#billetto

For 78 generations, the Diabaté family have been the custodians of the ancient oral traditions of West Africa’s Mandé people. Toumani and Sidiki are a father-and-son duo that have kept the tradition alive. They are the masters of the Kora, the 21-string West African harp and it’s using it that they create very melodic peaceful songs.

Toumani took over his dad’s tradition and kept the sounds of Kora alive. He has been travelling the world introducing everyone to the Mandé sound. His son, Sidiki, splits his days between his own hip hop record label in Bamako, Mali’s capital, with raper “Iba One” and playing Kora with his father.

Their album is a set of obscure Kora songs and traditional Mandé songs. Have a listen to some of them:

Shura

Straight from Shepard’s Bush, London, Shura’s music is very personal but ultimately, very cool and contemporary. A mix of 90’s R&B and electro with beats and vocals that remind us of Solange and Jessie Ware. She has claimed this as her own signature style and created very melodic songs perfect for the summer. Don’t miss her set at Field Day London!

She hasn’t released a full LP yet, but she has managed to build a lot of expectation around her name from the beginning. She’s been featured as an artist to watch by BBC, Stereogum, Dazed and countless others and we couldn’t agree more! Her first single “Touch” came out last year along a homemade video featuring her friends kissing and went viral and it’s only been going up from there. Check out her latest video for her single “2Shy”

 Expect her album to drop by August / September this year but here is a little preview for you of Shura’s sound.

Oceaán

Oliver Cean "Oceaán" is a young producer from Manchester who was born in Brussels but grew up in Denmark. He's building a great following, and has steadily been booking gigs around the country for a while now, including this year's Field Day London!

His music is very emotional in the same way James Blake's is; dark, deep vocals and beats that when layered together are, in a way, very nostalgic. However, what's really striking about Oceaáns music is his tempo and the way it changes throughout every track, working hand in hand with the percussion and vocals. One song may make you either want to dance away or sit down and contemplate life as it goes past you. 

We have put together a short playlist of our favourite tracks from his two EPs "Oceaan" and "The Grip" so you can get a feel of what's to come at Field Day.

Tei Shi

Foto by Faith Silva

Valerie Teicher, a.k.a Tei Shi is a New York City based singer-songwriter. Teicher was born in Buenos Aires to Colombian parents and lived in Canada before studying at Berkely College of Music in Boston and then moving to NYC.

She describes her music as “mermaid music” which could possibly be the best way to describe it as it doesn’t really fit into any other category. It’s a layered mix of electro, pop, indie with a hint of 80s synth pop; but what Tei Shi is really about is her voice. The vocals to her tracks play a big role in making her music so melodic and harmonious.

 She released her first EP “Saudade” in 2013 and has just released her second EP “Verde” this April. There has definitely been an evolution from one EP to another, where Saudade was a more personal and experimental project, Verde is more studied and confident, it’s the consolidation of the Tei Shi sound. We have prepared a short playlist with our favourite tracks for you, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Don’t forget Tei Shi will be playing at this year’s Field Day London! 

Can you introduce yourself for those in London that may be unfamiliar with you? I'm a vocalist from Iceland who got into making her own songs a few years back. I like a hooky melody over a dreamy soundscape. My coming EP is produced quite cold, minimal and electronic, driven by beats and high, flowery vocals. You’ll be making your UK debut at Ja Ja Ja later this week. Getting excited to meet the crowd? Can't wait, I'm literally counting. I’ve heard the London crowd can be a bit tough to please but I got a good feeling about this show, the other bands are great and the venue is too, I know good people coming so I'm easy.

  What are you looking forward to most this Summer? Anything fans should keep an eye out for (e.g. live dates/festivals, releases)? I am really excited about a whole month in Iceland, I will also be writing and recording a new EP so I'm staying in the bubble a little longer :) What artist(s) have you got on repeat at the moment? Here We Go Magic and Alice Coltrane

Can you give a quick intro to Hey Elbow for those in London that may be unfamiliar with you?

We are Ellen, Liam & Julia from Malmö, Sweden. We write and play music together. The music can be described as some kind of dreamy experimental indie-pop.

There's a distinctly tribal vibe to aspects of your sound; for example the percussion and background vocal on 'Ruth'. I haven't come across that in pop-leaning acts before. What inspired the sound?

Most of the song ideas come from when we improvise together. On “Ruth” we started with the background vocal as a loop and built the song on that. The percussion is something what we didn’t want to clash with loop, so it’s kind of in between, a call-and-response that worked out really nice. The first idea that we build a song on usually colours every other part of the song.

 Your debut album Every Other drops on April 14th via Adrian Recordings (congrats, by the way!). Any further live dates in the works to support the release in the UK?

We don´t have any future live dates in the UK (yet)... but really hope to play there again soon.

What artist(s) have you got on repeat at the moment?

Nils Frahm, Grouper, Deerhoof, Lana del Rey, Arcade Fire