Akawui
Akawui, a singer-songwriter hailing from Quebec with Chilean and Mapuche Indigenous roots, embarked on a musical journey at a young age. Akawui merges many tribal musical genres including; Cumbia, First Nations and Andean music along with the contemporary sound of...
ZeMe
Zeme in Latvian mythology signifies Mother Earth, and kokle player Laima Jansone and electro-turntablist/producer, Uldis Cirulis aka Monsta, seek to communicate with the natural and musical roots of Latvian traditions through both organic and electronic energy.
The Breath
The contrasting personalities of singer Ríoghnach Connolly and guitarist Stuart McCallum entwine harmoniously in the expansive themes and heart-capturing soundscapes of their compositions, now celebrating their just-released third album for Real World Records, Land of...
Nimkii and the Niniis
Indigenous music collective from Central Ontario, led by Nimkii Osawamick, specialising in traditional Anishinaabeg drumming and choral singing, dedicated to keeping the Anishinaabemowin language alive, giving it a voice as a contemporary expression of culture.
Júlia Kozáková – Manuša
Singer Júlia Kozáková and her stellar team of exceptional musicians from her hometown of Bratislava performing on cimbalom, violin, viola, double bass and guitar, pour fresh energy into an expansive repertoire of deep Roma traditions.
Jinj
French-born Armenian singer Sevana Tchakerian returned to her war-ravaged homeland to team up with producer/guitarist Gor Tadevosyan and create an extraordinary mix of Armenian folk with hip-hop, projecting positive messages projected through inventive, surreal videos.
Jausmė
The Lithuanian singer-storyteller carries her love for the traditional kanklės zither-harp across physical and stylistic borders, building beguiling ambient songs meshing intimations of contemporary influences with organically rooted resonance, creating a new genre of...
Haratago
Inspired by his encounters with Turkish and Azerbaijani musicians, singer and percussionist Julen Achiary places ancestral songs of Basque Country mountain shepherds within a unique sonic tapestry woven by duduk, hurdy-gurdy, and viola da gamba.
Almir Meskovic & Daniel Lazar Duo
Bosnian accordionist Almir Meskovic and Romanian-Serbian violinist Daniel Lazar, escapees from both sides of a war, met in Norway to develop a pan-Balkan repertoire expanded with original compositions and Scandinavian influences, delivered with empathic virtuosity.
Vivi Pozzebón
Argentinian percussionist and singer Vivi Pozzebón has a unique way of mixing Argentine, African and Caribbean music into a sonic journey that fuses traditional rhythms with the power of urban beats. Her wide repertoire incorporates the rhythms of Cuban conga, cumbia,...
Trilitrate
Three serious musicians having fun removing the border posts between traditional, classical, jazz, free improvisation, hardcore, post-rock and noise; Galician trio Trilitrate was formed in Vigo in 2012 by violinist Elena Vázquez, accordionist Marcos Padrón and...
Rodrigo Sosa y la Quenistica
Rodrigo Sosa grew up in Misiones, Argentina and at an early age fell in love with the sound of the quena, the Andean flute of ancient heritage. Aged 17 he visited Cuba and fell in love with the island and its people, returning a couple of years later to live there and...
Neomak
Neomak, which means ‘new moon’ in Greek, are seven young Basque women with attitude, creating a new fusion of traditional Basque folk with a contemporary pulse. Electronic dance grooves underpin the skittering rhythms of the pandero and the pumping melodies of the...
Widad Mjama & Khalil Epi
Back in 2001 a young Widad Mjama, laureate of the Casablanca Conservatory in classical dance and dramatic art, stepped into the spotlight as Morocco's first female rapper in the intensely male environment of Casablanca's underground scene as part of the hip-hop...
Teo Collori & Momento Cigano
It was a chance cinema visit that set Slovenian guitar ace Teo Collori on his current musical path. Already busy as an all-style session player and known performer on the contemporary jazz scene, he discovered a particular passion for the Gypsy Swing jazz of Django...
Anna Tréa
Anna Tréa is a Brazilian musician renowned for her exceptional skills as both a guitarist and a vocalist. Anna Tréa's music is a fusion of 'Afro Pop' compositions, skill-fully blending Afro rhythms from Brazil and across the globe with catchy pop choruses, robust...
Puuluup
Join the Neo-Zombie-Post-Folk Talharpa revival here. Thousands already have: in their homeland of Estonia, where they've been amassing adoring followers since 2014, and in the wider world from Chile to Taiwan, where they've been surprising audiences at festivals like...
Liraz (CANCELLED)
A journey of self-discovery helped Liraz Charhi create her unique fusion of traditional Persian music with modern electronic sounds. Liraz grew up in Ramla, Israel, where her family had emigrated from Iran in 1970. Growing up speaking Hebrew at school and Farsi at...
Kutu
Kutu was born in Addis Ababa in 2019 where prodigiously multi-faceted French violinist Théo Ceccaldi, encountered the symbiotic voices of the two Ethiopian singers, Hewan Gebrewold and Haleluya Tekletsadik, well-known on the city's vibrant underground music scene as...
Ko Shin Moon
Armed with traditional stringed instruments and electronic music machines, Ko Shin Moon stage a harmonious collision between Mediterranean cultures and psychedelic space disco in their quest for eclecticism, cosmopolitanism and hybridity born of free and respectful...
Haepaary
Haepaary (pronounced 'he̞pʰa̠ri') radically redefine the music of Confuscianism. That is to say, their electronic manifestations are layered in centuries of Korean meaning, drawing melodies and lyrics from the deep well of Jongmyo Jeryeak, the royal ancestral ceremony...
Magalí Sare & Manel Fortià
A jazz duo of double bass and voice is not an easy one to pull off, but Magalí Sare and Manel Fortià promise “an excellent chemistry and ability to improvise with supple elegance”. When Magalí Sare and Manel Fortià embark on their musical journeys they travel to a...
Valeria Castro
Still in her early 20s, Canarian singer Valeria Castro possesses a beguiling voice and an innate ability to get to the heart of a song and evoke an emotional response in the listener. Born in La Palma, she started playing piano aged four. Age 17 she began...
Les Héritières – Tribute to Cheikha Rimitti
Four contemporary singing stars – Souad Asla, Samira Brahmia, Cheikha Hadjla and Nawel Ben Kraïem – came together at the Magic Barbès 2021 Festival in Paris as Les Héritières, to pay tribute to Algeria's most influential and loved artist of the 20th century, Cheikha...
Killabeatmaker
Hilder Brando aka Killabeatmaker, Medellin-based DJ-producer and singer-songwriter, has been an influential presence on the Colombian scene for over two decades, through his work as producer for successful Colombian artists like Juan Astronauta and Tairona and...
Kin’Gongolo Kiniata
Master upcyclers from Kinshasa, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata draw on the frenetic energy of the city's urban streets to produce their own experimental Afro-punk rumba, laying down seriously funky grooves invoked from an impressive arsenal of self-made percussion and stringed...
Florence Adooni
Florence Adooni is a leading voice of the thriving Frafra gospel scene of northern Ghana, which in recent years has spilled over the borders from its heartland in the city of Kumasi to the nation’s capital and beyond. Born and raised in Kumasi, she grew up singing...
La Sonora Mazurén
La Sonora Mazurén have grown out of Bogotá's ever-expanding alternative music scene, hotbed of multi-directional, neo-tropicalia, as championed by names such as the Meridian Brothers and Los Pirañas. Formed by accordionist and vintage keyboard manipulator Iván...
Mouvman Alé
Virassamy-Macé, Mouvman Alé present an explosive and audacious view on Reunion's identity: drawing on the Indian Hindu celebratory trance music of the Malbar community, in which Virassamy-Macé grew up; the voice and percussion Creole pulse of Maloya; and the...
Livia Mattos
Bahia-based accordion player, songwriter, vocalist, filmmaker and visual artist, Livia Mattos has been developing her singular skills as player and unconventional frontwoman since she started her artistic adventures as a circus performer. She has collaborated with...
Matt Carmichael
BBC Music Magazine hailed Matt Carmichael as 'a distinctive new voice in a crowded scene', which rather understates the sheer originality of the young saxophonist's compositions that suffuse elements of jazz and Scottish folk in a way that places him in a field of his...
Ánnámáret
Coming from a Sámi reindeer-herding family from the far-northern border of Finland and Norway, Ánnámáret embodies the ancient tradition of Sámi yoiking, invoking the ancestral spirits of the natural world and the people whose survival has depended on a deep respect...
Aleph Quintet
Five skilled musicians from different backgrounds come together to create a free-flowing conversation between the worlds of jazz improvisation and harmony, music of the Maghreb, Gnawa rhythms, Arabic classical and Sufi music. Brussels-based Aleph Quintet was formed...
Beatriz Rosário
Beatriz Rosário sings with the nuance and passion that are hallmarks of the classic fado style, applying them qualities with courage and originality to the contemporary mix she calls 'alternative fado'. On her recent series of successful single releases with maverick...
Arnaldo Antunes and Vitor Araújo
Followers of Brazilian popular music need no introduction to Arnaldo Antunes. In a long, diverse and prolific career, the São Paulo poet, composer and singer has continually reinventing himself to great acclaim, chalking up several platinum albums and a Latin Grammy....
Ailá
The popular folk music bar Casa das Crechas in Santiago de Compostela has long been a breeding ground for international music conversations and collaborations, and it is from this here that Ailá have emerged. They are part of a growing movement in Galicia, known as...
Erini
Erini assimilated her passion for Greek-Anatolian music while growing up in Crete, introduced to the traditions by her mother, a descendant of Greek refugees displaced from Anatolia in the 1920s. Now herself a part of the greater Greek diaspora, she is based in New...
Elephant Sessions
Today's folk making folk-music for today. Hailing from the Highlands of Scotland, combining mandolin and fiddle, sturdy grooves, electro-loops, and tight bass and drums section, Elephant Sessions have created their own brand of indie-funk-folk, channelling the organic...
DefMaa MaaDef
A high-energy encounter of two queens of the Senegalese urban scene, joining formidable forces to push the new sounds of Dakar further into global awareness. DefMaa MaaDef are Mamy Victory, renowned rapper with a reputation as a powerful stage presence, and Defa, a...
Danûk
Exile sharpens the awareness of home. Danûk came together amidst chaotic times in 2015 in Istanbul, to where the group of music and fine arts graduates had fled the war in Syria. To survive they took to street performances, soon gaining a commission to compose a film...
Bamba Wassoulou Groove
Bamba Wassoulou Groove were originally formed to honour the legacy of late Malian guitar legend Zani Diabaté, a prime mover in mixing traditional styles with rock energy in the ‘80s with his Super Djata Band. Percussionist Bamba Dembélé, who played in the Super Djata...
Baiuca
Electronic musician Alejandro Guillán, aka Baiuca, lives in Madrid, is known throughout Spain and has toured in many continents, but his heart remains in his native Galicia. Indeed, it's the centuries-old chants, poetry, song and rhythms of the north-western region,...
Avalanche Kaito
The PR subheading is griot post-punk noise, which doesn't adequately describe the masterful fusion of traditional Burkinabe songs with post-modern pre-futuristic electrically charged blocks of monolithic staccato grooves generated by Avalanche Kaito. Singer,...
Ana Carla Maza
The music of cellist and vocalist extraordinaire, Ana Carla Maza, reflects a range of influences, from the traditional music of her childhood to bossa nova and habanera and beyond, executed with a formidable technique of percussive rhythmic playing, dexterous bowing,...
79rs Gang
79rs Gang was formed in 2013 when Big Chief Romeo Bougere of the 9th Ward Hunters and Big Chief Jermaine Bossier of the 7th Ward Creole Hunters put their differences aside and came together to make music, building on the deep roots of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian...