s former frontman

Ten years since the release of his solo album Painted Lady, former Bellowhead singer Jon Boden will celebrate with a reissue and tour of the record this May. Boden has become a stand-out folk performer in his own right, maintaining a commitment to social singing throughout his music. His writing is graphic, expressive and marshals an instrumental arsenal; Painted Lady boasted Moog, drum machine and electric piano as well as concertina, fiddle and banjo. Boden has also just finished writing a new album, due for release later this year, so expect to hear some new songs. He’s also taken on the role of Guest Curator at this year’s Cambridge Folk Festival.

8 MAY Colchester Arts Centre 01206 500900; 9 MAY The Junction, Cambridge 01223 511511; 10 MAY Komedia, Brighton 0845 293 8480; 11 MAY Cheltenham Town Hall 0844 576 2210; 12 MAY Salisbury City Hall 01722 434434; 13 MAY The Anvil, Basingstoke 01256 844244; 14 MAY Town Hall, Birmingham 0121 780 3333; 15 MAY Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan 01239 621200; 16 MAY Pontardawe Arts Centre 01792 863722; 17 MAY Exeter Phoenix 01392 667080; 18 MAY Cecil Sharp House, London 020 7485 2206; 19 MAY St Edith Folk, Sevenoaks 07538 822115; 20 MAY The Y, Leicester 0116 255 7066; 21 MAY The Grand, Clitheroe 01200 421599.

3949; John Tams & Barry Coope Hepworth Live, Holmfirth 07845 921527; Shreya Ghoshal First Direct Arena, Leeds 0844 248 1585; 30 APR Tarun Bhattacharya, Ronu Majumdar & Kousic Sen Bridgewater Hall, Manchester 0161 907 9000; 5-6 MAY Big Whistle Festival Bury

themet.biz/bigwhistle; 5-7 MAY Holmfirth Festival of Folk holmfirthfestivaloffolk.co.uk; 6 MAY Srutti Suresan + Keertan Rehal Seven Arts, Leeds 0113 244 5523; 10 MAY Kate Rusby Charter Theatre, Preston 01772 804444; 11 MAY Kate Rusby Unity Works, Wakefield 01924

7-9 APR Glenfarg Folk Feast glenfargfolkclub.com; 14 APR Old Blind Dogs The Arc Sessions, Fochabers eventbrite.com; 15 APR Old Blind Dogs Tolbooth, Stirling 01786 274000; 22 APR Mairearad & Anna Inverurie Town Hall 01467 621610; 26 APR Connla Kilbarchan Performing Arts Centre 01505 706346; 26 APR-7 MAY TradFest Edinburgh tracscotland.org/ festivals; 27 APR Connla Kirkcaldy Acoustic Music Club 01592 653645; 27-30 APR Shetland Folk Festival shetlandfolkfestival.com; 28 APR RANT Tolbooth, Stirling 01786 274000; 4-7 MAY Moniaive Folk Festival moniaivefolkfestival.co.uk; 5 MAY She’Koyokh The Nomads Tent, Edinburgh 0131 662 1612; Manran Perth Concert Hall 01738 621031; 6 MAY She’Koyokh Letham Village Hall 01337 810372; 11 MAY John Doyle Crail Folk Club 01333 450572; 12 MAY John Doyle Stonehaven Folk Club 01569 764202.

IRELAND (REPUBLIC & NORTHERN)

28 APR-1 MAY Kilkenny Roots Festival kilkennyroots.com; 30 APR Maarja Nuut Bray Town Hall +353 (0)1 272 4030; 3-7 MAY Baltimore Fiddle Fair fiddlefair.com; 7 MAY Eli West Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo +353 (0)71 9161518; 10 MAY The Furrow Collective Duncairn Centre, Belfast 028 9074 7114; 11 MAY The Furrow Collective Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny +353 (0)74 912 9186; 12 MAY The Furrow Collective The Little Museum of Dublin +353 (0)1 6611000.

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ESSENTIAL

WORLD MUSIC DIVAS

Cover star Oumou Sangaré, Mali’s favourite diva (p26), joins an eclectic line-up of the world’s leading ladies.

Nigel Williamson chooses ten more female singers who are currently smashing the glass ceiling

01 Natacha Atlas Ana Hina (World Village, 2008)

Away from the fusion of Arabic pop and electronic beats with which she made her name, Natacha Atlas revealed herself as a multi-purpose, modern world music diva on this album with a mature set of classic Lebanese and Egyptian songs, as well as the folk song ‘Black is the Colour’ and the Latin-tinged ‘La Vida Callada’.

A Top of the World in #52.

02 Buika Niña de Fuego (Warner Music Spain, 2008)

Born on the Spanish island of Mallorca to parents from Equatorial Guinea, Concha Buika derived much of her childhood musical inspiration from Gypsies. By the time Niña de Fuego, her fourth album, was released, she was mixing flamenco with Spanish and Mexican ballads and a distinctive, emotional jazz-soul approach. A Top of the World in #53.

03 Lila Downs Balas y Chocolate (Sony Music, 2015)

Mexican-American singer Lila Downs hit her stride on Balas y Chocolate, her 11th and most recent album in a 20-year career. Blending traditional Latin rhythms with modern elements on songs that deal with treason, death, love and loss, Downs’ deliciously devilish shape-shifting voice effortlessly moves through the gears from operatic stylings to Manu Chao-style agitprop raps with total self assurance. A Top of the World in #112.

04 Angélique Kidjo Oyo (Proper Records, 2010)

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of the Benin-born singer, this set is perfect.

It mixes traditional African tunes, Miriam Makeba songs, covers of soul classics, Sidney Bechet’s ‘Petite Fleur’ and a song Kidjo co-wrote with the Brazilian guitarist Vinicius Cantuária.

A Top of the World in #66.

05 Kandia Kouyaté Renascence (Sterns Africa, 2015)

For decades regarded as the queen of Mali’s female griot singers, Kandia was known as ‘la dangereuse’ because of her intoxicating effect on audiences, but Renascence was only her third international release in her long career and her first since 2002, following a stroke that left her unable to speak. Her majestic voice fully restored, it is a magnificently defiant comeback. A Top of the World in #114.

06 Yasmin Levy Libertad (World Village, 2012)

The sixth album from the Israeli singer found her singing with dramatic but controlled passion and expanding her palette of Ladino songs to create a world fusion of her own, drawing on flamenco, tango and fado, plus Persian and Turkish songs that reflect her own Ottoman ancestry. The album also includes a fiery duet with fellow diva Buika. Reviewed in #88.

07 Mariza Mundo

(Warner Music Portugal, 2015) The finest Portuguese fado singer of her generation, Mariza returned in 2015 after a five-year hiatus with this triumphant album. Mundo found her delivering pop-fado fusions with an artistry that was breathtaking in its poise and command and with a greater expressive maturity than we had ever heard from her before. A Top of the World in #113.

08 Amira Medunjanin Damar (World Village, 2016)

The finest exponent of sevdah, the melancholic and emotional folk music of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Amira came to prominence singing with the Mostar Sevdah Reunion before embarking on a solo career that has seen her repeatedly dubbed the ‘Balkan Billie Holiday.’ Her most recent album saw her combining warmth and intimacy with theatricality and passion as only the greatest singers can. A Top of the World in #125.

09 Noura Mint Seymali Arbina (Glitterbeat, 2016)

A griotte from a celebrated Mauritanian musical family, Noura fuels her spirited desert-rock with a potent four-piece band led by husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly on electric guitar. But on this, her second international release, it’s the full-throated power of her exuberant voice that dominates, thrillingly mixing traditional Moorish roots and more avant-garde elements. It earned her a Songlines Music Awards nomination this year (see p24). A Top of the World in #122.

10 Tanya Tagaq Animism (Six Shooter Records, 2015)

Indigenous Inuit throat singing to abrasive electronic beats and nervy cinematic orchestrations, Tagaq won Canada’s Polaris prize with this extraordinary album. Ranging from the haunting to the orgiastic, her ghostly chants, guttural growls, gasps and moans make even her sometime collaborator Björk sound like a choir girl. Reviewed in #105.

+ LET US KNOW Have any other suggestions?

Get in touch, letters@songlines.co.uk

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Choose the right subscription for you  PRINT EDITION  DIGITAL EDITION  PREMIUM PACKAGE The Best Music from Around the World

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REVIEWS

Oumou Sangaré

“Songlines has been my Bible for world music, it’s always so attentive, so respectful and so truthful” Mariza

13/03/2017 11:40

A defiant voice for African women

TOP

OF THE WORLD

ISSUE 127

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+

SONGLINES MUSIC AWARDS This year’s nominees!

MUSIC FROM…

Lebanon, India, Poland, Iran, Free tracks Cambodia, Lithuania and more

RICARDO RIBEIRO

Questioning the conventions of Portuguese fado

THE BEST NEW RELEASES

+ STEWART LEVINE’S PLAYLIST Featuring Orchestra Baobab, Ibibio Sound Machine, Baluji Shrivastav, The Hot 8 Brass Band, Tamikrest, Franco et le TP OK Jazz, Cesaria Evora and more...

£5.95 ISSUE 127 MAY 2017 www.songlines.co.uk www.facebook.com/songlines

ZIMBABWEAN ALBUMS

ESSENTIAL

This issue’s cover stars Mokoomba (see p22) might be the latest bright young band from Zimbabwe, but before them there have been some truly legendary artists and releases. Nigel Williamson selects ten classic albums

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STWCD103 This compilation & © 2017 MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd info@songlines.co.uk, www.songlines.co.uk Executive producer Paul Geoghegan. Compiled and sequenced byJo Frost & Alexandra Petropoulos.

Design by Calvin McKenzie. Mastering by Good Imprint. CD pressing by Software Logistics Ltd. The producers of this CD have paid the composers and publishers for the use of their music.

01 Bhundu Boys The Shed Sessions (Sadza Records, 2001)

The high-energy dance rhythms of the Bhundus helped launch the world music boom of late 80s and put them on the cover of the NME as John Peel and Andy Kershaw gave them highprofile radio play. This two-disc, 29-track set features all of their life-affirming Zimbabwean recordings made between 1982-86, before AIDS took its toll on the group’s line-up.

African womanhood. The dozen songs shift effortlessly between English and Shona, underpinned by the entrancing rhythms of the mbira and backed by some of southern Africa’s finest musicians, including guitarist Louis Mhlanga. Reviewed in #55.

05 The Green Arrows 4-Track Recording Session (Analog Africa, 2004)

African rhythms and a dash of Latin and reggae, all given a shimmering, high-end Afropop production sheen by ex-Zap Mama bass player Manu Gallo. A Top of the World in #86.

08 Oliver Mtukudzi Tuku Music (Earthsongs, 1998)

Combining Shona pop, languid chimurenga guitars, jive, rumba, soul and traditional beats and singing in a softly soulful tenor, Oliver Mtukudzi is Mapfumo’s only rival as the biggest name in Zim music over a career lasting 40 years. This album is a career highlight, full of lilting tunes, wonderful harmonies and socially-conscious lyrics.

Rhodesia’s top bar band of the 70s were 02 Black Umfolosi rediscovered some 30 years later with this Unity reissue of 20 crucial tracks from their 1974(World Circuit, 1990) 1979 peak, which fuse African and Western rock influences. Chiming guitars, sparkling melodies and flat-out funk make it impossible 09 Netsayi not to move your feet to tracks featured here Chimurenga Soul such as ‘No Delay (Bullitt)’ and ‘Towering (Militant Prince Records, 2006) Inferno’. Reviewed in #44.

Like a Zimbabwean version 06 Thomas of Lauryn Hill or perhaps Mapfumo Marie Dulane (from Zap Mama), this is a The Chimurenga brilliant melange of soulful vocals, cuttingSingles 1976-80 edge beats, jazz grooves and African-rooted 03 Stella Chiweshe (Shanachie/Earthworks, 1989) rhythms. Netsayi now spends her time Talking Mbira: These are the songs that soundtracked the between Harare, London and New York, Spirits of Liberation liberation movement. Mapfumo’s chimurenga and why she hasn’t yet become a huge (Piranha, 2002) sound was built on the complex, interlocking international star is a mystery.

Now in her 70s, Chiweshe rhythms of the mbira and accompanied by 10 Various Artists was one of the first women to defy patriarchal lyrics that disguised insurrectionary messages Jit: The Movie convention by playing the mbira. The greatin Shona and Ndebele proverbs. Having (Earthworks, 1991) granddaughter of a Shona resistance fighter won the war by the time this collection was The soundtrack of a hanged by the British in the colonial era, this released, the Zimbabwean High Commission charming 1990 film about overlooked album is a classic, from her throaty in London proudly supplied the English a young African man trying to win the heart vocals to her mesmerising playing and the deep translations in the liner notes. of the most beautiful girl in his village is a storytelling of her songs. Reviewed in #14.

07 Mokoomba showcase for Zim guitar styles. The Bhundu Rising Tide 04 Chiwoniso Boys provide half of the dozen tracks here Rebel Woman (IglooMondo, 2012) and the rest come from Jonah Sithole (who (Cumbancha, 2008) The band’s second album played on some of Mapfumo’s hits) and The Chiwoniso Maraire died justifiably won them the New Black Eagles among others. tragically young in 2013 but Newcomer accolade in the Songlines Music her final album was a powerful testament Awards four years ago for its thrilling blend + LET US KNOW Have any other suggestions?

Get in touch, letters@songlines.co.uk to both the strength and tenderness of of funk and rap combined with traditional

The Shona sounds of the mbira (thumb piano) may dominate Zimbabwean music but it’s far from the only tradition. The Ndebele people of the south-west of the country share Zulu traditions and the joyous sound of the debut album by this eight-strong a capella vocal group loses nothing in comparison to the better-known Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Strata (Songprint Recordings) & © 2017 Songprint Recordings. Courtesy of Songprint Recordings

05 Siobhan Miller ‘Banks of Newfoundland’ (4:01)

An Anthology of Mongolian Khöömii (Buda Musique) & © 2016 Routes Nomades under exclusive licence to Buda Musique. Courtesy of Buda Musique

04 Khusugtun ‘Mongol’ (4:32)

Uyai (Merge Records) & © 2017 Merge Records. Courtesy of Merge Records

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03 Ibibio Sound Machine ‘Give Me a Reason’ (4:20)

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Los Hijos de la Montaña (Vacilando 68) & © 2017 Vacilando 68. Courtesy of Vacilando 68

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02 Los Hijos de la Montaña ‘Amor de Lejos’ (4:51)

Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng (World Circuit) & © 2017 World Circuit Ltd. Courtesy of World Circuit

01 Orchestra Baobab ‘Foulo’ (4:15)

Best of Baluji Shrivastav (ARC Music) & © 2016 ARC Music. Courtesy of ARC Music

10 Baluji Shrivastav ‘Journey to Sedna’ (4:44)

20sth (Choux de Bruxelles) & © 2017 Choux de Bruxelles. Courtesy of Choux de Bruxelles

09 Jaune Toujours ‘Réfugiés Sans Frontières’ (3:24)

On the Spot (Tru Thoughts) & © 2017 Tru Thoughts. Courtesy of Tru Thoughts

08 The Hot 8 Brass Band ‘Can’t Nobody Get Down’ (6:44)

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Mali in Oak (Globe Music) & © 2016 Globe Music & Shakespeare’s Globe Trading Ltd. Courtesy of Globe Music

07 Tunde Jegede & Derek Gripper ‘Where Rivers Meet’ (4:12) Kidal (Glitterbeat) & © 2017 Glitterbeat. Courtesy of Glitterbeat

06 Tamikrest ‘Mawarniha Tartit’ (3:42)

TOP OF THE WORLD SELECTION

Cesaria (Lusafrica) & © 1995 Lusafrica. Courtesy of Sony

15 Cesaria Evora ‘Petit Pays’ (3:50)

The Voice of Lightness (Sterns) & © 2007 Sterns. Courtesy of Sterns

14 Tabu Ley Rochereau ‘Kaful Mayay’ (7:49) Heart of the Congos (VP Records) & © 1977 VP Music Group Inc. Courtesy of VP Music Group Inc

13 The Congos ‘Fisherman’ (6:08)

Cineta (Forlane) & © 1992 Forlane. Courtesy of Disques Dom

12 Amoya ‘Nweti’ (4:19)

Francophonic Vol 1 1953-1980 (Sterns) & © 2008 Sterns. Courtesy of Sterns

11 Franco et le TP OK Jazz ‘AZDA’ (7:34) STEWART LEVINE’S PLAYLIST

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28/03/2017 10:24