Essential 10: South Asian Jazz

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 149, July 2019.

Debashish Bhattacharya
Beyond the Ragasphere (Riverboat Records, 2013)
By 2013, Debashish Bhattacharya was already known as a master of the Hindustani classical slide guitar, but with Beyond the Ragasphere, he takes the opportunity to spread his wings. Here, Bhattacharya experiments with flamenco, country and Hawaiian music, but the album is at its best during its frequent excursions into full-on cosmic prog-jazz. Highlights include ‘Kirwani One.5+8.Five’ and the 16-minute odyssey ‘A Mystical Morning’, featuring sampled beats and John McLaughlin on electric guitar.

Soumik Datta & Bernhard Schimpelsberger
Circle of Sound (Baithak, 2012)
Circle of Sound is a close collaboration between British sarod player Soumik Datta and Austrian percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger in which less is used to create more: a wildly experimental record playing with many layers of reverb, echo and other effects to create huge soundscapes through and in between the cues from Indian classical and jazz traditions. An intense and cerebral listen.

Jan Garbarek & Fateh Ali Khan
Ragas and Sagas (ECM Records, 1992)
Fateh Ali Khan was one of the foremost performers of khyal in Pakistan before his death in 2017. On this recording for the renowned ECM Records, Khan and his group – including sarangi, harmonium and tabla – are joined by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek. Garbarek’s contributions are subtle and well-placed, slotting into the light classical idiom and bringing his own sound without imposing or taking anything away from the musical freedom of his hosts.

Arun Ghosh
Northern Namaste (Camoci Records, 2008)
Kolkata-born and Manchester-raised, Arun Ghosh uses his clarinet to explore his identity as a modern British Asian. Northern Namaste is a powerful opening statement as Ghosh’s debut album with some of the most promising young jazz musicians of the time including Corey Mwamba on vibraphone and Idris Rahman on tenor sax. The track ‘Longsight Lagoon’ especially provides a great introduction to Ghosh’s atmospheric and often cinematic sound.

Zakir Hussain / Hariprasad Chaurasia / John McLaughlin / Jan Garbarek
Making Music (ECM Records, 1987)
A truly legendary meeting between four of the greatest in their fields, led by Zakir Hussain on tabla and introducing his long-time musical partners in the acoustic guitar of John McLaughlin, saxophones of Jan Garbarek and the elegantly swooping bansuri flute of Hariprasad Chaurasia. Making Music set a high bar for future collaboration in the sphere of East-meets-West fusion.

Vijay Iyer
Tirtha (ACT Music, 2008)
Vijay Iyer is a true star of contemporary jazz. An American pianist of Tamil descent, his work has encompassed everything from hip-hop to electronica to contemporary classical. Tirtha, Iyer’s 13th album as bandleader, was created alongside Carnatic electric guitarist Prasanna and tabla player Nitin Mitta and explores all three musicians’ connections between jazz, classical and folk styles across continents in a masterwork of non-contrivance.

Red Baraat
Chaal Baby (Sinj Records, 2010)
Jazz takes many forms, and so, of course, does its South Asian offspring. Red Baraat, led by dhol drummer Sunny Jain, mix up some of the world’s most potent party music into one. It’s bhangra and Bollywood as played by a New Orleans brass band, full of funk and with a signature New York flair. Jazz isn’t just something to scratch a beard to; Red Baraat prove it’s also for dancing your head off.

Sarathy Korwar and UPAJ Collective
My East is Your West (Gearbox Records, 2018)
Recorded live at London’s Church of Sound after just 45 minutes of rehearsal, this double album sees drummer Korwar and his cross-cultural ten-piece UPAJ Collective take on the spiritual jazz of the likes of Alice Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders – who were inspired by Indian music in their own styles. The result is a sophisticated set that isn’t afraid to let loose, go wild and push boundaries.

Lokkhi Terra
Che Guava’s Rickshaw Diaries (Funkiwala Records, 2012)
Each track on this album is based on a Bengali song (mostly folk songs, occasionally cinema hits), which is taken on a wide-ranging journey of globetrotting jazz. Lokkhi Terra’s Bangladeshi-born pianist and artistic director, Kishon Khan, studied under some of the greatest Afro-Cuban musicians and has collaborated widely, so it’s no surprise that the band’s sound encapsulates son, rumba, jazz, reggae, Afrobeat and funk.

Shakti
Best of Shakti (Moment Records, 1994)
Shakti was probably the earliest successful experiment in combining jazz and South Asian music on equal terms, and also brought together the region’s two big classical styles of North Indian Hindustani music and South Indian Karnatic music. Made up of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, violinist L. Shankar, ghatam (clay pot) master Vikku Vinayakram and (it’s him again) jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, Shakti only recorded three albums but their impact on the worlds of jazz and fusion music is still felt today.

Reclaiming a Lost Culture That Lives on in Memories

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 149, July 2019.



All across the world, the spectre of colonialism and racism has never stopped casting its long and oppressive shadow. It shows itself in modern-day economics, politics, language and religion; it also affects cultural life and infiltrates itself into the communal memories of the people. An exhibition due to open at SOAS, University of London, in July explores these notions and helps people to reclaim the culture that was denied them. Entitled Stolen Moments – Namibian Music History Untold (1950s-80s), the exhibition focuses on the pop music of Namibia under apartheid rule, through the eyes and ears of the musicians and the listening public.

The project was conceived after documentarian Thorsten Schütte stumbling upon a never-released record by Ben Molatzi in the archives of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation that sounded like nothing coming out of the country today. After connecting with scholar Aino Moongo and broadcaster Baby Doeseb, the trio dug up similar recordings as well as hundreds of photographs documenting this era when of musical life had been forbidden or persecuted. “We thought, the materials are so colourful and so rich, let’s share it with the local public,” says Schutte, “let’s see how far we can go.”

After placing a request for more information in national newspapers, they received over 1000 phone calls, eventually collecting hundreds of hours of interviews with people of all generations – the oldest interviewee was 106 years old. “We went there to talk about pop and how popular music was established in Namibia, and what we found was how strongly it was connected to the lives and times of the people.”

The exhibition has previously garnered acclaim during spells in Germany and Switzerland, and is raising funds to allow it to be permanently – and publicly – housed in the Namibian capital of Windheok; the digitised materials have already been shared with the national archive.

Dr Angela Impey of the music department at SOAS says “I am thrilled to be hosting this important exhibition at SOAS. Its focus speaks to SOAS Music's priority to engage with marginalised people and to better understand how music is used to define and defend interests. Stolen Moments offers a unique insight into the sounds and stories of remarkably resilient people.” A programme of events will take place alongside the exhibition, including panel discussions on the role of culture inside and outside Namibia at that time, and guided tours by Moongo and Schütte.

The importance of the exhibition and its aim of reviving hidden music and memories is summed up by Moongo: “this beautiful music exists with a liveliness as if it had never stopped playing. You only have to dig for it. It is still there in the minds of the few who can remember, it is still there with the ones who played it and it is still there on those rare recordings that have survived in archives and record collections scattered all around the globe.”


Photo: Namibian worshippers record the sermon of an evangelist onto tape from boom boxes, by John Liebenberg.

Various Artists - London to Addis

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 149, July 2019.

Various Artists
London to Addis
No Hats No Hoods Records (61 mins/87 mins via Bandcamp)

This is a simple idea with a great pay-off: record traditional Ethiopian krar (five-stringed lyre), washint (wooden flute), masenko (one-stringed fiddle) and kebero (drums) during one intense week in Addis Ababa, hand those recordings over to a load of big-name grime producers and let them go nuts.

The resulting instrumentals use the samples as springboards for so many different directions. Some tracks retain quite a lot of recognisably Ethiopian qualities, whereas others sound almost completely unrelated. Considering that each track has its own producer with their own way of approaching the material, the whole thing holds together really well as an hour-long set.

The mix of the grime electronics with the unique Ethiopian scales and rhythms actually ends up sounding akin to dark, apocalyptic dubstep. It’s really exciting to hear these pioneers of a distinctly London-rooted genre take on something so far removed and coming up with interesting, unexpected results – a great example is Ignorants’ ‘Uncolonised’, supposedly the very first grime track in 3/4 time.

London to Addis is the first of a whole series of British Council-funded Ethio-grime collaborations, and I can’t wait to hear what else is to come; it would be brilliant to hear MCs get their lips around some of the instrumentals presented here.

Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas & Uhuru Yenzu - Hitsville Re-Visited

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 149, July 2019.

Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas & Uhuru Yenzu
Hitsville Re-Visited
Mr Bongo (28 mins)

The cavalcade of 70s and 80s African album reissues shows no signs of slowing. This one, originally released in 1982, is the work of two pioneers of Ghanaian music, guitarist Ebo Taylor and singer Pat Thomas. It wasn’t the first time they’d worked together; by the time this album came about, they’d already made several albums together which really solidified the genre of highlife funk, a harder-hitting, often minor key take on the lighter highlife style.

Hitsville Re-Visited isn’t that, though. Here, together with Taylor’s band Uhuru Yenzu, they go back to an earlier style from the beginnings of highlife. As such, there’s much less funk and disco here. In fact, the overriding sound that jumps out is that of classic calypso, topped with Thomas’s easy vocals and Taylor’s palmwine-style guitar. A particular highlight throughout are the solos from saxophonists George Amissah and George Abunyewa, who inject an element Caribbean-inspired jazz à la Sonny Rollins’ ‘St Thomas’.

The end result is feel-good and fun but not mind-blowing, and only four tracks leave us with less than half an hour of music. A pleasant listen, but perhaps best as a short diversion among the rest of these artists’ funkier back catalogues.

Boomtown 2019: Five Ones to Watch

Boomtown is a festival that I’ve had my eye on for quite a few years. Its reputation is immense, and so, by all accounts, is its personality. The whole thing is a giant performance art piece with a narrative that slowly reveals and trundles along year after year, with so many plots and subplots playing out in what has grown to be a city of music. Like any city, there are loads of districts in Boomtown (up to 14 this year), each with their own character, architecture and culture = and each with their own set of stages. There’s over 25 main stage and 80 smaller ‘street venues,’ all with their own programmes – that means there’s a LOT of music, of all sorts of styles.

And excitement – I get to go this year for the very first time! This year, it’s held over 7-11 August. The line-up looks amazing – as it does every year – and, yes, it’s absolutely humongous. So in my excitement, I thought I’d give you a run-down of just five artists that I cannot wait to catch there…now I’ve just got to hope that none of them clash!

Ozomatli feat. Chali 2na
Ozomatli are basically a globetrotting party. I’ve seen them live a handful of times now and every time they have absolutely blown me away – they’re still some of my favourite live shows to date. Their mix of hip-hop, rock, tropical pop and all sorts of Latin music from son to cumbia to samba to norteño and more is just so infectious, their shows turn into a joyful riot, it’s absolutely amazing. Even better: they’ve now reunited with Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 and an original Ozo band member – he’s got one of the most recognisable voices in hip-hop and his thoughtful lyrics and supreme flow put him, for me, right up there with the greatest rappers. I can’t wait to see them perform together.

Prophets of Rage
Okay, I’ve never actually heard any recordings of this group, but their pedigree is unreal. They’re a supergroup featuring members from Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. Do I really have to say more? Yes yes, I know supergroups usually come out as less than the sum of their parts, but I’m willing to risk it. Come on: Chuck D and B-Real battling it out between funk-metal solos from Tom Morello – inject it directly into my veins.

BCUC
BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) are a group from Soweto that combine all the music of their neighbourhood, from traditional dance styles, church music and beerhouse songs to hip-hop, soul and rock. The group have been getting so much hype over the past 12 months, and I’ve got friends who are absolutely mad about them, saying they’re the greatest live group around right now. I saw them myself at WOMAD last year, and the crowd went nuts; thing is, their forever-looping riffs and heavy beats didn’t strike me at all, and I left, bored, after about 10 or 15 minutes. But the hype train has continued, so I fully admit I’m the one in the wrong – I’m looking forward to seeing them again in August to give them (and me) another chance.

Nubya Garcia
The UK jazz scene has been booming in the last decade, and saxophonist Nubya Garcia has been one of its leading lights. Her music brings in modal and spiritual jazz in the Coltrane way together with the contemporary styles being fermented in places such as Trinity Laban and Berklee as well as hip-hop, soul and electronica. I’ve never seen her show before, and festivals are all about new experiences – I reckon Nubya Garcia is one I can bank on to be a winner.

Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip
Would it really be a festival season without Mik Artistik? The loony Leedsman* has been a staple on the festival circuit for many years and he’s the perfect act for when you’re quite drunk, quite muddy and just a little disorientated. He’s absolutely bananas, he’s hilarious but he’s also touchingly earnest when he wants to be, all while making music behind his trusty little Yamaha keyboard. The man is a legend, and if you’ve never heard or seen him before, you owe it to yourself to go and experience this true institution of British festivals.



…and then there’s so many others. Gogol Bordello, General Levy, San Salvador, Bassekou Kouyate, Napalm Death, DJ Yoda, Asian Dub Foundation, The Streets, Skream and the man behind it all AAA Badboy…there is so much great music happening everywhere that it seems pretty much impossible not to see some amazing and unexpected artists wherever the current takes you. And really, what I’m most looking forward to is that atmosphere, and diving into the huge, deep and bonkers world that is created at Boomtown every year. Basically, I can’t wait! So if you’re heading over, I’ll hopefully see you there, and either way I’m sure you’ll hear about my exploits on here sooner or later.


*Okay, I just looked it up and the actually demonym for someone from Leeds is a Leodensian, which is awesome but also completely impenetrable, so I’m leaving it as Leedsman, and all of you Yorkishers are just going to have to deal with it.

Maghreb Bass: Sofyann ben Youssef

First published in fRoots issue 425, Summer 2019



“We allow ourselves to create this dream space where we fantasise about the future. That is because our respective countries are witnessing very strong changes, politically, economically, geo-politically. In those places we feel a sense of responsibility to be proactive toward a future. The present we don’t like at all and we have to fucking change it.”

In talking about the process behind his solo-with-collaborators project AMMAR 808, Sofyann ben Youssef gives a succinct manifesto for a Maghrebi futurist movement, and the philosophy that permeates his music regardless of its musical direction. Whether he’s behind the synth, behind the mixing desk or behind the scenes, there is no doubt that Sofyann is changing the future of Tunisian music.

Tunis-born and Brussels-based, Sofyann has been crucial to three of the most banging projects to explode out of North Africa in the past five years: Nigerien Tuareg rockers Kel Assouf, Tunisian mountain musicians Bargou 08 and the aforementioned AMMAR 808. His masterful synth wrangling, drum programming and holistic production wizardry have instilled these projects with a heart-pounding energy and a deliciously dark undercurrent while taking nothing at all away from the traditions at play. When Sofyann is involved, multiple musical worlds come together with mutual enrichment.

In his time, Sofyann has studied everything from Western, Arabic and Hindustani classical music to jazz, metal and all manner of electronica. It’s all beloved to him and it’s all there in his work, and it’s as AMMAR 808 that he allows his musical philosophies and practices to be most easily heard – and seen. The first album under that name, 2018’s Maghreb United, saw him joined by musicians from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, all bringing their own influences to play among Sofyann’s ever-sympathetic production to create a style that he calls ‘Maghreb bass.’

His way of working is at once that of a mechanic and that of an artist. He spends a long time learning about every musical element involved, and breaks them down into their most basic constituent parts before building them up into a different form. Where so many ‘world fusion’ projects collide different cultures together to mixed success, Sofyann brings them together from the same foundations into one, new culture. And once that material is prepared, he becomes the sculptor. “Once the song is recorded, the most exciting part kicks in, which is placing new elements on the rhythm, and that’s going to change everything. It’s a superfast process. Sometimes it takes ten minutes to make a song, sometimes I do it while listening to it and that’s it. And that’s super intense. You get all sweaty and you’re scared to lose that momentum. That’s the most intense part, and the rest is just fine tuning.”

The end result is a hypnotic soundscape that stretches from the dusty ground to outer space. Science fiction is an important cultural touchstone for Sofyann, so it’s not too surprising that his outlook – musically and politically – tends towards the intergalactic and the cinematic. His solo project AMMAR 808 is as much for the eyes as it is the ears.

“I wanna present things that are useful to the world, and beautiful, and also that could have impact and inspire people to a different way of thinking,” he explains. “I think today we live in a very visual world, and the bandwidth of an image is much higher than a sound. You see a lot of information in an image that sound sometimes cannot cover. It’s complementary; that is why AMMAR 808 as a project is very visual. We shot original material for the show. I did a residency of one week or so with visual artists, a fashion designer, actors, dancers, to create the filmic material of the project. I wanted to do some sort of holistic experience with this project and find the best way to express it and articulate it on the stage.” The outcome, as engineered by VJs during the AMMAR 808 live shows, is an ever-changing collage of film and images equally inspired by the traditional and the abstract, full of masked dancers, ecstatic swirls and distorted colour. The whole thing feels actually rather disorientating and unnerving. The atmosphere created by the visuals generates the perfect mindset to allow the audience to fall into the music head first.

The all-encompassing fusion of musical styles, emotions and worldwide traditions is making waves back in North Africa, as well as in the European/North American ‘world music’ scene. With his musical projects, Sofyann is challenging and changing the way that Maghrebis discuss and imagine music: “I get super positive reactions there, but to process the information, people always feel obliged to make some sort of comparison to western bands. ‘Yo, this is like the Chemical Brothers of Tunisia!’ things like that. It’s kind of interesting really. There is a missing vocabulary to grasp the project.” In this way, his work is changing not just Maghrebi music itself, but also fertilising the ground upon which it grows, opening up new possibilities and directions for potential exploration while still empowering the roots and traditions from which the rest are built. That development is also taking place thanks to Sofyann’s activities in Tunisia’s home-grown music industry.

Mass upheaval has affected every level of Maghrebi society over the past decade, and the musical ecosystem reflects this, but Sofyann sees this as an opportunity for optimism: “To be honest the music scene in Tunisia is not too structured and not too organised, but that makes a lot of things possible to happen. In Europe, for instance, things are super-organised on that level, but we have the chance to rethink the whole system. So I hope that at least in the Maghreb and the region that I know that changes like that can happen.” Naturally, he’s leading the charge.

In 2013, he co-founded the first Tunisian music export office, Tumex. That came a little early; the scene wasn’t quite ready to export to an international audience, and political instability meant that funding streams eventually dried up. Tumex closed after three years, but it started to lay the groundwork and began to get Tunisia’s local scene noticed on the international market. It’s only been a few years, but a lot has changed since then, and Sofyann is once again making moves to evolve the landscape. This year, he launches Goul Music, a record label “based in Tunisia, from Tunisia, and with Tunisian dinar.” With Goul Music, the aim is to showcase the music of now, introducing the lesser-known sounds of Tunisia to the rest of the country itself, as well as the rest of the world. The label launches with a series of field recordings of contemporary folkloric music, and will move onward to younger traditions, with the view to change opinions of Tunisian music: “the catalogue will be more about stimulating young people into new ways of seeing music and themselves.” And here again we see Sofyann’s holistic approach: great music on its own can touch a person, but its impact is all the more powerful when contextualised in an effective way – as such, the Goul releases will be comprehensive and multimedia, featuring interviews and documentary footage to allow a depth of understanding that has so far been lacking in relationship to this music.

I hope that it is not too obvious to say that he is a busy man. Busy is never in his plans, but it seems to creep up on him nevertheless. “The thing that can fail sometimes is time. I don’t want to do much, but I want to do good. But I always end up doing much as well!” And looking at his schedule for the coming few years, he is definitely doing much. As well as the forthcoming releases on Goul Music, the latest album by Kel Assouf, Black Tenere, came out just last month, and the second AMMAR 808 album is very much in the works – he hints at a South Asian focus this time around. And that’s not to mention the five or so other albums that he will be producing or guesting on over the course of 2019. It seems his work is only just beginning.

With everything that he does, it is clear that Sofyann ben Youssef is working towards the future of Maghrebi music and, with that, society at large. “We have all sorts of events happening in Tunisia, on a political level, on an economic level, it’s not easy. But it’s hopeful. And I think that has an impact on music. It has a positive impact in a way that people are trying to reinvent themselves. It’s always like that after big changes, you see different possibilities.”


Photo: AMMAR 808, by Sia Rosenberg; Sofyann ben Youssef, by Stine Sampers.

UK Festival Guide 2019

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 148, June 2019. Copy deadline 15 April 2019.



May 10-26
Norfolk & Norwich Festival
Various locations, Norfolk
www.nnfestival.org.uk
248 and nowhere near out
As the Norfolk & Norwich Festival edges its way towards the quarter-millennium mark, you just know that it must be doing something right. As an all-around arts festival, you’re as likely to see book talks and circus performances as you are theatre shows and films, and music is of course a huge part of it. Songlines readers are most likely to get excited at the prospect of performances by artists such as Afriquoi and Liniker e os Caramelows, plus the recently reformed Las Maravillas de Mali and father-daughter duos Eliza and Martin Carthy, and Anandi and Debashish Bhattacharya.

May 23-26
Knockengorroch World Ceilidh
Knockengorroch, Dumfries and Galloway
www.knockengorroch.org.uk
You can’t Knock it
Every year, some of the world’s most accomplished musicians head to the hills of south-west Scotland for a righteous celebration of people, culture and the Knockengorroch’s beautiful surroundings. Joining the party this year are poet of the people Benjamin Zephaniah with reggae band The Revolutionary Minds, the spectacular Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers, Haitian voodoo blues priestess Moonlight Benjamin and Basque folk band Korrontzi. The theme for this year’s festival is ‘at the end of the rainbow’: open your mind and body to love, hope, diversity and unity, and maybe even a bit of magic…

May 23-26
Orkney Folk Festival
Various locations, Orkney
www.orkneyfolkfestival.com
Islands of sound
There’s something thrilling about island-based festivals, and the Orkney Folk Festival is no exception, as Orkney becomes flooded with the best traditional music from Scotland and beyond. The line-up includes famed folkies such as Julie Fowlis and Cara Dillon, young stars-in-waiting such as Ryan Young & Jenn Butterworth and Lyra, and the occasionally unexpected artist such as the UK’s premier son Cubano group, Son Yambu. The festival is especially known for its many pub sessions, open mics and sing-a-rounds, for everyone to join in the folky fun.

May 24-26
Góbé Fest
Albert Square, Manchester
www.gobefest.com
From Transylvania to Manchester, it’s time to party like a Hungarian
The UK is home to people of all nations, as well as many communities of minority cultures who take strong pride in expressing their traditions. One of these groups is the Székler – ethnic Hungarians from the region of Transylvania in Romania – and a festival celebrating their heritage, Góbé Fest, is fast becoming one of the most important in Manchester’s calendar. The festival focuses mostly on zene és tánc (that is, music and dance) of all sorts, from Székler folkloric group Maros Ensemble and zither innovator Krajcsó Bence to the Romanian Celtic punk band The Selfish Murphy and Balkan ska group Laszlo Baby.

June 22-23
Africa Oyé
Sefton Park, Liverpool, Merseyside
www.africaoye.com
Africans and Scousers – the perfect mix
Returning for its 27th year, Africa Oyé is a true Liverpool institution. For two days in midsummer, the festival brings the best in music and food from all across Africa and the African-influenced Americas with a uniquely Scouse joie de vivre; it’s not summer without Africa Oyé. And even better: entrance is completely free, giving everything a real community atmosphere. At the time of writing, Oyé only has a handful of artists, but those names are already enough to get you dancing in anticipation, with groups such as BCUC (South Africa), Sofiane Saidi & Mazalda (Algeria) and Oshun (USA) on the bill.

June 26-30
Glastonbury
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset
www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk
It’s big, it’s back and it’s bonkers
To call Glastonbury ‘the big one’ is still somehow underselling it. This festival is huge and rightly known around the world as an international centre of amazing music of almost literally every genre – whatever your niche musical taste, there’s a good chance you will be able to enjoy it at Glastonbury. Although the festival’s world music line-up is a little under-represented in the first announcement (confirmed names include Fatoumata Diawara, BCUC and Sons of Kemet), you can be sure that there will be many, many more exciting names to come.

July 2-14
Flamenco Festival London
Sadler’s Wells, London
www.flamencofestival.org
The flamenco passion warms up summer
Based in New York, Flamenco Festival has held editions in more than 100 cities around the world, and it has been an important part of London’s cultural scene for more than 15 years. The festival is focused on all things flamenco, from the traditional music and dance to explorations of the style with classical music, jazz and more. An especially intriguing prospect comes in the form of the Amir ElSaffar ensemble, who mix flamenco with Iraqi maqam. Previously held in February, the festival will heat up Sadler’s Wells in July for the first time in 2019.

July 12-14
Tropical Pressure
Mount Pleasant Eco Park, Porthtowan, Cornwall
www.tropicalpressure.co.uk
Pressure never felt this good
Set on an idyllic farm in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, just a short walk from the beach, there may be no more relaxing location to dance your socks off than at Tropical Pressure. During the day, live music from across Africa, South America and the Caribbean gets you in the tropical mindset, before the late-night zones open for continued partying in UFO clubs, cocktail bars and silent discos, or perhaps for extended chill-out sessions around the campfire.



July 14
Folk by the Oak
Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire
www.folkbytheoak.com
A grand day out
One day, two stages, and just a whole load of great music. Folk by the Oak is only 20-something miles out of London, but it might as well be on the other side of the world. Set in the grounds of Hatfield House, this festival has the vibe of a village fayre but with world-class musicians instead of dodgy amateur choirs. One of the highlights is sure to be the specially commissioned musical companion to the The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, featuring artists such as Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita and Rachel Newton.

July 17-20
HebCelt
Stornoway, Isle of Lewis
www.hebceltfest.com
Celtic folk celebration
HebCelt shines a light on all things Celtic, and its line-up is heavy with folk-slanted acts from the Hebrides, Scotland and further afield. The main bulk of the festival takes place in the stunning arena, looking down from Stornoway’s castle onto the harbour, but there are also programmes in venues across the town and the Isle. Don’t forget the late-night ceilidhs, pub sessions and club nights that take place throughout the festival to keep the Celtic vibes going on well into the next day.

July 18-21
Larmer Tree Festival
Larmer Tree Gardens, Wiltshire
www.larmertreefestival.co.uk
Party with the peacocks and move with the macaws
Set among the lawns and woods of the Larmer Tree Gardens, with a Victorian-era stage and smatterings of peacocks and macaws, Larmer Tree Festival is as well-known for its beautiful location as its music. Together they add up to an extremely agreeable weekend! The music on offer is a mix of folk, jazz, reggae and pop as well as plenty of internationally-inclined artists such as Melt Yourself Down, KOKOROKO and recent Songlines cover star Blick Bassy.

July 25-28
WOMAD
Charlton Park, Malmesbury, Wiltshire
www.womad.co.uk
The grand dame of world music festivals does it again
The World of Music, Arts and Dance is still probably the best place to experience the highest square-footage of the world’s culture in just one weekend. As usual, WOMAD presents a wonderful mix of both superstars (Salif Keita, Orbital, Ziggy Marley) and the little known: from the ancient traditions of South Asian surti music from Ustad Saami and the yidaki (didgeridoo) player Larry Gurruwiwi to the cutting edge sounds of ‘new rave from Kinshasa’ with Bantou Mentale and Korean future folk from Kim So Ra. Don’t forget to delve into some of the many workshops, talks, spoken-word sessions and cooking demonstrations.

August 1-4
Cambridge Folk Festival
Cherry Hinton Hall, Cambridge
www.cambridgelive.org.uk/folk-festival
Dispatches from the wide field of folk
Nowadays, the concept of ‘folk’ is a very broad church – something we very much approve of – and the Cambridge Folk Festival is one of the institutions that led to that transformation. In their 50-plus years of festivalling, the Cambridge line-ups have expanded to include deep traditions and cutting-edge innovations from around the world, while never abandoning the British roots music at its core. Exciting prospects this year include ‘From Bamako to Birmingham,’ a special collaboration between Amadou & Mariam and the Blind Boys of Alabama where Afropop meets gospel.

August 2-4
Underneath the Stars
Cinderhill Farm, Cawthorne, South Yorkshire
www.underthestarsfest.co.uk
Celestial music – there’s all sorts of stars here
For a festival run by Kate Rusby’s production company and just a stone’s throw from her hometown of Barnsley, it’s no surprise that Underneath the Stars has a focus on folk. Artists such as The Unthanks, Billy Bragg and Talisk are all near the top end of the bill, and names such as Le Vent du Nord from Québec and K.O.G. and the Zongo Brigade bring an international flavour to proceedings. With spectacular art installations around the site, artisan food and several indulgent glamping options, this festival is a feast for all the senses.

August 16-18
FolkEast
Glemham Hall, Suffolk
www.folkeast.co.uk
Full of eastern promise
Of their currently-announced 2019 line-up, FolkEast say ‘so far, so good.’ A bit of an understatement, that: the bill is headed by Richard Thomson, Cara Dillon, Sharon Shannon and Karine Polwart and carries on in that fashion all the way down – there’s folk royalty and up-and-coming talents for days (three, to be exact). FolkEast has the air of a fête to it, so as well as just music, expect many local contributions from Morris dancing to food stalls to real ale breweries.

August 22-25
Shambala
Secret location, Northamptonshire
www.shambalafestival.org
The best kept secret that everyone knows about
The location of Shambala remains a mystery, but the legendary tales of the wonderful festival frivolity to be had within its bounds are no secret. The festival’s motto is ‘Adventures in Utopia,’ and that should give you a bit of a clue as to its vibe: everyone working together to create a little corner of perfection, just for one weekend. A truly global line-up sees appearances from Hindustani slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya, Nigerien-Belgian essouf rock trio Kel Assouf and international London klezmorim Don Kipper, with many more to be announced.



August 23-26
Shrewsbury Folk Festival
West Midlands Showground, Shropshire
www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk
Sensational Salopian celebration
As well as presenting some of the best in folk music from across our own Atlantic archipelago and from further seas the world over, the Shrewsbury Folk Festival are also keen to make a real impact on the local music ecosystem with projects such as Room for All and All Together Now, promoting new and international music schemes across Shropshire. Add in a specially-programmed ‘youth festival’ called Refolkus, which introduces the younger set to the wonders of folk art, dance, music and crafts, this is a festival with eyes on the future as well as the present.

August 23-26
Towersey Festival
Thame Showground, Oxfordshire
www.towerseyfestival.com
Folk for all the family
A regular fixture of the August bank holiday, the Towersey Festival is four days of family-focused folk fun. Among the musical offerings are the Fisherman’s Friends, gracing the stage fresh from their cinema-based notoriety, and a special all-star tribute to the festival’s ever-present performer and patron Roy Bailey, who passed away in November 2018, featuring Tom Robinson, Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting and John Kirkpatrick. Arrive on the Thursday and take part in the Early Arrivals Ball… a grand name for a grand ceilidh.

September 6-30
London African Music Festival
Various venues, London
www.joyfulnoise.co.uk/london-african-music-festival
30 years of Joyful Noise
The 17th edition of the London African Music Festival coincides with the 30th year of the festival’s producers, Joyful Noise, and so the celebrations are suitably large and loud. Artists from every corner of the African continent and its diaspora will descend on jazz clubs, churches and arts venues around London throughout September, with big names such as Benjamin Zephaniah, Kel Assouf and Fofoulah appearing alongside groups making their UK debut, including Abdul and the Gang from Morocco and Chicas de la Habana from Cuba.

October 10-13
Darbar Festival
Barbican Centre, London
www.darbar.org
Majestic mehfils for all times of day
Darbar Festival is the UK’s premier celebration of Indian classical arts. Held this year between the Barbican Theatre and Guildhall’s Milton Court, Darbar hosts scintillating double-bills of legendary Indian artists, such as sitarist Budhaditya Mukherjee with father and son santoor players Shivkumar and Rahul Sharma, and tabla trio Tabla Grooves with Hindustani violinist Kala Ramnath. There’s also the opportunity to enjoy relaxing morning ragas sung in dhrupad style in their natural context – at 10am; it’s sure to be a wonderful experience for those that make it.

October 16-20
Manchester Folk Festival
Various venues, Manchester
www.manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk
From next-big-things to the best in the biz
Running alongside the English Folk Expo, the Manchester Folk Festival is a great opportunity to watch showcase performances from some of the most hotly-tipped young and emerging artists on the English folk scene alongside already shining stars such as Kate Rusby, Rowan Rheingans and the Unthanks. For the first time, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards will be hosted as part of the festival, in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, so if there’s one place to get your finger on the pulse of the folk scene today, it’s here.

October 18-20
Musicport Festival
Whitby, North Yorkshire
www.musicportfestival.com
Celebrating 20 years!
The Musicport team hosts events in and around Whitby all year, but the festival is the main event, held in the Whitby Pavilion, a cosy theatre that dates back to the 19th century. Over past 20 years, Musicport has brought the great and the good of world music to the Pavilion, and the glimpse of line-up that we have for 2019 so far looks set to continue that tradition with international stars abound: sevdah singer Amira Medunjanin, UK reggae legends Misty in Roots, electro-Celtipunks Peatbog Faeries and Saharawi hero Aziza Brahim will surely be among the highlights this year.

November 16-28
London International Arts Festival
Various venues, London
www.liaf.co.uk
Karnatic music with a global perspective
The London International Arts Festival is the brainchild of UK-based Karnatic violinist Jyotsna Srikanth, and it started with the aim of promoting South Indian music within the UK. Over the past seven years, however, its remit has broadened: Karnatic music is still high on the agenda, but it has grown to include art music from cultures around the world. Community projects take to the stage alongside verifiable stars of South Asian music and fusion; collaborations are never too far away.

January 16-Feb 2 2020
Celtic Connections
Various venues, Glasgow
www.celticconnections.com
Entering a new decade of international music
Ringing in the new decade, Celtic Connections will start the year (as it does every year) with the best of trad, folk, jazz, world, Americana and more. If that sounds like a lot, it is: there are more than 300 concerts over 18 days in venues all across Glasgow. It feels as though the 2019 edition has only just come to a close, and so there are no specific details about 2020 yet, but you can be sure that the ever-expansive programme will have something for everyone, especially with Celtic Connections’ trademark boundary-breaking collaborations that can’t be heard anywhere else. Keep an eye out at the late-night Festival Club, the home of spontaneous and unexpected jams from some of the festival’s biggest names.


Photos from top: Knockengorroch World Ceilidh; WOMAD; Tropical Pressure.