In 2024’s best global music, celebrations of culture abound, with performers playing with sounds of home and family from the Caribbean to Tanzania and beyond.
The 50 best albums of 2024 offer sublime music as major artists return with new work and brilliant new sounds bubble up from the underground and worldwide.
Even by Mdou Moctar’s high standards, Funeral for Justice is extraordinary. Its music and lyrics are searing, and the messages are essential in 2024.
Newport Folk Festival’s lineup remains an impressive showcase for promising new acts, diverse genres, and established acts. “Be present. Be kind. Be open. Be together.”
Hanif Abdurraqib curated an exciting genre-defying series of concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music that kicked off with Mdou Moctar and Bartees Strange.
Despite a global pandemic, musicians were far more active in 2021 and had time to create their finest work. It resulted in some of the best albums in years.
In each of our best "world music" albums of the year, artists ask their audience to leave behind insular world views and understand new perspectives.
Nigerien desert blues guitarist Mdou Moctar's new album Ilana: The Creator is wholly based on his considerable skill as a rock guitarist and songwriter rather than on trying to get in on current trends.
