Songlines (magazine)
Songlines is a British magazine launched in 1999 that covers music from traditional and popular to contemporary and fusion, featuring artists from around the globe.
Songlines is published 10 times a year and contains album reviews, artist interviews, guides to particular world music traditions, concert and festival listings and travel stories. Every issue comes with an accompanying compilation CD featuring sample tracks from 10 of the best new releases reviewed in that issue and five additional tracks.
The founding editor is Simon Broughton, co-editor of The Rough Guide to World Music. It is now edited by Russ Slater Johnson.
The name was chosen based on the aboriginal mythological concept of songlines.
History
In 2008 Songlines was expanded to include Songlines Music Travel, a music tourism service offering excursions to renowned world music locations and festivals. This is now on indefinite hiatus.In 2009 Songlines launched Songlines Digital, an online subscription version of the magazine.
Mark Allen Group acquired Songlines in 2015.
Songlines Music Awards
In 2009, Songlines launched their Music Awards to replace the cancelled BBC [Radio 3 Awards for World Music] World Music Awards. The Songlines award is granted in four categories: Best Artist, Best Group, Best Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Best Newcomer.Instead of the category Best Cross-Cultural Collaboration, the Songlines award was granted in 2016 in six new categories: Africa & Middle East, Americas, Asia & South Pacific, Europe, Fusion and World Pioneer Award. The winners were: Seckou Keita, Lila Downs, Debashish Bhattacharya, Sam Lee & Friends, Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Ségal and Chris Blackwell.