Simon Broughton

1 week ago | songlines.co.uk | Simon Broughton

Top of the World Rating: ★★★★ View album and artist details Artist/band: Hajda Banda Label: Karrot Kommando May/2025 Hajda Banda are one of the best traditional bands to have emerged in Poland in recent years. Led by Belarusian singer and violinist Daria Butskaya, they focus on the music of eastern Poland and the Polesia region of Belarus and Ukraine.

2 weeks ago | songlines.co.uk | Simon Broughton

Tuesday, April 8, 2025 By Simon Broughton Simon Broughton attends a special event at London's Barbican Centre celebrating Guru Nanak L-R: Amrita Kaur, Zeeshan Ali, Aruna Sairam, Anantvir Singh, Momin Khan (photo by Rehmat Rayatt) This was an unprecedented event. A whole day (April 6) was spent celebrating Guru Nanak, culminating in a five-hour concert organised by Darbar Festival, who have recently begun a partnership with the Barbican Centre.

1 month ago | songlines.co.uk | Simon Broughton

Tuesday, March 25, 2025 By Simon Broughton The many journeys of Maghrebi explorer Ibn Battuta are the focus of a new ensemble performance from Jordi Savall Thanks for visiting the Songlines website, your guide to an extraordinary world of music and culture.

2 months ago | songlines.co.uk | Simon Broughton

Rating: ★★★ View album and artist details Artist/band: WSPAK Label: Fortune February/March/2025 WSPAK is Polish duo Adrianna (Ada) Kafel-Woźniak and Aleksandra (Ola) Pura-Cidyło from Białystok in the north-east of the country. They sing Ukrainian songs as well as those of the Lemko minority in the south-east of the country – which is why they’ve called it Songs of the Rising Sun.

2 months ago | fmq.fi | Simon Broughton

There’s a driving rhythm, which seems unusual on a kantele tune, and it’s the rhythm that dominates helped by an electric bass, until a fiddle melody finds its way out and soars upwards like a bird. The tune is called ‘Kisavirsi’ (Swaying Tune), a flowing dance piece as performed on the kantele back in Kalevala times. But this version is far from dry or historical. Although the instruments are traditional it sounds pretty contemporary.