Category: .Think Africa Press

  • Interview with Fatoumata Diawara

    Interview with Fatoumata Diawara Hailed as Africa’s best interpretation of the ‘girl with a guitar’ archetype, Fatoumata Diawara is the latest Malian to be signed by World Circuit, the label that provided a platform for such legends as Toumani Diabaté and Ali Farka Touré. While these two were very much…

  • Ebo Taylor’s guide to Highlife

    Ebo Taylor’s guide to Highlife Ebo Taylor was lucky enough to have been performing during the golden age of West African music. An early pioneer of the highlife genre, he continues to pursue new musical territory with his new backing band: the Afrobeat Academy. While the band warm up for…

  • Interview with Muntu Valdo

    Interview with Muntu Valdo “My music is commonly known as sawa blues,” says Muntu after some thought. “A lot of people gave it that name, and in time I started using it.” On stage at last weekend’s Larmer Tree Festival, he embraces this grassroots attitude. Things seem to happen naturally…

  • Interview with Seckou Keita

    Interview with Seckou Keita “A lot of people ask that question!” Laughs Seckou Keita. I’ve brought up the subject ofSalif Keita. “It’s a long distance relation, but all the Keita’s are descended from a ruler in the 13thcentury called Sundiata Keita. He was a king who ruled over eleven countries…

  • Interview with Tamikrest’s Ousmane Ag Mossa

    Photograph by Alexander Macfarlane. Click here for the full Tamikrest shoot. As requested by his agent, I greet Ousmane with a cup full of brown sugar. A wet mist has descended over the gardens of Dartington Hall’s Home Festival. Tamikrest are huddled around a kerosene stove in preparation for a…

  • Interview with Jali Fily Cissokho

    Interview with Jali Fily Cissokho Jali Fily Cissokho- colloquially known as Fily- is one of the most renowned kora players to emerge from Senegal. He comes from a blood line of Mandinkan griots, a social group who use music to ensure that the cultural history of the Mande people is…

  • Interview with Vieux Farka Touré

    Interview with Vieux Farka Touré The production story of Vieux Farka Touré’s The Secret begins on the death bed of his father. In the title track we have a previously unreleased session from the legendary Ali Farka Touré, recorded shortly before his admittance into hospital. Ali was to die of…

  • Album Review: Owiny Sigoma Band

    Fusing a traditional African sound – in this case the Luo folk songs of Kenya – with contemporary Western styles has once again proved an easy transition. The concept is far from new. ‘World’ music by definition seeks to draw inspiration from a variety of cultures. Damon Albarn, a guest organ…

I'm Clyde Macfarlane, an NCTJ qualified journalist and illustrator.

I draw using marker pen on card. I specialise in music and travel feature writing, and in 2009 I won a Guardian Media Award. In 2018 my poetry book, Across New Zealand in 140 Hitchhikes, was published by Paekakariki Press.

San Francisco Pride: 1978