10 music that deliver back again reminiscences of my travels: Jo Frost’s playlist



a person standing on a stage holding a guitar: Photograph: Alamy


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Photograph: Alamy

Zorba’s Dance by Mikis Theodorakis



a person sitting on a stage: Cape Verde accordionist Victor Tavares, known as Bitori, on stage with bass player Danilo Tavares.


© Photograph: Alamy
Cape Verde accordionist Victor Tavares, known as Bitori, on phase with bass player Danilo Tavares.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of spouse and children holidays to Greece. These times Zorba’s Dance is undeniably a bit of a cliche, but when I hear that gradual bouzouki intro, I’m reminded of my dad, who would put this LP on following drunken dinners and start dancing the sirtaki. I viewed Zorba the Greek for the initially time through lockdown previous calendar year when I arrived across it in my dad’s DVD collection. I was surprised by how considerably it influenced me, producing me pine for Greece – and for my father, who I realise appeared remarkably like Zorba (performed by Anthony Quinn).

Vuoi Vuoi Me by Mari Boine



Mari Boine holding a microphone: Sami musician Mari Boine on stage in Norway. Photograph: Gonzales Photo/Alamy


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Sami musician Mari Boine on stage in Norway. Photograph: Gonzales Photo/Alamy

Womad has been the resource of so many of my musical introductions: it was there, in 2007, that I very first saw Mari Boine – the unofficial ambassador of Sámi tunes – perform are living. It began a fascination with Sámi society and joik, the distinctive guttural song model of the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia. Quite a few decades later on I was invited to Kautokeino, way up past the Arctic Circle in close proximity to Boine’s household of Karasjok, for the Sámi Easter competition. It felt like a crash training course in all points to do with joik and reindeer, but it also gave me an invaluable perception into Sámi history and the people’s connection with these who colonised their land. These days the Sámi have their very own parliament, flag and national day (6 February).

That’s It! by the Preservation Corridor Jazz Band



a group of people sitting in front of a crowd: Jazz at Preservation Hall, New Orleans. Photograph: Alamy


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Jazz at Preservation Hall, New Orleans. Photograph: Alamy

Like many some others, I observed most of my journey programs scuppered previous yr, including a highway trip from Nashville to New Orleans to coincide with the New Orleans jazz fest. The impetus for the excursion experienced largely appear about whilst binge-watching the HBO series Treme. We’d compiled a playlist for our journey as a result of Tennessee and Louisiana, but when it turned crystal clear that our desire of traveling to venues this sort of as Preservation Hall in New Orleans was not going to take place, we’d participate in it at house. This monitor by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band generally lifts my spirits, gets me dancing and tends to make me useless established on rebooking our vacation as shortly as it is secure to do so.

Bitori Nha Bibinha by Bitori

The most internationally celebrated artist from Cape Verde is the late Cesária Évora, the doyenne of morna music, steeped in saudade (nostalgia or longing). I could have picked any range of Cesária music, but when I visited Santiago – major of the Cape Verde islands – it was funaná that became the soundtrack of my trip, blaring out of the packed alugueres (minibus taxis), current market stalls and bars. Funaná was banned by the Portuguese up right until 1975 as they feared the songs in Creole ended up subversive and its frenetic dance rhythms immoral. Septuagenarian accordion participant Victor Tavares, AKA Bitori, is the genre’s not likely star, mainly many thanks to singer Chando Graciosa who persuaded him to history this in 1997, and to Samy Ben Redjeb of Analog Africa, who rereleased it in 2016.

Teach Music by Sakar Khan

One particular of the most atmospheric competition areas I have visited is the Mehrangarh Fort, residence of Riff – the Rajasthan Intercontinental Folk Competition, held every single Oct in the course of the harvest moon in Jodhpur. This colossal pink sandstone edifice reverberates with the sound of Rajasthani folk musicians these types of as Manganiyar legends Lakha Khan and the late Sakar Khan, masters of common bowed, stringed instruments the sindhi sarangi and the kamayacha. Riff is a complete-on immersive working experience and to do it justice, a certain degree of endurance is essential as live shows begin at dawn, have on through the heat of the day, then proceed lengthy into the night. Any time I hear the rasping sounds of these historical devices, I’m right away transported back to Jodhpur.

St Thomas by Sonny Rollins



a large city landscape: The Jazz a Vienne festival, France. Photograph: Alamy


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The Jazz a Vienne pageant, France. Photograph: Alamy

1 of the positive aspects of learning French and German (in people joyful EU times) was becoming able to expend a year as an English language assistant in a faculty in Vienne, just south of Lyon. After my stint training, I volunteered at Jazz à Vienne, a fantastic two-week jazz festival held in the town’s Roman amphitheatre. I returned each individual summer season in the course of the early 1990s, making lifelong pals and obtaining a crash system in jazz in the procedure. More than the years I saw outstanding artists, which include Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, and Sonny Rollins, who remains a single of my favourite sax gamers. The working experience became the basis for my adore of new music from about the planet and my perform nowadays.

The Plateau by Jenny Sturgeon

I have normally located ease and comfort in strolling, and very last yr it took on even higher value. So concerning lockdowns, my companion and I headed up to the Cairngorms to do some mountaineering. Just prior to our journey I acquired Jenny Sturgeon’s musical tribute to Nan Shepherd’s reserve about the Cairngorms, The Residing Mountain. Every single hike we embarked on would expose distinct landscapes – and each sort of weather imaginable. Back in London, listening to Jenny’s album brings back again reminiscences of those mountains, specially listening to the bird song on this opening observe, as Jenny sings: “Step on action, foot by foot, we walk which is how we know, by means of the heather and the mud, the plateau ringing via our blood.

Depend Your Blessings by the Como Mamas



a rocky beach next to the ocean: Porto Covo beach, Alentejo. Photograph: Alamy


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Porto Covo beach, Alentejo. Photograph: Alamy

A person of my European pageant highlights in recent years was FMM Sines, held on Portugal’s wild and fairly untouristy Alentejo coastline, in the towns of Porto Covo and Sines. A truly peaceful, friendly vibe permeated the opening weekend in the seaside vacation resort of Porto Covo, where by a combination audience of locals and travellers congregated in the major sq.. The Como Mamas, from Mississippi, had been mysterious to me, but turned out to be a revelation. As the 3 singers took to the phase, the ambiance transformed into some thing resembling a devoted congregation at a gospel gathering. Considering that then, Depend Your Blessings has become a mantra, specially very last yr.

Pothole in the Sky by Lisa O’Neill



a group of people sitting at a table in a restaurant: Irish musicians at O’Donoghue’s pub, Dublin. Photograph: Hugh Reynolds/Alamy


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Irish musicians at O’Donoghue’s pub, Dublin. Photograph: Hugh Reynolds/Alamy

A person of the issues I sorely skip throughout these socially distanced periods is people random conversations you strike up with finish strangers over a pint. There is nowhere improved to do this than in Dublin, especially in a person of the city’s lots of songs pubs, these as The Cobblestone or O’Donoghue’s. I haven’t been blessed adequate to see the Irish singer Lisa O’Neill at a session, although she was evidently a typical in pre-Covid moments. The blend of chat, beer and songs is excellent and I can not wait to revisit.

La Grande Folie by San Salvador

Most of the travelling I do as editor of Songlines is to festivals around the entire world, and a single of the items I most love about them is the communal listening practical experience. There’s some thing visceral about hearing tunes becoming performed are living with other men and women close to you. For me, San Salvador flawlessly encapsulate this feeling. A sextet from Saint-Salvadour in south-west France, they sing in Occitan. There’s a genuine physicality to their tunes and a thing extremely impressive about the combination of voice and percussion. They often finish their sets with La Grande Folie – a track that resonates with these outrageous times.

San Salvador are thanks to conduct at Songlines Encounters Festival at Kings Place in Could (Covid allowing)