This article originally appeared in Songlines #128 (June 2017) p114. Download a pdf here. Summer is just around the corner and that can mean only one thing – it’s officially festival season! Here are just some of the bands that will have deputy editor Alexandra Petropoulos dancing in her wellies 47Soul Shamstep EP (47Soul, 2015) This crew of … Continue reading
This feature originally appeared in Songlines #126 (April 2017) p32. Download a pdf here. Warsaw Village Band’s latest album is a musical experiment in search of connections between cultures while paying homage to the sun. Alexandra Petropoulos speaks to the band’s frontman and percussionist Maciej Szajkowski about the strong pagan themes that run through it Ritual fires, spirits, … Continue reading
This feature originally appeared in Songlines #122 (Nov 2016) p105. Download a pdf here. Alexandra Petropoulos ponders the challenges of performing and listening to sacred music onstage as entertainment, away from its original contexts Beneath a canopy of brightly coloured fabrics, all glowing in the black light, I stood utterly entranced by what was happening … Continue reading
This feature originally appeared in Songlines #121 (October 2016) p15. Download a pdf here. Alexandra Petropoulos speaks to percussionist Sarathy Korwar about his debut that combines ethnographic recordings and jazz (Photo by Fabrice Bourgelle) The movement of African music across the Atlantic is well documented. Without that migration the music of South America and the Caribbean would be … Continue reading
This article originally appeared in Songlines #120 (Aug/Sept 2016) p98. Download a pdf here. It’s not summer in the UK until you’ve spent a weekend in your wellies and sun hat at a festival. Here are ten acts Alexandra Petropoulos is looking forward to seeing at Larmer Tree, WOMAD, Cambridge and Shambala festivals 01 Afriquoi Kolaba (Wormfood Records, … Continue reading
This feature originally appeared in Songlines #119 (July 2016) p74. Download a pdf here. Alexandra Petropoulos speaks to the Leeds singer-songwriter about her journey to rediscover happiness and the music she found along the way There is a genuine enthusiasm that radiates from Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae as she speaks to me. Her joie de vivre is … Continue reading
This feature originally appeared in Songlines #118 (June 2016) p36. Download a pdf here. Alexandra Petropoulos speaks to Gambian kora player Sona Jobarteh about the musical journey that has taken her through traditional griot music and Western classical performance, and how it led to the creation of her country’s first school dedicated to Mande music Sunjata Keita watches … Continue reading
This feature originally appeared in Songlines #118 (June 2016) p16. Download a pdf here. Brooklyn-based singer Eva Salina tells Alexandra Petropoulos about how she’s immersed herself in the Balkan songbook, despite being an outsider Authenticity is a subject that crops up from time to time within these pages. How ‘authentic’ is an artist? Is he or she qualified … Continue reading
This feature originally appeared in Songlines #117 (May 2016) p74. Download a pdf here. Alexandra Petropoulos speaks to the French composer and musician Yann Tiersen, ahead of his dates at London’s Barbican, about his Breton roots and how the natural world is the inspiration behind his current project (Photo: Katherine Rose) For some, music is … Continue reading
This feature originally appeared on The Guardian on February 1, 2016. View original post here. Homesick and heartsick residents of Jordan’s vast Zaatari refugee camp sing of their sadness at exile Just a few kilometres east of Mafraq, Jordan, the Zaatari refugee camp stretches over five sq km towards the Syrian border. Originally established as a … Continue reading
