Songlines Encounters returns with a new series of events throughout 2027. Dedicated to showcasing music from around the world, Songlines Encounters highlights cultural richness across continents and creates space for extraordinary international artists to be heard.
2027 opens with celebrated Indian artist Raghu Dixit who brings his infectious live energy and genre-defying sound to the Kings Place stage. One of Mauritania’s great voices, Noura Mint Seymali, unites powerful Moorish griot traditions, psychedelic guitar and hypnotic rhythms with her long-time ensemble, before Finland’s Tsuumi Sound System, rooted in Nordic folk traditions, follow in February.
In May, join one of Africa’s legendary music icons and the King of soukous, Kanda Bongo Man, followed by Portuguese singer and songwriter Cristina Clara whose music is shaped by fado in dialogue with the sounds and rhythms of Cape Verde and Brazil.
June brings Belarusian-born, Poland-based accordionist and composer, Yegor Zabelov who creates music that moves between minimalism, ambient trance, post-rave tension and avant-garde improvisation, before duo Balladeste and singer-songwriter Ana Silvera explore the many faces of love, shifting lithely between folk, improvised and neo-classical worlds.
The American composer and fingerstyle guitarist Yasmin Williams brings a new ensemble and reimagined arrangements in September.
Gabba’s Yoik master John André Eira explores his Norwegian folk and Sámi ancestral legacy in original compositions creating a sound that is both haunting and captivating with the onset of autumn, when violinist Anna Phoebe fuses contemporary classical, electronic, folk and Mediterranean influences, exploring myth, migration, ancestry, female history and the unreliability of memory.
Söndörgő venture deep through the Balkans with their 20 instrument repertoire, combining Balkan rhythms with Jazz and Classical music to finish the year.
As ever, the series is proudly presented in partnership with one of the world’s leading global music magazines, Songlines and will feature more exciting additions to come.
The curation of Songlines Encounters is supported by the 1900 Building 1900bldg.com