Songlines Music Awards 2024, Europe winner: Sam Lee - songdreaming

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 204, January 2025.

Sam Lee
songdreaming
Cooking Vinyl (48 mins)

Since making his debut with the Mercury-nominated album Ground of its Own in 2012, Sam Lee has become one of the country’s most renowned champions of the folksong of these isles. But his work and his sound have evolved through the years. With his fourth album, he continues his mission of connecting the issues of the land with the music of its people, exploring the themes of ecology, wilderness and wildlife that are close to his heart.

There’s no musical purism here. Lee uses folk songs as a medium with which to decorate his own canvas, leaving them recognisable but changed, moulded to his own meanings and shaped for a new era. The music itself moves further away from the traditional. It’s a vast sound, dramatic and atmospheric, informed by contemporary neoclassical movements. Sweeping strings, heavily-reverbed piano and curlew calls mingle with resonant subtleties of nyckelharpa and qanun, as well as appearances throughout by London-based trans choir Trans Voices on their recording debut. There is something mystical about it, almost, or darkly ethereal, with Lee’s elegant yet forthright voice floating through it as a spirit.

This is not a cheerful album. Through his ballads, Lee constructs a complex, sometimes contradictory, weave of emotions. songdreaming is a love letter suffused with controlled fury, but also a dignified, determined and necessary hopefulness – a passionate yearning for the survival of our home in nature. We’ve seen Sam Lee progress from wunderkind singer and song collector to a respected spokesperson of the planet, its custodians (of all species) and its sounds, while his music becomes ever more beguiling and important.

Peter Somuah - Highlife

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 204, January 2025.

Peter Somuah
Highlife
ACT Music (45 mins)

In his previous work, Ghanaian trumpeter Peter Somuah has brought flavours of highlife into the idiom of contemporary jazz. With his third album, he switches it up by accentuating the innate jazz in highlife. Here, Somuah is accompanied by his Dutch and Surinamese quintet, together with guest vocal spots from highlife legends including Gyedu-Bley Ambolley and Pat Thomas, who add a political edge to proceeding with lyrics ruminating on the colonial history and legacy of their homeland.

Although the lyrics are pointed, the music itself is loose and laid back, really bringing out highlife’s eponymous feel-good vibes. The recording and production are also nice and clean, and it all adds up to a supremely smooth sound throughout the whole album. Somuah’s passion for both highlife and jazz is obvious in his compositions, arrangements and sparkling solos, which are invariably the highlights of each track.

Various Artists - Making Tracks 2022 (Live)

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 204, January 2025.

Various Artists
Making Tracks 2022 (Live)
Making Tracks (43 mins)

When eight talented and open-minded young musicians from across the world come together to experience each other’s music and discover pathways between them, there’s always going to be some special results. That’s Making Tracks, and every year or two they empower artists through a creative residency and UK tour. This live album features the pick of Making Tracks’ 2022 concerts.

The pieces chosen for this collection tend towards the calm and deliberate, showing the intensity of listening required to succeed in these connections. In fact, it is the duos that are the best bits here, where two musicians dig deep into each other’s and their own traditions: meetings of Hindustani and Scottish voices over a shruti done; contemporary art explorations between oud and violin; Persian classical singing paired with smallpipes, or kora. Making Tracks is all about exciting and unexpected combinations, and each of these tracks represents another intercultural gem.

Press release: Jupiter & Okwess - Ekoya

First written as a press release for the album for Ballantyne Communications.

Jupiter & Okwess
Ekoya
Airfono (36 mins)

Veteran stars of the Kinshasa street music scene Jupiter & Okwess return with their fourth album, Ekoya, representing an exciting new chapter for the band, blending their signature sound of soulful Congolese funk, rock and soukous with new influences from across Latin America, inspired by eye-opening cross-cultural encounters and the shared history of African people on both sides of the Atlantic.

Recorded in Mexico, Ekoya (‘It Will Come’) explores themes of change and resilience, of Indigenous peoples’ issues and the joys and struggles of everyday life. With guests including Brazilian singer Flavia Coelho, Mexican Zapotec rapper Mare Advertencia, and Congolese singer Soyi Nsele, and featuring lyrics in eight languages across its 12 tracks, Ekoya marks Jupiter & Okwess as both proudly Congolese and profoundly international.

This is music that is unmistakable in its origins, its rhythms and melodies shaped by three decades of evolution on the streets of Kinshasa. But Latin America looms large over Ekoya. The album was conceived in 2020, when Jupiter & Okwess were touring South America, an adventure shaped by the spectre of lockdowns. Once the tour concluded, the band were forced to pause in Mexico before returning home – a transformative experience as they found themselves immersed in Latin American culture. Jupiter reflects: “Latin America has influenced us a lot… but our music hasn’t changed, it has just been given a new dimension. When we were there, we discovered things that pushed us to think differently. Because it’s like a continuation of Africa. There are people there who have African roots, Congolese roots – they are part of the story of Africa. They are part of us, and they are a part of our music.” When it came time to record the album, Mexico was the natural destination, where they spent time in studios in Guadalajara and Mexico City, and worked with producers including the renowned Camilo Lara (Pixar’s Coco; Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever). “Each time we visit Latin America, we’re happier, we’re more comfortable. And it’s best to record in a place with nice people, good food, and good weather!”



Since his debut in 2013, Jupiter’s sound has been defined by its weight, a purposeful heaviness, a rawness, even a darkness tinting the driving Kinshasa funk-rock and the softer, more introspective and sometimes ominous moments. Those signature styles remain, but are joined here by moments of lightness, sometimes ascending to a full-on dance party with soukous at the forefront – a well-known Congolese style that itself is infused with an indelible Latin influence, shown to full effect on the song ‘Nkoyi Niama’. Okwess’ choppy guitars, bouncing bass, glorious harmonies and pounding beats push that classic sound to the next level.

All throughout his music, Jupiter displays his mastery of the poetic word, communicating deep meanings through proverbs and parables. Lead single ‘Les Bons Comptes’ warns against being in debt to friends. “Good accounts make good friends,” sings Jupiter in French, adding in the Mongo language: “a deadbeat is like a cuttlefish, they only take and never give.” Be a good friend, be honest and pay your bills. The message is also taken up by Brazilian songstress Flavia Coelho, whose lusciously smooth and light voice works a beautiful counterpoint to Jupiter’s resonant, gravel-worn rumble. “It was good to share this with Flavia,” Jupiter explains. “She’s been a friend for a long time. When we see her at a festival, we share a song on stage, just for fun. So, when we’re in Latin America, and we’re making a new album, it was only natural to ask her to join us.”

Themes of change and resilience permeate Ekoya. “Everything is changing, on a global scale,” says Jupiter. “Politics, climate change, Covid. You feel it in Europe, and we feel it even stronger in Kinshasa. But, on the other hand, tout passera – everything will pass. After life, nothing. You don’t have to be so focused on material things, on money, on property – tout passera. That’s not optimist or pessimist – it’s just the truth.” Resilience is also found in lyrics presented by powerful Indigenous women activists, including Mongo singer Soyi Nsele who calls upon the ancestors to intercede against the unthinkable destruction of the Congolese rainforest in the opener ‘Selele’; and Zapotec rapper Mare Advertencia, who leads a hard-hitting demand for rights and justice for oppressed Indigenous communities around the world on the song ‘Orgullo’, with the words: “We demand our right to exist / For the memory of those they took from us / For the justice we are still seeking!”

When Jupiter was young, he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was a diplomat. But, as he says, “Destiny is complicated. Life changed, and my life was making music on the streets in Kinshasa. But now we are performing all over the world, doing interviews, telling the world about the Congolese people – well, now I have the chance to be a diplomat. I did it differently.” Developed in Kinshasa, blossomed in South America, born in Mexico and now released on the world, Ekoya continues Jupiter & Okwess’ important work as skilled wordsmiths highlighting universal issues, as champions of a world that is safe and welcoming for all, and as musical diplomats of their very own brand of forward-facing roots-focused Congo sound.


Photo: Jupiter & Okwess, by Marcelo Quiñones.

Making Tracks 2024 - Grand Junction, Paddington, London

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 203, December 2024.



Making Tracks 2024
Grand Junction, Paddington, London
3rd October 2024

Now on its fifth edition, Making Tracks is one of those not-to-be-missed occasions once autumn rolls around. Eight young artists, each from a different musical world, get together for two weeks of concerted collaboration, which continues to evolve across a two-week tour. This year featured participants from the UK, Syria/Germany, Denmark, Kenya, East Turkestan and Finland (see makingtracksmusic.org/fellows for the full list; they deserve more recognition than space allows here!).

For this tour’s penultimate concert at London’s Grand Junction, we were treated to two-and-a-half hours of unique collaborations interspersed with solo showcases from each musician. All eight remained on stage throughout, and it was always exciting to see who would stir to join in the next piece – will it be a medley of Newfoundland, Uyghur and Swedish songs? A composition for Arabic violin and tama (talking drum)? Hurdy-gurdy and Kenyan drums? It’s impressive just how accomplished these musical relationships were after such a short – albeit intense – gestation. Interspecies connections were also emphasised this year, with nature embraced as an equal participant, from transcriptions of whalesong to electronically-wrangled biosignals of sea-kale. The high, intricately decorated Victorian church ceilings of Grand Junction afforded interesting reverberations, highlighting acoustic elements that would have been lost in a less cavernous venue – a lovely marriage of sound and space.

Making Tracks has hit upon a winning formula, for the creation of both beautiful music, and lasting artistic partnerships. In his opening speech, director Merlyn Driver referred to the concert as “nourishing music” – this really is the sort of project that can achieve meaningful new musical directions.


Photo: Making Tracks 2024 at Grand Junction, by Andrea Terzuoli. L-R: Nina Harries, Anna McLuckie, Shohret Nur, Christian Mohr Levisen, Kasiva Mutua, Ossi Raippalinna, Ayman Hlal (Helen Anahita Wilson is obscured behind Hlal).

Maalem Houssam Guinia - Dead of Night

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 203, December 2024.

Maalem Houssam Guinia
Dead of Night
Hive Mind Records (43 mins)

The renowned master of Moroccan Gnawa music, Mahmoud Guinia, died in 2015; this album by his son Houssam serves as a loving tribute, recalling the songs Houssam heard and learnt at his father’s knee as a child. Aptly recorded through late night into the early morning hours in his Casablanca home, Dead of Night is personal and deeply intimate. There’s none of the customary clattering of the metal krakeb castanets or even the chorus of fellow Gnawis; instead, a relaxed Houssam sings solo, accompanying himself with the bluesy thrum of the gimbri (bass lute). It’s a different listening experience from the Gnawa’s Sufi rituals, but it allows for a closer concentration on the beauty of the melodic lines and Guinia’s soft, slightly rasping voice. While for a non-initiate, there may be little variation between each song, it’s a lovely, meditative set that captures Gnawa music in a way less often heard.

Hermeto Pascoal - WOMEX 24 Artist Award

First published in the WOMEX – World Music Expo 2024 delegate guide.



It’s easy to list Hermeto Pascoal’s accolades and impressive statistics – two Latin Grammys; multiple honorary doctorates (including one from Julliard); more than 10,000 compositions to his name; featured on many hundreds of albums – but his real achievement is that he has crafted an absolutely unique sound, a deeply personal style that continues to resonate around the world, and which has given him the status of living legend in his native Brazil.

Pascoal has a dislike for labels of any kind, and indeed, he doesn’t fit into any neat categories. He is a multi-instrumentalist, creating his art across keys, saxophones, flutes, accordion, guitar, drums, and more. If pushed, he’d settle for referring to his style as ‘universal music’. We might begin our description with jazz: Pascoal’s music is informed by all manner of jazz, from big band to bop, from hard funk fusion to the free. And it was jazz that first brought him to international recognition, especially his collaboration with Miles Davis on the 1971 album Live/Evil. From that basis in jazz, he takes off to different worlds. The avant-garde has always been an important reference in his work, allowing him to expand outwards in all directions, but he also looks inwards. He looks to his roots as a Brazilian, bringing in forro, bossa nova and Afro-Brazilian styles; and to his place in the world as a human being and a part of the wider ecosystem, working with natural materials and spaces, and experimenting with the connections between music and the Earth.

Pascoal’s approach paints a picture of a man so thoroughly immersed in music that it flows through and around him; he hears music in the world that few else can, and harnesses it, to bring it to the attention of us mere mortals. His music is not necessarily always easy to listen to, but it is always fulfilling, both intellectually and spiritually. Add in his iconic hirsute look, his famously eccentric persona and his playful self-mythologising, and it’s all led Brazilians to embrace him with many nicknames, chief among them O Bruxo – The Wizard.

In a country and culture so large and steeped in musical heritage as Brazil, it takes someone very special to be able to rise above the crowd with a distinctive, individual sound. It is for his extraordinary and uncompromising artistic vision as a musician and composer; for the breathtaking quality and sheer quantity of his recorded and live output over a 74-year career; and for influencing and inspiring generations of world-jazz explorers in Brazil and the world over, that we are delighted that Hermeto Pascoal is the WOMEX 24 Artist Award recipient.


Photo: Hermeto Pascoal and his band The Mothership, by Gabriel Quintão.

In Place of War - WOMEX 24 Professional Excellence Award

First published in the WOMEX – World Music Expo 2024 delegate guide.



As arts professionals, how can we make real differences for those affected by the many harmful facets of war? That has been the mission of In Place of War (IPOW) ever since in 2004, when it began as a research project at the University of Manchester. Things have grown since then.

IPOW specialises in ‘artivism’, using music, theatre and visual art to help people not only during times of war, but after war, once much of the immediate international attention has dissipated, as well as communities affected by political violence, oppression and gang violence. And their reach is genuinely impressive, touching individuals and communities across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, from Kampala to Medellín, Hebron to Yangon. So far, their work has spanned thirty countries, creating a collaborative network of 130 ‘change-maker’ creative organisations along the way.

By working across five ‘pillars’ – space, engage, learn, support, create – IPOW make sure that their projects are people-first. They don’t dictate the terms of the art that people ‘should’ be making, but foster the creativity that emerges organically from the communities it serves. This anti-paternalistic approach ensures that they facilitate rather than dictate, allowing local voices to shape the narrative. It is important, then, that this knowledge is sustained and recycled – IPOW and their network share the knowledge and experience that they have gained through their work, so that it can be replicated on an even wider scale.

The achievements speak for themselves: community arts spaces are built, professional equipment and training is supplied, albums are released to critical acclaim, art in all forms flourishes where war has ravaged. And the ambitious plans continue to expand outward: in the coming years, IPOW aims to uniting scientific knowledge, indigenous heritage and artistic creativity to engage and inspire around issues of climate justice, and to turn their focus to the UK, helping disadvantaged young artists at grassroots, institutional and policy levels.

For using art to make lasting differences to people and communities affected by war all across the world; for giving arts professionals a roadmap for collaborative community engagement; and for achieving such wide-ranging results in just twenty years, we are delighted to announce In Place of War as the recipient of the WOMEX 24 Award for Professional Excellence.

Etran de l’Aïr - 100% Sahara Guitar

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 202, November 2024.

Etran de l’Aïr
100% Sahara Guitar
Sahel Sounds (41 mins)

Etran de l’Aïr’s job is to make people move, playing at the weddings of the working class Tuareg folk of Agadez, Niger. And they know what they’re doing, because they’ve been doing it for almost 30 years. Now on their third album, they’ve moved their magic to the recording studio for the first time. Their first two albums were made in their Saharan family compound; this one was born in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles. But their sound is unmistakable – the shrill, scratchy and distorted guitars that echo with the traditional strains of tehardent lutes; the piercing, gunshot snares that keep the groove raucous; the circling, spiralling, twirling, never-ending pentatonic melodies; the Tamashek lyrics of love, courage and strength in community: this is Tuareg party rock through-and-through, evolved with as many guitar overdubs as they could fit in to weave a rich tapestry. This one may have been made in the US, but it’s exactly 100% Saharan.

África Negra - Antologia, Vol. 2

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 202, November 2024.

África Negra
Antologia, Vol. 2
Bongo Joe Records (78 mins)

Bongo Joe Records and crate-digger DJ Tom B seem to be on a mission to bring wider attention to the vintage music of São Tomé and Príncipe. This is their fifth such album, and their second compilation from the group África Negra. While Vol. 1 of this Antologia focussed on the band’s greatest hits, Vol. 2 delves into the miscellany and brings unreleased and more obscure recordings to the fore. As such, there is a bit of a range of recording quality throughout the compilation, but no such range in the quality of the music within.

The core of the group’s sound is the intricate, interlocking melodies on multiple electric guitars, which knit together with superb acrobatic basslines and provide a bouncy backdrop for some glorious harmonies. It’s a sound based on puxa, a mix of local rhythms with a big dose of Congolese rumba, and África Negra have been playing their own take on the style – which fans call mama djumba – since the 1970s (albeit with a 12-year hiatus in the middle). This is another lovely compilation of sunny São Toméan songs, with África Negra proving that puxa must surely rank among the continent's canon of guitar music alongside soukous, highlife, jit and all the rest.

Thokozile Collective - Thokozile Collective

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 202, November 2024.

Thokozile Collective
Thokozile Collective
Thokozile Collective (47 mins)

Bournemouth-based six-piece Thokozile Collective play instrumental jazz-funk with an African bent. Their debut album – seven covers and two originals – mostly looks towards Southern Africa, with occasional hints to West Africa and Latin America. The album starts in an upbeat, breezy fashion, with a cover of Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens’ mbaqanga hit ‘Thokozile’ (hence the name), followed by a piece based on the sungura style from Zimbabwe. After these first two, the funk arrives. It’s all lightly cheesy and pretty inoffensive, but accomplished. The standout performance comes from saxophonist Terry Quinney, whose solos are always a delight, floating bluesy bop lines over and through the African styles with an intelligence that unites each of the band’s influences. The group aren’t entirely tight, and some of the most funk-forward tracks perhaps lack a bit of imagination, but it’s an easy listen and a fun, enjoyable album on the whole.

Press release: Dogo du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band - Avoudé

First written as a press release for the album for Ballantyne Communications.

Dogo du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band
Avoudé
We Are Busy Bodies (30 mins)

Following on from his self-titled 2002 debut, Togolese singer and guitarist Dogo du Togo introduces his new Lomé-based Alagaa Beat Band with the album Avoudé, released on 8th November 2024 on Canadian label We Are Busy Bodies. Recorded in less than 48 hours under the watchful eye of renowned engineer Patrick Jauneaud (Elton John, Kate Bush, Queen), Avoudé represents a new evolution of Togolese music and makes a powerful cultural statement: hard-hitting Afro-funk that builds upon the country’s musical traditions while creating a new sound to energise its future.

After two decades of living in the US and fronting the successful Afro-pop band Elikeh, Dogo saw the popularity of music from across West Africa – but Togo was never in that picture. Now splitting his time between Washington, DC and Togo’s capital Lomé, he set out to create a brand new beat that can put Togo on the musical map and that Togolese people can rally around and hold as their own: the alagaa beat.

Combining iconic rhythms of the Ewe and Mina people, such as kpanlogo, kinka and bobobo, alagaa blossoms from a complex interplay between drum kit and rhythm guitar, with a distinctive double snare hit and a guitar part based on the traditional gankogui bell pattern. Alagaa means ‘trance’ in Ewe, “because when you listen to this music,” says Dogo, “if you don't get in trance, then something’s wrong with you! The alagaa beat brings the energy right away. As soon as you bring it in, it just feels different, it takes you somewhere else.” The melodies, too, are anchored in Togo’s cultural history, using unique pentatonic scales known as mina or mami, derived from the music of the local Vodún religion and traditions that permeate everyday life in Togo.



For this album, Dogo du Togo has gone back to his roots. The Alagaa Beat Band is a reunion of friends who grew up playing music together on the streets of Lomé in the 1990s – lead guitarist Oya Yao was the one who taught Dogo to play in the very first place. Although alagaa is born from the guitar and drums, the sound is bolstered by a powerful horn section, beautiful retro synths and the unusual but inspired addition of the electric violin. Like many West African pop styles, it has elements of funk, rock, soul and reggae, but these are used only in service of the alagaa, and demonstrate the adaptability and flexibility of this exciting new style.

The whole album was recorded live in less than two days at Lomé’s legendary Otodi Studios, with storied engineer Patrick Jauneaud behind the desk. It was far from comfortable, but the vibe was immaculate: “The studio was built by Americans in the 70s. It used to have AC built in, but it's not working anymore. There's no windows, nothing. And it was hot when we were recording, it was HOT, and it was really painful. But the thing is – the sound of that studio is so great. The acoustic is so great that we decided to do it anyway. Those are the conditions: we’re hot, we’re extremely tired, we have only 48 hours. But we hit it, and played live.”

The album’s opener and title track ‘Avoudé’ is what Dogo describes as “alagaa par excellence.” That’s the beat, all the way through, no messing about – a way to kick down the doors and get the energy flowing immediately. The song encourages its listeners to work hard and strive for the life they want: “Nothing is easy. Life is not a game, it is a hustle.” The song ‘Enouwo Lagnon’ continues that theme, taking the voice of a person who knows, no matter how hard things get, they can always make things better through hope, prayer and struggle, the lyrics punctuated to a pair of barnstorming solos on trumpet and synth. ‘Adzé Adzé’ is the only song on the album that doesn’t use the alagaa beat. Instead it’s based on the limping 12/8 agbadza rhythm – a martial beat, originally used to celebrate victorious warriors. It makes sense that this is also the most political song on the album, urging the youth of Africa to create a bright future for the continent and to refuse to allow their countries to become puppets of Western governments.

With Avoudé, Dogo du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band make a sound that is undeniably Togolese, steeped in the history of the country while making a contemporary sound that lights the way for exciting future directions. Get ready to be entranced by the alagaa beat – there’s a new style on Africa’s musical map.


Photo: Dogo du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band, by Wilfried Good Eyes.

Qwanqwa - Qwanqwa Live

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 201, October 2024.

Qwanqwa
Qwanqwa Live
Qwanqwa (73 mins)

For three studio albums, Addis Ababa-based Qwanqwa have explored the range of Ethiopian traditional music, performing pieces from many of the country’s different ethnic groups, shaking things up with elements of Ethiojazz, funk and psychedelia, all played on the traditional krar (lyre), masenko (one-string fiddle) and kebero (drums), and the less-traditional bass krar and five-string violin. Until now, the group’s albums have been mostly instrumental – Qwanqwa Live introduces azmari singer Selamnesh Zemene (lately heard with Badume's Band) as their full-time vocalist. And it’s a revolution. Selamnesh really brings things to the next level, providing a focal point to the instrumentals but fully capable of soaring off into breathtaking melismas at a moment’s notice. Special mention should also be made of globetrotting masenko player Endris Hassen, whose one-string solos conjure up rock and jazz with impeccable subtlety. This live release is pieced together from their 2022 US tour – keep an eye out for future dates.

Atlas Maior - Hadal (Deluxe Edition)

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 201, October 2024.

Atlas Maior
Hadal (Deluxe Edition)
Dead Red Queen Records (38 mins)

This deluxe edition collects Texas-based jazz quartet Atlas Maior’s recorded output from the past four years. It’s an album of two halves – Side A is the band’s 2023 all-instrumental mini-album Hadal, and Side B is two tracks made with Pakistani kafi singer Ali Pervez Mehdi plus two remixes. Side A is the strongest, where the group really show what they’re capable of, the pieces built from the inspired interplay between alto saxophone and oud. There is strong influence from classical and folk traditions from across the Arab world, and there is a hearty debt to free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman. It’s a great example of exploratory small-band jazz, with exemplary solos. After this glorious journey, Side B falls a bit flat. Mehdi’s Sufi vocals are beautiful, but seem to constrain the free-flow of electric creative energy otherwise present. The remixes are similarly enjoyable while adding little.

Atse Tewodros Project - Maqeda

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 201, October 2024.

Atse Tewodros Project
Maqeda
Galileo MC (51 mins)

The Atse Tewodros Project is the brainchild of singer Gabriella Ghermandi, and the project’s second album is a tribute to the women of Ethiopia, including the Queen of Sheba and going all the way back to Dinkinesh (or Lucy), one of the earliest-known hominids. Like its founder, the project is Ethiopian-Italian, featuring a core of Ethiopian traditional instrumentalists bolstered by Italian jazz musicians and occasional Senegalese guests on kora, guitar and sabar. In fact, the group excel when they stick to their two main strengths: trad Ethiopian and jazz. The further they stray from those – for example, with cheesy reggae, body-music or rap breaks – the flatter it falls. The stand-out performance of the album comes from Fabrizio Puglisi, whose Herbie Hancock-style electric piano and synth solos enliven any track they’re featured on, especially the track ‘Dink Hona’, where all the best elements of the group’s collaboration are brought to the fore.

Amaka Jaji - Tidet

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 200, August/September 2024.

Amaka Jaji
Tidet
Bloc C (39 mins)

If you're anything like me, you only need three words to make you want to listen to this album: Libyan Tuareg trap. Ooof, now there's promising. And Amaka Jaji delivers. Tidet grooves right from the start: synths mixing with pentatonic Saharan guitars, drum machines set to maximum lope, Jaji’s raspy, almost-whispered and ever-so-slightly autotuned songs in Tamasheq and Arabic, field recordings of Sufi events around his hometown of Ghat sampled over deep, dark bass… Everything about this album serves to paint a portrait of a Libya-raised, Tunis-based multi-instrumentalist intimately connected to his Tuareg and Sufi roots and profoundly immersed in the popular music of the world, from hip-hop and trap to raï and electronica. In the press release, Jaji says: ‘Tidet is not just an album; it's an act of resistance and a declaration of identity from an indigenous Tuareg artist.” This is modern, outward-facing Tuareg music like you’ve never heard before – and it’s all the better for it.

Bassekou Kouyate & Amy Sacko - Djudjon: L’Oiseau de Garana

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 200, August/September 2024.

Bassekou Kouyate & Amy Sacko
Djudjon: L’Oiseau de Garana
One World Records (61 mins)

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba have been the world’s ambassadors for Bamana jeli (griot) ngoni music since their first album in 2007. Now on their sixth, they’ve dropped the band name in favour of further highlighting the wonderful jelimuso (and Bassekou’s wife) Amy Sacko. A slightly strange move, as the band are still here and Amy only sings on half the tracks. But never mind. Djudjon is a tribute to Bassekou’s hometown of Garana, Mali, and it shows the group at their most stripped-back: no ostentatious guest musicians, no effects pedals. It grants the listener space to appreciate the interweaving textures of the ensemble, Amy’s powerful and subtle voice, Bassekou’s nimbly virtuosic ngoni – and his occasional, innovative use of a bottleneck blues slide on his lute. Bassekou and Amy aren’t breaking any particularly new ground as they have done in the past, but this is still a lovely, solid set from the first family of Bamana ngoni.

Temporal Waves - Temporal Waves

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 200, August/September 2024.

Temporal Waves
Temporal Waves
Linear Fade Records / People Places Records (63 mins)

Canadian tabla player Shawn Mativetsky has performed and recorded across many genres for the past 25 years, but this is his first album under his new moniker. Don’t let the percussion fool you – there is little South Asian to Temporal Waves except for some rhythmic phrasing and the occasional tihai. Instead, the tabla is suffused into vast, cinematic synth-futurism with dubtronic and retro video game edges – think Vangelis and Wendy Carlos playing on an Atari in a Whirl-y-Gig chill-out room. It’s all guided by a very strong sense of sci-fi aesthetic, from the hi-tech fantasy forest cover art to the synthscapes that toe the edge between optimistic utopia on one side, and menacing dystopia on the other. Temporal Waves isn’t doing anything particularly new or groundbreaking here, but he does serve up a big dose of nostalgia: the 80s and 90s vibes are real. Stick this on some bassy speakers and have a blast from futures past.

Rəhman Məmmədli - Azerbaijani Gitara, Vol. 2

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 199, July 2024.

Rəhman Məmmədli
Azerbaijani Gitara, Vol. 2
Bongo Joe Records (39 mins)

Bongo Joe Records’ first foray into gitara music from Azerbaijan (the aptly-titled Azerbaijani Gitara by Rüstəm Quliyev, released in 2020) was a revelation. Now we get Vol. 2, this time a compilation of the work of Rəhman Məmmədli… and cor, it’s just as good.

The key ingredient in gitara is the electric guitar – specifically Jolana guitars from Czechoslovakia, which Azeri musicians realised was a perfect fit for creating an exciting modern blend of folk and classical styles, as well as influences from East and West. Məmmədli’s speciality is in pointing gitara towards classical mugham, transforming emotional, solemn art music into a wild rollercoaster of guitar wizardry accompanied by synths, programmed drums and the occasional accordion.

This album’s opener, ‘Qoçəlı̇’, is the perfect example. You get about one second of synth drone to tune in and prepare for what’s coming before Məmmədli comes roaring in, guitar already on full-distortion, creating a beautiful, unmetred improvisation; later, Casio beats and frame drum come in, and it just turns up to the next notch again. Like Quliyev, Məmmədli’s style shows clear influence from the iconic tar in the way he picks the strings and crafts his runs, and in the minute adjustments he makes within each note, bending the strings freely and subtly, gaining access to the most ecstatic of microtones. But what is most astonishing is the sheer vocality that he gets out of his guitar. At times there is an uncanny sense that the sounds he makes are literally that of a master singer, even affecting techniques such as zəngulə, a sort of chromatic yodelling so distinctive of mugham.

The programmed backing tracks and beats sometimes get a bit wearing, but they're never allowed to linger on their own for long before they are inevitably and completely overshadowed by guitar. It’s that good. Two volumes into the Azerbaijani Gitara series, and it’s all gold. I wonder how many more master musicians, how many treasure troves of gitara are still waiting to grace our ears? I can’t wait to hear more.

Avalanche Kaito - Talitakum

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 198, June 2024.

Avalanche Kaito
Talitakum
Glitterbeat Records (42 mins)

Avalanche Kaito’s 2022 self-titled debut was a triumph of noise punk indelibly informed by Mossi griot music from Burkina Faso. Since then, relentless live shows and a slightly reworked line-up (bass replaced by guitar) have evolved the Franco-Belgo-Burkinabé trio’s sound. This time, their music feels a little more considered. It’s just as foreboding, abrasive and hypnotic, but the anarchic chaos that infused their first album is replaced by something more direct and focussed.

Each of the nine tracks on Talitakum has a unique sound that complements the album as a whole - it can go from glitch trap on one track to Tuareg Beefheart punk on the next. It is the attitude that unites them, the complex creativity of three musicians in simpatico, the delicious contrasts of frontman Kaito Winse’s beautiful voice against the harsh discords of distorted guitar and synth, the declamatory tama (talking drum) against the crashing drum kit.

The world of Avalanche Kaito no longer feels like a rattling, angry machine constantly on the verge of losing control, instead like a purposeful, powerful elemental spirit that creates through destruction. That change is for neither better nor worse, but it shows that this is a group that mutate and adapt and grow with experience, and will always have something new to say.

Kolonel Djafaar - Getaway

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 198, June 2024.

Kolonel Djafaar
Getaway
Batov Records (41 mins)

The simplest and most common description of Kolonel Djafaar’s sound is as a meeting of Ethiojazz and Afrobeat. And that’s true: the Ethiopian side is clear in those distinctive pentatonic scales, the Nigerian in the use of the small but meaty horn section (baritone and tenor saxophones, trumpet, occasional trombone), and the rhythms are a tight mix of Yoruba and Afro-Latin styles beloved of Fela and Mulatu, respectively. There’s a lot more to Getaway than that, though. There’s also a potent strain of Anatolian-Levantine psycho-surf, fluttering in through guitar and synth lines, and delving deeper, there’s nods to reggae, Cuban jazz, Baobab-esque West African dance band, and even an unsettling fairground waltz.

Just reading this list of musical ingredients, you might ho-hum. None of these individual fusions are particularly novel or untested; we’ve heard them before. But here they're polished to a cinematic shine, with no element clashing against the rest. It's very tidy, and it’s all neatly encapsulated in the opener, ‘Urban Dweller’ – a great intro to the album, showing off the breadth of the band’s explorations without feeling overloaded. The album ends on a pretty abrupt fade-out, a small disappointment when it feels like the musicians could jam out for much longer.

Sahra Halgan - Hiddo Dhawr

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 197, May 2024.

Sahra Halgan
Hiddo Dhawr
Danaya Music (48 mins)

Sahra Halgan is a hero of Somaliland’s music. At home, in the unrecognised Somali state’s capital Hargeisa, she runs the Hiddo Dhawr (‘promoting culture’) club, the first live music venue since the country declared independence in 1991. Abroad, she is taking Somali music to new places, literally and metaphorically. Her fourth album, also Hiddo Dhawr, is her best so far.

Halgan’s vibrato-heavy voice brings forth songs that speak of love and politics – often simultaneously – wrapped in the proverbs and poetics for which Somalis are so famous. But while Halgan keeps everything rooted in the Somali heritage, her France-based band introduce widespread influences, most notably from the other side of the African continent. Maël Salètes’ guitar and Aymeric Krol’s percussion reflect the sounds of the Songhai and Tuareg of northern Mali. That connection of East and West – a surprising So-Mali-Land fusion – works really well, the two areas united across the Sahara by bluesy pentatonics and laid-back grooves. The quartet is completed by Régis Monte, whose keys consciously echo the classic-era Somali pop of the 70s and 80s, and add some devilishly funky basslines whenever appropriate.

In Hiddo Dhawr, Halgan and her group rollick through up-and-dance tunes and brood over romantic laments – a testament to Somaliland’s distinctive and flexible musical culture and its champion’s forward-thinking and ceaseless advocacy.

Ann O’aro - Bleu

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 197, May 2024.

Ann O’aro
Bleu
Buda Musique (53 mins)

Ann O’aro’s voice is breathtaking, heartbreaking. Gentle, but with great power behind it that occasionally erupts in a shocking flash… Her music has been a revelation. An enigmatic mix of classical-inspired jazz, chanson and the maloya of her homeland, La Réunion – the latter often present only in the subtleties of the voice and the rhythms of the percussion, but sometimes taking whole songs in its swirl. There is a darkness in the beauty, with unsettling sonic atmospheres reflecting the songs’ disturbing topics. But it is beauty nonetheless.

Bleu is O’aro’s third album; her previous, 2020’s wonderful Longoz, was made with a sparse trio completed by Teddy Doris on trombone and Bino Waro on percussion. The sound is bigger now: O’aro adds piano for the first time, and the trio is expanded to a quartet with the ‘machines’ of Brice Nauroy, which include electronic sounds, effects, drones and elements of musique concrète. Overdubs create trombone choirs and interweaving vocal lines, but the group retains the intimacy of a chamber ensemble. Her accompanists are inspired, but it is the solo songs, with just O’aro and her piano, that are the most affective, the most touching. With Bleu, Ann O’aro continues to go from strength to strength.

Arushi Jain - Delight

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 196, April 2024.

Arushi Jain
Delight
Leaving Records (43 mins)

With 2021’s Under the Lilac Sky, Arushi Jain announced herself as a gifted alchemist of electronica and Hindustani music through her mastery of modular synthesizers and classically-trained singing. The concept then was sunsets; now she turns her focus to her personal philosophy of ever-present delight, to be found wherever one seeks it.

This whole album is an exploration of Raga Bageshri, with its implications of love and longing, but the classical element is diffused within flows of downtempo and ambient techno. Jain adds acoustic instruments to her soundscape for the first time – strings, saxophone, flute and marimba all evolve through production to become extensions of the synths. Her voice, too, is warped with a dreamy, reverb-heavy treatment. The distinction between acoustic and electric is never quite clear, the organic and synthetic working together as one organism.

There is a surreal joy inherent in this music, a wonder at all the creative, positive futures we can imagine for ourselves, echoing the ‘utopian scholastic’ aesthetic that will give 90s kids a healthy dose of nostalgia. The optimism is so refreshing! It’s such a feeling of relief. With the world out of balance in so many, seemingly ever-increasing ways, an album that revels in and radiates so much positivity is… well, it’s a delight.

Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru - Souvenirs

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 196, April 2024.

Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru
Souvenirs
Mississippi Records (36 mins)

The world lost a unique composer with the passing of Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru at the age of 99 last year. Her beguiling piano melodies that mix Ethiopian and European classical and religious music marked her as a true original. Now, Souvenirs shows a different side of her music.

This is the first full release of Tsege-Mariam’s vocal music, home recordings of her singing her own songs in Amharic, accompanied by that unmistakable piano. Recorded in Addis Ababa between 1977 and 1985, these are special recordings, and emotional ones too – one need only listen to the opener ‘Clouds Moving on the Sky’ to feel it. We also hear some of her most Ethiopian moments here: ‘Ready to Leave’ is a tizita, a song of wistful yearning and loss, and it’s almost as if the piano takes the role of a giant krar lyre.

These are lovely songs. However, whether it is because of the lyrics-focussed nature of these pieces or the less-optimal quality of the amateur recordings, this set doesn’t quite give the revelatory, otherworldly experience of Tsege-Mariam’s solo piano works. Nevertheless, Souvenirs remains a special, touching album that adds to the beautiful legacy of a much-missed musical genius.

Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow - Just Leave It All Behind

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 196, April 2024.

Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow
Just Leave It All Behind
Clermont Music (41 mins)

Music doesn’t have to have words in order to say something. Just Leave It All Behind sees three instrumentalists coming together to improvise for peace.

This is the second album from a group collaboration that has been bubbling for years. Each participant is multiply-hyphenate in their work: Wassim Mukdad is a doctor, an oud player and an anti-torture campaigner; David Rothenberg is a professor of philosophy, a clarinettist and an interspecies sound artist; Volker Lankow is a nurse, a percussionist and an aid worker for Médecins sans Frontières. Together, their music-flow touches the worlds of Levantine classical, jazz, acoustic-ambient and even blues.

Although the album is entirely instrumental, its music is inextricably entangled with the importance of human rights and the trio’s yearning for peace – for which this release is as timely as any. In the accompanying notes, the artists say ‘these improvisations represent the belief that art can help us get beyond the darkest impulses of humanity.’ However, the end result feels less provocative than that mission statement implies. The musicians and their abilities combine well – this would undoubtedly be a lovely collaboration to experience live, but in an album setting it somewhat lacks a coherent through-narrative. This set is a clarion call for human good, with multiple beautiful moments, but perhaps not as powerful as its message deserves.