Solo & Indrė - Solo & Indrė

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 114, January/February 2016.

Solo & Indrė
Solo & Indrė
One Root Music/Granvat (49 mins)

Cross-cultural kora and string collaborations have been rather in vogue for the last couple of years, and for good reason: they often yield wonderful (or at least interesting) results. The duo of Solo Cissokho and Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė is no different.

While Senegalese griot Solo brings his kora, Indrė brings the Lithuanian tradition with the kanklės, a plucked zither. The mix of Baltic and West African folk styles is an unlikely one, but the sound it creates is relaxing, thoughtful and oddly saddening, in the most beautiful way.

The two vocal traditions are very different, and so aren’t really blended here – rather, they sit beside each other, neither encroaching too far on the other. When the strings play together, however, the styles mix beautifully, with the different melodies and harmonies dancing around and between each other; it’s often hard to tell where one instrument ends and the other begins.

Maybe the album would benefit from having a few more Lithuanian-based pieces, but the tracks that are here still work together to make a great album. Hopefully this collaboration will continue to flourish into the future.

Fuck Guitars - Songlines Soapbox

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 113, December 2015.



A few pieces of wood, six strings and a handful of twiddly mechanical bits – put them together in the right order and you have an instrument that has arguably had a greater impact on music in the last 100 years than anything or anyone else.

Since the modern guitar came about in the mid-18th century, it has become the most widespread instrument in the world, being adapted to play almost every kind of music and acting as a catalyst for the development of new genres – from delta blues and reggae to flamenco and palm-wine – and of course many, many types of rock music.

2015 marks the 60th anniversary of the two guitars, bass and drums set-up, and that standard rock guitar band formula is going as strong as ever. In fact, it has become so ubiquitous that when the UK’s biggest music festival features headliner that doesn’t follow that format, more than 100,000 people will sign a petition of complaint.

It’s not hard to see how this global instrumental explosion came about – guitars are portable, they can be very cheap, it’s easy to learn the basics, and we almost all grew up listening to the guitar greats of the last century. Guitar culture is now well and truly ingrained.

Guitars are used in traditional and neo-traditional music almost everywhere, sometimes together with local instruments, sometimes replacing them – for example, Tuareg guitar bands are famous in our circles, but it’s very rare to hear a traditional tehardent or imzad. Closer to home, British folk clubs are now mostly the reserve of voice and guitar, with the wonderful array of folk instruments falling by the wayside. Well, I don’t like it. The guitar has been king for too long and it’s slowly wearing away at the world’s glorious diversity. I’m sure you all agree with me. But complaining won’t help. What we need is a plan.

Now, under my glorious leadership, I will propose a global guitar ban. I know, I know, it’s not going to be very popular, but it’s for your own good, got it? Not forever, let’s try it for 25 or 30 years and see where things end up. A guitar-free generation. Let’s make it acoustic, classical and electric guitars for now. Bass guitars would probably have to fall under the umbrella too. Non-standard guitars, including pedal steels, Mohan veenas and the like, are a bit of a grey area, and probably exempt, although further consultation would be required on this.

Guitar records are of course perfectly acceptable, it would be indecent to ban the legends; their influence deserves to live on. Hopefully, viewing the guitar oeuvre in retrospect will cause the best music and musicians to rise to the top, allowing us, as a people, to forget the most mundane output.

The idea is not to get rid of guitars because of some mean-spirited and petty gripe, it’s simply a means to an end. If all goes well, this could usher in a new dawn of musical creativity! People would no longer be shackled to the guitar and children would no longer grow up thinking that ‘musician’ means ‘guitarist’ – a world of instruments would open up to them, interest in a wider range of timbres would flourish, and with it an appreciation for more varied music.

Perhaps there would be a revival of older, less guitar-oriented styles. Folk and brass music would be reenergised in Britain. People would return to and reinvent the roots of what has become guitar music in many cultures. A cappella song would blossom all over the world. And as these other styles are rediscovered, so too a whole variety of older, dying or extinct instruments. The all-purpose guitar is out, let’s find more individual, unique and exciting instruments – there is such a wealth of sounds out there for former or would-be guitarists to embrace, so pick up something new and experiment! Bassists could switch to a double bass at a pinch, but why not opt for something more creative? How about using a guimbri, a bassoon or take the lead of Terem Quartet and take the contrabass balalaika to new heights?

With luck, by the time guitars are reintroduced, the musical landscape will have changed for good. Guitars will integrate themselves as an important but by no means necessary instrument in the newly and widely diverse scene. And then we’ll have, y’know, world peace.

As you can see, there would be absolutely no downsides to this plan. Well, maybe a few. All the experimentation will produce unexpected results, and these could be amazing! But on the other hand, we could see the guitar band replaced by spoken word recited over gamelan played entirely on electric accordions. Such is the nature of unpredictability.

Maybe guitars will just be replaced near-wholesale by another instrument – piano, perhaps – and the period of proscription would just be waited-out, the guitar and guitar music eventually continuing their global dominance for decades to come. It may even be worse: the (let’s face it) inevitable uprising and overthrow may well lead to a guitar revival, meaning even more ubiquity and homogeny.

So, do we reckon this is a good idea? Do the pros outweigh the cons? Will you join me in a global musical revolution against the tyranny of the guitar?! Well, for now, I guess we’ll have to let the UN decide…but watch this space!


Photo: Smashed Guitars, by Eva Rinaldi. Used under licence CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Umoza Music Project - Let Them Speak

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 113, December 2015.

The Umoza Music Project
Let Them Speak
Nub Country Records (41 mins)

18 musicians, separated by 18,000 km, record an album. The Umoza Music Project is a joint Malawian and British project, and many of the musicians haven’t even met in real life. Not that it shows in the music.

The first impression of this record is that of a sort of Afro-funk Beatles. The similarities are striking throughout: the guitar sounds at times as if played by a tribute George Harrison. In tracks such as ‘Upewe!’, the influence is so strong it’s distracting and it’s no surprise that when the last track comes, a sitar plays a prominent role. This track, ‘Malawi Parts I & II’, was the genesis track of the project, and is actually one of the highlights.

When not in Beatles mode, the group has a couple of reggae tracks. Their quality is fairly good, and they feel like the most honest pieces on the whole album: ‘Reggae Banta’ is probably the best track of the collection, featuring a great Chichewa-language rap.

There are moments where the group take a cheesy turn, but not offensively so. These moments can be ignored in the scope of the full album, which is fun and enjoyable…if not wholly original.

SK Kakraba - Songs of Paapieye

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 113, December 2015.

SK Kakraba
Songs of Paapieye
Awesome Tapes from Africa (33 mins)

SK Kakraba is Ghanaian, living in Los Angeles, and his instrument is the gyil. This pentatonic xylophone of the Lobi people gets its distinctive sound from the spider-web silks stretched over the sound-gourds. This creates a rasping sound and, sonically, it’s not an amazing leap to think of this as an acoustic equivalent of Konono No.1’s electric likembé. The aesthetic of the buzz is found all over the continent, especially in West Africa, but it’s becoming rarer as musicians and producers strive towards the cleanest sound possible. It’s great to hear the buzz celebrated on this album.

This is the very first original album by Awesome Tapes from Africa – unlike the label’s other releases, it is not a reissue of an African cassette, but was recorded especially for this release. Songs of Paapieye consists of six instrumentals, half an hour of solo gyil. It’s the perfect amount of time to be able to meditate on the instrument’s timbre and Kakraba’s mastery of skill.

Together, the layering of harmonics that the buzz allows and the cycles of slightly varying repetition create a hypnotising resonance that gets into your head and lets you to fall into it completely for the duration of the album.

Ramin Sadighi - WOMEX 15 Professional Excellence Award

First published in the WOMEX – World Music Expo 2015 delegate guide.



Within the world music scene, Iranian music is not unknown by any stretch. From the dastgāh music system of the classical realm, to the many folk styles and music from the country’s minorities, to international collaborations; and even, in the last few years, to Farsi hip-hop, metal and electronica: all have made their impact in the West. However, the international knowledge of Iran’s own music industry has in the past been minimal due to lack of exposure and contact. This is changing.

When WOMEX felt that the independent musical and cultural communities of Tehran, and Iran as a whole, deserved formal recognition, it was obvious who the most fitting representative and ambassador should be. In recognition of the growing and empowering nature of the international music business in Iran, the WOMEX 15 Professional Excellence Award is presented to Ramin Sadighi, founder of Hermes Records.

The list of Sadighi’s achievements is truly incredible. His name crops up in any discussion of music within Iran, and his work has led to many important milestones in Iranian music. Even before he set up Hermes Records, Sadighi was instrumental in creating the first legal way for Iranians to purchase music from the West, importing albums from distributors and record labels to sell through a chain of book shops in Tehran. In doing so, he created the first international music scene in post-revolution Iran. One of the most popular albums he imported during this time was Peter Gabriel’s Passion – the original soundtrack of Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ – which used influences from all over the world. With this, his eyes were opened to the potential of ‘world music’ within the Iranian market.

Sadighi founded Hermes Records in 1999, its mission statement to promote Iranian music on a global scale. What style this music takes is generally irrelevant – high quality is the most important aspect, and releases tend to focus on boundary-pushing and innovation in some way. Sadighi himself describes the label’s musical output simply as ‘Hermesian’, which is probably the best way to put it. They’ve carved out their own niche. As he personally targets music away from the Iranian mainstream (avoiding ‘standard’ classical and pop styles), Sadighi and his label have released albums by artists from all over the world. Their discography encompasses jazz, traditional and folk music, rock, the classical and art music of Iran, Europe and beyond and all manner of fusions. The quality of Hermes’ releases is obvious, and has been recognised with many awards including a Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album in 2006, the collaboration between Djivan Gasparyan and Hossein Alizadeh, Endless Vision: just one of the many ground-breaking collaborations, both artistic and professional, facilitated by Sadighi and Hermes Records.

In promoting music and in order to create a healthy music industry, it is also imperative to promote the artistic and personal wellbeing of musicians. In a time where music in Iran is tightly controlled by its Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Hermes Records and Sadighi himself are known within the country for standing up for musicians’ rights of expression and for their legal rights when faced with the copyright violation which blights Iran’s industry.

Using his wealth of knowledge, experience and influence, Ramin Sadighi has helped the Tehrani and Iranian scenes in many spheres beyond recorded music. He arranges and directs numerous concerts each year, by international artists in Tehran, and by Iranian artists abroad. He was also instrumental in the set-up of Tehran’s Underground Music Competition, which really broke rock music to a wider audience in Iran.

A champion of music through the written word as well as his actions, he is a biographer of the country’s alternative and underground scenes, having written several in-depth but accessible articles on the history – both musical and political – of the Iran’s non-mainstream styles. Locally, he co-founded the monthly magazine Culture and Music and even released the first (and so far only) non-English edition of world music magazine Songlines, a Farsi edition released in 2006.

An innovator, enthusiast and passionate promoter, not only of forward-thinking alternative art music or world music, jazz and fusion, but of all music that deserves an audience, inside Iran and out, it is appropriate that in honouring the Iranian independent musical community, we at WOMEX present the Professional Excellence Award to this young godfather of the international scene in Iran.

And how does one create such a positive environment for music and musicians? For Ramin Sadighi, the key areas are simple: “friendship, devotion and belief that creative ideas have the priority over the financial matters”.

Photo: Ramin Sadighi receives the WOMEX 15 Professional Excellence Award, by Yannis Psathas.

Cheikh Lô - WOMEX 15 Artist Award

First published in the WOMEX – World Music Expo 2015 delegate guide.



A fine painting. A good book. A pint of Guinness. Some things can’t be rushed.

When Cheikh Lô releases an album, you know it hasn’t been rushed. Making his debut international album in 1996, he’s released five albums in 19 years – it’s usual to have to wait five years between his releases. He’s a perfectionist – it’s not unknown for him to scrap a fully-recorded album and start again if it doesn’t meet his standard. It’s perfection that has taken him around the world, for Cheikh Lô makes international music. Influences stream in from every corner, and find a comfortable Senegalese home in which to meld and recreate within Lô’s innovative sound. This internationalism is no surprise: it’s a pattern that echoes his life.

Born and raised in Burkina Faso, he learnt his trade playing music from Cuba and the Congo; when he moved to Senegal, the country of his parents’ birth, in his 20s, he was working with musicians from Côte d’Ivoire and France, connections that eventually led to him moving to Paris in the late 1980s.

As Lô’s rough-yet-beautiful voice gained him international recognition, it was only natural that his broad musical horizons presented themselves accordingly. By the time of his 2005 album, Lamp Fall, he was making his recordings across three continents: the album was made up of sessions recorded in Brazil, Senegal and the UK. His music has always been rooted in mbalax – he’s at the height of the genre – but throughout his career, his music has bent and moulded around to embrace so many styles. Influences from Senegal are of course in abundance, with sabar drumming, Mouride chants and hints of géwél (griot) music, but from there his influences explode over the planet, taking in funk, soul, Afrobeat, rumba, soukous, makossa, reggae, samba, flamenco…

Over the years, he’s worked with many disparate artists, many of whom are at the very top of their fields. In his own records, he has welcomed contributions from such legends as Wassoulou songbird Oumou Sangaré, Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen and James Brown’s saxophonist of choice, Pee Wee Ellis. He’s also joined artists as a collaborator, contributing to works by Ojos de Brujo, Manu Dibango and Buena Vista stars Ruben González and Ibrahim Ferrer.

The musician that has arguably been most influential in his career, however, has been Youssou N’dour. While he was working as a session singer and drummer, Lô’s voice so awed the bandleader that when it came for Lô to record his first album for the world market, Né La Thiass (which was to be released on the now-legendary World Circuit Records, no less) N’dour jumped at the chance to produce it, as well as guesting on a few tracks himself.

It was also at Youssou N’dour’s personal recommendation that Cheikh Lô first graced the WOMEX stage. It was all the way back at WOMEX 97 in Marseille – only our third edition – and Lô was a rising star. He took to the stage as part of a supergroup of West Africans curated by N’dour, which also included stars Dimi Mint Abba from Mauritania and Guinean Doura Barry. In the WOMEX Guide that year, we were already talking of Lô ‘[making] headlines in Europe – and beyond’ by ‘grabbing the attention of adventurous lovers of international music and the interbreeding of its different styles’.

And he’s not stopped since. Lô stayed with World Circuit Records for 15 years and four albums, each one capturing his most individual sound yet constantly moving, evolving and refreshing – and, of course, achieving widespread critical acclaim along the way. His journey continues: after an amicable parting with World Circuit, he released his fifth album, Balbalou, on the French label Chapter Two Records earlier this year, including Lô’s usual slew of high-profile guests (this time including Brazilian songstress Flavia Coelho and Lebanese trumpet maestro Ibrahim Maalouf) and his own globetrotting compositions and spine-tingling voice.

Writers who have discussed Cheikh Lô often mention his striking looks – with long dreadlocks, patchwork robes and heavy leather jewellery, he’d certainly stand out in many crowds. But these aren’t aesthetic choices; rather, they are symbols of his Baye Fall faith. The Baye Fall are a branch of the particularly Senegalese Sufi Muslim brotherhood of the Mourides. They are a group that moves away from many traditionally ‘Islamic’ codes of practice: they worship saints, are not necessarily obliged to go to Mecca or mosque, or even to pray – they instead place their emphasis on work as prayer, and music is just as important. They work hard during the day and sing and dance their prayers at night.

Many of Cheikh Lô’s songs focus on his status and beliefs as a Baye Fall, as a Sufi, and as a Muslim. He sings praises to the saints Ibra Fall (founder of the Baye Fall movement) and Amadou Bamba, and to his own marabout (spiritual guide) Massamba N’Diaye. He has even recorded several Sufi zikr (remembrance) songs. It is one of Lô’s greatest achievements that, through his music, he has introduced knowledge of the Baye Fall around the world, international exposure, recognition and understanding of the brotherhood.

As a legend both in Senegal and across the world, for his constant and consistent innovation, for bringing the Baye Fall into wider knowledge, and, above all, his dedication to long-term musical excellence in mbalax through the embrace of all music, the WOMEX Artist Award is only fitting for this world music giant. Cheikh Lô may be in no rush, yet he refuses to slow down.

Photo: Cheikh Lô live at WOMEX 15, by Yannis Psathas.

Saba Anglana - Ye Katama Hod (The Belly of the City)

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 112, November 2015.

Saba Anglana
Ye Katama Hod (The Belly of the City)
Felmay Records (37 mins)

Born in Somalia to Ethiopian and Italian parents, and now based in Italy herself, vocalist Saba Anglana found inspiration for this album in Addis Ababa. Anglana’s musical ties with all three countries are strong, and can be heard clearly across this album. She expresses her songs in Somali, Amharic and English as her versatile voice soars confidently through the styles of her heritage, although the distinctive sounds of Ethiopian scales and rhythms seem to stand out most often.

The instrumental aspect here is also inspired: it’s a small group – Anglana is mostly backed by a trio with occasional guests – but the musicianship is superb, often sounding like a much bigger ensemble. Fabio Barovero’s accordion, especially, does a great job of bringing together the East African and southern European styles, sometimes filling the space of an Ethiojazz organ or an Italian folk organetto – even bringing hints of zydeco into the mix, as in the album’s highlight, the Somali-language ‘Ma Celin Karo’.

Ya Katama Hod serves to meditate upon and recreate the soundtrack of the big cities – particularly Addis Ababa and Mogadishu, and Saba Anglana’s voice allows us to swoop above and creep between the streets in this wonderful album.