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THE TEAM
Editor-in-chief Simon Broughton Publisher Paul Geoghegan Editor Jo Frost Art Director Ben Serbutt Assistant Editor Sophie Atkinson Advertisement Manager James Anderson-Hanney Subscriptions Manager and Podcast Producer Nasim Masoud Reviews Editor Matthew Milton News Editor Nathaniel Handy Listings Tatiana Rucinska listings@songlines.co.uk World Cinema Editor Ed Stocker ed@edstocker.com Production Consultant Dermot Jones Financial Controller Iwona Perucka Commercial Consultant Chris Walsh Editorial Director Lyn Hughes Contributing Editors Jane Cornwell, Mark Ellingham, Sue Steward & Nigel Williamson Editorial Assistant Alexandra Petropoulos Assisted this issue by Sarah-Jane Muskett (design) Cover photo Sanjay Ramchandran
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“These brief, personal snapshots reveal so much about people’s lives”
aving just seen the amazing Life in a Day film, I’m delighted we’ve got a playlist this issue from its director Kevin Macdonald. He’s a film-maker of note – The Eagle, The Last King of Scotland and Touching the Void. But Life in a Day seems like a very Songlines sort of film. With contributions from everywhere, it’s a snapshot of the world now – or, more accurately, on July 24 2010. Compiled from 80,000 videos specially submitted on YouTube, it creates a very universal film from intimate, personal details of peoples’ lives. These brief, personal snapshots reveal so much about people’s lives, just as so much of the music does that we cover in Songlines. I was at WOMAD on July 24 2010 and was filmed on one of the 80,000 clips submitted for Life in a Day. I suspect I hit the cutting room floor early on – this film was essentially made in the editing process by Joe Walker. It’s an incredible achievement making something so engaging and coherent out of a global chaos of material. As you can see from Macdonald’s choice of tracks (p10), he’s someone who has an ear for music and knows the power of what it can tell. A film made through YouTube is one demonstration of the rise of digital media. So now we’re doing our bit. We’ve just launched a Songlines blog (see p18 for details). It’s a way of communicating more quickly and directly about what’s going on and broadening the coverage of the magazine. For instance, you can check out two great photo stories we’ve put on the blog that tie in with features in the magazine: remarkable pictures by photographer Shiv Ahuja of Raghu Dixit, our cover artist, on tour in India, and powerful photos by Róbert Bácsi of the Busójárás carnival in Hungary as featured in our story on Söndörgő (p54). And there’s also our Podcast where you can hear music by Raghu Dixit, Söndörgő and many others – a great way to hear interviews and more of the music we’re covering in the magazine. Do come and hear Söndörgő for real on June 25 at London’s Kings Place. You can see samples of them and other Songlines Encounters artists on another of our digital offerings, the Songlines YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/songlinesmagazine). My favourite of these is Sväng’s brilliantly-crafted video which captures the essence of their music somewhere on the cusp between high art and a good joke. “A moose running on just three legs has a lot of Sväng,” they say. The film combines music, food, quirky philosophy and sausage making. The blog will have reports from recent Songlines Music Travel trips – we’ve just had a group in Lisbon getting to the heart of the fado experience. And there’s a great trip gearing up for Guča in August with gigs by Boban and Marko Marković and Goran Bregović – and with our special access, we’ll get to meet them both. A big thanks to the Bahia State Secretariat of Culture for the fabulous Bahian CD this issue – that’s a place where we hope to be organising Songlines Music Travel trips in the future (see p31). Enjoy soaking up the music from Brazil’s musical powerhouse.
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Printing Polestar Colchester Ltd, Severalls Industrial Estate, Colchester, Essex CO4 4HT. Record trade distribution Worldwide Magazine Distributors. Tel: 0121 788 3112 UK newsstand & overseas newstrade distribution COMAG Specialist Division. Tel: 01895 433800 All rights are reserved. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or in part, is strictly forbidden without the prior written consent of the publishers. No responsibility for incorrect information can be accepted. The views expressed in the articles are those of the author, and not necessarily of the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of statements in Songlines, we cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or for matters arising from clerical or printer’s errors, or for advertisers not completing their contracts. Songlines is also available in audio format from the Talking Newspaper Association, tel: 01435 866102, www.tnauk.org.uk Songlines (ISSN No: 1464-8113) is published Jan/Feb, Mar, Apr/May, June, July, Aug/Sep, Oct, Nov/Dec by Songlines Publishing and is distributed in the USA by Mercury International as mailing agent. Periodicals postage paid at Rahway, NJ. and additional mailing offices. Published by Songlines Publishing Ltd, PO Box 54209, London, W14 0WU. ISSN 1464-8113 © 2009 Songlines Publishing Ltd Songlines logo trade mark, registered under No. 2427714. Directors: Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, Paul Geoghegan, Lyn Hughes and Chris Pollard
✈ Songlines offsets its writers’ flights with ClimateCare. 1The text paper for this magazine is printed on 100% de-inked post consumer waste.
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on the SONGLINES stereo simon The excellent Nasim Forty Thieves debut album from Orkestar – fantastic Radio 3 oud protégé foot-stomping stuff Khyam Allami
courtesy of matt Samuel James’ acoustic folk-blues album, For Rosa, Maeve and Noreen
TATIANA Mix & Dorp’s Blues + Beat. Powerful, hypnotic, modern blues
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