Organising and running a music festival these days might sound like pure madness… It’s not only about passion for and dedication to music and its interpreters, but also a risky work of art considering the volatile Covid-related situation, ever-changing rules and widespread insecurity affecting the cultural sector on a global…

This show is a trip through world music and global beats searching for the Oneness in humanity, regardless of all geographical, political, economic and all kinds of divisions, and identifications we might all have, in these times of uncertainties we search for Unity. The unity that music brings to us……

In the new episode of Rendez-Vous a Bobo, Lucas makes a ‘rendez-vous’ with DJ, broadcaster, and label boss Gilles Peterson. Gilles highlights a few key tunes from West Africa in his record box, talks French radio, and managing a record label in 2021. Tracklist: • Fela Kuti – Roforofo Fight…

This is an album that has landed at a time we may most appreciate it. Elevation is at the heart of this record. It is an LP inspired by afrobeat and spiritual jazz with strong elements of Detroit groove pulsing through the soundtrack.  Nicola Conte and Gianluca Petrella’s message is…

French composer and musician Christophe Chassol, who has collaborated with Frank Ocean and Solange, has become known for “ultrascore”, a musical technique that can be thought of as harmonising reality. Ludi (released on 6th March 2020 via Tricatel) is his latest effort applying this technique, as he continues to draw…

For three days and nights there will be a wave of eclectic live music, DJ’s and Q&A sessions across Camden. Ranging from spoken word to dancehall, math-rock to afrobeat – all with an experimental and original flare. The main headliners include Michael Kiwanuka, Róisín Murphy, Kate Tempest, and Mike Skinner,…

Womad, the world’s festival, once again sparkled the Wiltshire countryside with an array of international musicians. In what was one of the driest Womads in recent years, highlights came from the headliners to the warm-up acts, creating an inclusive and illuminating festival. The first thing of note was the changes…

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…

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…

Still cerebrating how to celebrate the last night of 2018 and the first morning of 2019? We are here to help with a selection of some of the best NYE parties happening in London and the rest of UK. Whether you’re willing to spend the 31st December dancing, revelling in…

The sun is shining as people from all corners of the globe – including artists from six continents and fifty countries – come together for this year’s eclectic celebration of world music and dance culture. Families, friends and couples of all ages erect tents, blow up mattresses and boil water…

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…

I remember the first time I heard Chassol like it was yesterday. I was listening to “Pipornithology, Pt. II” – from his acclaimed album Big Sun – and I was blown away, by the way, he started with the recording of a singing bird and used it to create an…

Embraced by the Alps Mountains in the North-western area of Italy, Turin is a city marked by its aristocratic past and industrial history. This contrast best represents the city’s multiple facets: richness and poverty, innovation and tradition, history and modernity all living together in one place. This blend and mix…

Tam Tam Tam Reimagined, well, reimagines a classic Brazilian music, from Jose Prates’ Tam Tam Tam, into the second volume of Gilles Peterson’s Sonzeira project (the first release was Bam Bam Bam.) The original Tam Tam Tam was an album of lively drumbeating, band playing, and singing, that sounds like…

This is the ‘anthology’ of modern Cuban music that embodies the diversity of a new generation of artists beyond the Buena Vista Social Club legacy. This is also the ‘anthology’ that embraces a good number of Afro-Caribbean rhythms – son, salsa, reggaeton, hip-hop, Latin jazz, among many others – linked…

Gilles Peterson has become synonymous with the continued revelation of the latest talents that fuse non-traditional jazz with musical influences from across the world.  This explains why his twelfth annual worldwide awards sold out quickly and why many consider him an ambassador for world music, bringing new global concepts back…

Today, black music is warmth, experimentation, crossbreeding, avant-garde, tradition, and rhythm. Turin’s Jazz Re:Found festival explores these definitions, with a curious and forward thinking vision on music, honouring great names of the past while looking at the most current scenes with a sharp eye and sensitive ear. Spread across seven…

Alien Cartoon is Senegalese artist Ibaaku’s debut album. It consists of 11 pieces of raw electronic dance music, each a musical montage which engages the listener in Ibaaku’s grand musical vision. The strength in Alien Cartoon’s pieces is Ibaaku’s ability to make beauty out of melding pleasant sounds and rhythms…