The May 2024 issue (#197) of Songlines is out now. We take a close look at the Middle East and North Africa with features on Emel Mathlouthi and Mohammad Syfkhan, and an in-depth report on music scenes in the region. We speak to Somaliland’s Sahra Halgan about her new album, have a chat with Dele Sosimi about his time in the bands of Fela and Femi Kuti, talk to Mexican Institute of Sound about 20 years of putting Mexico on the map, and read up on producer Ian Brennan’s many trips around the world to record ‘hidden’ artists. Plus, we have a Beginner’s Guide to qawwali pioneers Sabri Brothers, a My World interview with US painter, musician and improviser par excellence Lonnie Holley, a profile of folk/pop singer Marina Satti who will be representing Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest and we hear from Cara de Espelho, who are fighting the surge of the far right in Portugal with some very unusual instruments. We will also be revealing the winners of the Songlines Music Awards 2024, pick out our Essential 10 Afro-Brazilian Spiritual albums, and have dispatches from the frontline of the war in Kyiv, Ukraine, and from an inaugural jazz festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Plus, all the usual news, listings, reviews, competitions and so much more. Subscribers will also receive our accompanying compilation (CD/digital) featuring ten tracks from the best new music releases, and five bonus selections to accompany the issue.