Latest Issue

Rethinking Opera

Christopher Fox

If we want new opera to relate to our twenty-first century experience, we must return to first principles, says Christopher Fox

Don’t Upset the Rhythm

Matthew Jordan

When innovative music is seen as a moral threat to society

From the 1950s until the 1980s, Franco Luambo Makiadi and his TPOK Jazz orchestra profoundly shaped the sound of African music across the continent, and subsequently the popular music of the world through artists such as Paul Simon and Talking Heads. Yet Franco is little known outside Africa and his 1,000 compositions are hardly represented on recordings. Now just over twenty years since Franco’s death in 1989, Kasongo Musanga tells the story of ‘The Sorcerer of the Guitar’, from whose shadow Congolese music is still emerging.

A Whole New Thing

Alice Echols

Alice Echols tells the forgotten story of the daring, cross-racial experimentation that happened across rock, funk and disco during the 1970s.

The Musical Priest

Ciaran Carson

He was a cantankerous eccentric who stressed that the Irish language and music were inseparable. Richard Henebry should not be forgotten, writes Ciaran Carson

Have a Little Faith

John McLachlan

Promoters of art mislead audiences by suggesting that there is meaning where there is none. Sometimes you just have to trust the artist, writes John McLachlan