LIVE: Sound Dunes & Nomadic Rhythms (Wednesday 24th June 2020)

For once, we will move far away from our London comfort zone to explore the Sahara desert. Our next live streaming session, organised in partnership with our friends at Hit The Road Music Studio (and streamed on both pages), will travel on a Trans-Saharan route to bring you sounds from…

Artists: Anana Harouna , Farid Drif , Imadriwen , Izouran N-Sahara , Kel Assouf

London Gig Guide (March 2020)

At times, we are the first to lose track of how many exciting music events happen in London each month, so we have decided to offer you some sort of “public musical service”, meant for all the locals and passers-by, with the aim of suggesting where to listen to some…

Artists: 3ma , Afrikan Boy , Ballake Sissoko , Driss El Maloumi , Gaia Mobilij , Hot 8 Brass Band , Irreversible Entanglements , Kallemi , Kampire , Let Drum Beat , Melt Yourself Down , Oum , Princess Nokia , Princess Prada , Rajery , Riobamba , Saronde , Shabaka Hutchings , Simo Lagnawi , Simo Lagnawi & Gnawa London , Sudan Archives , Tarabband , Wara

Interview: Sarathy Korwar – A “Modern English-Indian” Artist (December 2019)

Albums like More Arriving are windows into the present. Their perspective on the here and now is so spot on and accurate that they sound like the best portrayal of the days we currently live in. After having listened to them, you feel the compulsion to delve further into their…

Artists: Sarathy Korwar

Album Review: Sarathy Korwar – More Arriving [The Leaf Label; July 2019]

On the list of the worst conversation starters, “Where are you from?” would be right up there. Reducing the person to a Lonely Planet cardboard cut-out is one thing, but when the question is prompted by your accent, complexion or general foreignness, it becomes a euphemism for, “You stick out…

Artists: Sarathy Korwar

Event Review: We Out Here Festival (Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire; Thursday 15th to Sunday 18 August 2019)

An inaugural festival is always going to be packed with risk and suspense, and after the downpour that Friday night experienced, a breath was held in anticipation of Saturday’s events. However, it is with sheer delight I report that the proceedings seemingly went ahead seamlessly. Saturday I have to jump…

Artists: Children Of Zeus , Dele Sosimi , Dwight Trible , Etuk Ubong , Gary Bartz , Gilles Peterson , Kokoroko , Lee Fields & The Expressions , Maisha , Rob , Saul Williams , Shabaka Hutchings , Shirley Tetteh , Sons Of Kemet , Steam Down , The Comet Is Coming , Zara Mcfarlane

Album Review: Altin Gün – Gece [Glitterbeat Records; April 2019]

On their second album, Altin Gün bring more of their Eastern promise to the fore with a diverse selection of ten tracks, veering from psychedelic rock to electronica, but keeping true to the Turkish folk music which brought together this eclectic, Dutch-based six piece in the first place. It is…

Artists: Altın Gün

London Gig Guide (May 2019)

At times, we are the first to lose track of how many exciting music events happen in London each month, so we have decided to offer you some sort of “public musical service”, meant for all the locals and passers-by, with the aim of suggesting where to listen to some…

Artists: Altın Gün , Baildsa , Balothizer , Coops , Dabda , Danalogue , Dengue Dengue Dengue , Eva Lazarus , Fliptrix , George , History Of Colour , Kevin Haynes , La Dame Blanche , Lankum , Liniker E Os Caramelows , Namlo , Omar Sosa , Omar Souleyman , Onoe Caponoe , Pitch 92 , Pouya Ehsaei , Sarah Tandy , Sarathy Kowar , Tantz , The Budos Band , The Great Malarkey , Wara , Yelfris Valdés , Yeseo , Yilian Cañizares

London Gig Guide (April 2019)

At times, we are the first to lose track of how many exciting music events happen in London each month, so we have decided to offer you some sort of “public musical service”, meant for all the locals and passers-by, with the aim of suggesting where to listen to some…

Artists: Awalé , Brother Culture , Calibro 35 , Gerald Toto , Hailu Mergia , Horseman , K.o.g And The Zongo Brigade , Kokoko! , Koral Society , Krar Collective , Lafawndah , Midori Takada , Oumou Sangare , Prince Fatty , Psychedelia , Que Vola? , Soom T , Steam Down , Terakaft , The Heliocentrics , The West African Blue Project , Yelfris Valdes

Album Review: Various Artists – We Out Here [Brownswood Recordings; February 2018]

Colours rise from dark contours as a London jazz renaissance takes form. Feeling both early and late, We Out Here captures the tones of this evolving shape.  Tenor saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings directs the way, bringing together a collection of his most in-demand friends on the new-jazz scene. Familiar names such…

Artists: Ezra Collective , Joe Armon-Jones , Kokoroko , Moses Boyd , Nubya Garcia , Shabaka Hutchings , Theon Cross , TriForce

Mixes: Groovalizacion Radio Best Albums 2017

Last year Groovalizacion Radio selected monthly the best albums for you. What better way to celebrate the new year than looking back at these fine albums from 2017? Out of our selections, we distilled a top 20 from the past year. The higher the album is ranked, the more it is supported by our…

Artists: Bargou 08 , Blay Ambolley , Dem Juju Poets , Doña Onete , Eddie Palmieri , Groovalizacion Radio , ÌFÉ , La Mambanegra , Lagartijeando , Magin Diaz , Msafiri Zawose , Nidia Gongora , Oghene Kologbo , Orchestra Baobab , Orchestre Mangelepa , Oumou Sangaré , Quantic , Rio Mira , Sibusile Xaba , Son Palenque , They Must Be Crazy , TootArd

Event Review: Love Supreme Festival (Glynde Place, 30th June to 2nd July 2017)

The concept of an outdoor jazz festival hardly conjures images of glitter-filled Glastonbury excitement, a young hip crowd and dance-fuelled elation. However, previously exclusive jazz appears to be undergoing a fashion revolution and the grounds of Glynde Place hinted at this. Love Supreme, the UK’s only three-day greenfield jazz festival…

Artists: Camilla George Quartet , George Benson , Herbie Hancock , Hot 8 Brass Band , Kansas Smitty’s House Band , La Mambanegra , Lauran Mvula , Miles Mosely , Nubiyan Twist , Shabaka and the Ancestors , Shabaka Hutchings , Sons Of Kemet , The Comet Is Coming , The Jacksons , The West Coast Getdown , TriForce

Event Review: Womad 2017 (Malmesbury, 30th July 2017)

This year, we only got a glimpse of the music bonanza offered by the Womad UK weekend. Our stay in Malmesbury consisted of a hit-and-run or a ‘toccata-and-fugue’, in-keeping with the musical topic, and saw us pay a visit to Charlton Park on the last day of the event. Still,…

Artists: Ariwo , Benjamin Zephaniah , Benjamin Zephaniah and The Revolutionary Minds , Chico Trujillo , King Ayisoba , Msafiri Zawose , Noureddine Khourchid , Noureddine Khourchid & the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus

Daily Discovery: Orchestra Baobab – Coumba

Artists: Orchestra Baobab

Daily Discovery: Shabaka and the Ancestors – Joyous

Artists: Shabaka Hutchings

Interview: Shabaka Hutchings – Sons of Kemet (August 2016)

Sons of Kemet are no longer a fresh faced new group on the London music scene. After five years and two successful albums, their name has spread far-and-wide becoming a sought after act. Their music is more eclectic and harder to define than ever, but that doesn’t prevent it is enthralling. In…

Artists: Shabaka Hutchings , Sons Of Kemet

Interview: Kel Assouf @ WOMAD Charlton Park (July 2016)

We’re backstage at WOMAD 2016 drinking mint tea with Kel Assouf, a group of musicians who describe themselves as playing ‘Stoner Rock’ from the desert. But this is not the Californian desert of Palm Desert Rock acts like Queens of the Stone Age- we’re talking about the Sahara desert. The…

Artists: Kel Assouf

Review: Criolo + Baloji @ Koko (London, 24th April 2016)

It was billed as one of the highlights of 2016’s La Linea Festival, but Criolo and Baloji gig at Koko went above and beyond all expectations. The event was the unequivocal proof that hip-hop has a thousand faces, and the remarkable ability to adapt and absorb different cultures to spread…

Artists: Baloji , Criolo

Preview: La Linea Festival (London, 17th – 28th April 2016)

As it’s happening since 2001, for ten days in April, London sounds and plays Latino. The responsibility rests on ¡COMO NO! which, 15 years ago, started to organise one of the most chéveres Festivals of the London music scene. La Linea has indeed brought to the British capital some of the finest,…

Artists: A Guy Called Gerald , Adanovsky & Xavi y Los Imanes , Ana Moura , Ariwo , Baloji , Calexico , Chico Trujillo , Criolo , Daymé Arocena , La Yegros