Bristol's World Music Gigs

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Bristol's World Scene

Do we need the term World music in 2020?

World music has always been a problematic term, somewhere like Bristol is a key example of why. With 16% of the population being from ethnic minority groups and dedicated centres studying the impact of migration on citizenship, there seems little distinction between ‘local music’ and ‘world music’ anymore. Reggae is often classed as ‘world music’ given its Jamaican roots, but it has a strong UK heritage and for someone who is a 2nd or 3rd generation UK citizen with migrant parents, making music that’s classed as ‘world’ when they’ve never lived anywhere else but say, Bristol, seems an offensive categorisation. Its almost a cliche to say we live in a global society, so isn’t all music now world music?

Everyone knows that Bristol is a true melting pot of cultures and it comes as no surprise that the city has a healthy world music scene which manages to avoid the cliche. The on-trend big names in world music like William Onyeabor, Ebo Taylor or the Kuti family usually find themselves at home in Bristol’s Colston Hall. Occasional headliners can also be found at The Fleece and the Trinity Centre. St George’s hosts regular world music events covering more traditional music from Senegal, Mozambique and South Africa, where instruments like the kora and mbira are commonplace.

Locally, Bristol is home to some very talented ‘world music’ musicians. Afrobeat stalwarts like Mankala and No Stop Go (formerly Bristol Afrobeat Project) play smaller venues like The Canteen and The Old Market Assembly but also get the opportunity to support international bands at larger Bristol venues.

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Our recent world recommendations

Worlds collide as you get steeped in the Moroccan Gnawa musical tradition from a true master. Mohamed Errebbaa leads his 7-piece band through winding polyrhythms charged with the healing trance of Sufi mysticism. MOHAMED ERREBBAA & TAGNA GROOVE at The Jam Jar.

Dilla-worthy breaks, grooves and languid guitar lines bumping together in a dusty atmosphere of downbeat jazz-funk / boom-bap soul-stirrers. Guaranteed blunted beauty inside FFO: Surprise Chef, Khruangbin, BADBADNOTGOOD, The Heliocentrics. The King Chameleon, Amri, Ziggy 2000 at The Jam Jar.

Canonical Malian desert blues guitarist Samba Touré returns to Bristol! Part of a long line of musicians to follow legend Ali Farka, his ululations ride insistent grooves made of spiraling guitar refrains and colourful mosaics of percussion. Utterly Essential FFO: Mdou Moctar, Rokia Traore, Tinariwen. Samba Touré at The Jam Jar.

Incandescent electronica-cumbia fusion intertwined with bolero, dembow, guaracha and bachata from the Brussels-via-Bolivia master multi-instrumentalist. Susobrino’s vibrant music is a whole cinematic, immersive cosmos to get lost in, joined by sonidero-influenced selector Ritmos Cholulteka supplying the cumbia-rooted grooves. ¡Cumbia, Mi Amor w/ Susobrino + Ritmos Cholulteka at The Jam Jar.

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What our editors say

“Andy Irvine is one of the great Irish singers, his voice one of a handful of truly great ones that gets to the very soul of Ireland. He has been hailed as "a tradition in himself." Musician, singer and songwriter, Andy has maintained his highly individual performing skills throughout his over 50-year career. From Sweeney's Men in the mid 60s, to the enormous success of Planxty in the 70s, his duo with Paul Brady in the later 70s and then from Patrick Street to Mozaik, LAPD and Usher’s Island, Andy has been a world music pioneer and an icon for traditional music and musicians.”
From: Andy Irvine

“Formed in Bristol in 2009, surfing the early wave of the resurgence of interest in Colombian music styles. Baila La Cumbia have performed at many of our country’s great festivals & have filled the dancefloors at many special occasions. In fact, any cumbia band would be expected to bring the party to anywhere it’s needed. Porro (Colombian big band cumbia) and salsa tunes are woven into the repertoire and with Colombian vocalist Juan Carlos Arenas and his guitar some Chicha Vibes are suggested as well.”
From: Baila La Cumbia

“To many, especially in South America and Mexico, it came to be seen as the missing link between rock and tropical Latin music and was a key ingredient in the cumbia revival that has swept the Americas in the past decade.”
From: Los Wembler’s de Iquitos

“Fusing traditional son, the Afro-Cuban genre that laid the foundations for salsa, with contemporary flair, the seven-piece band deliver explosive live performances shaped by decades of international touring and collaboration.”
From: Asere

“Since the release of Ali — his acclaimed collaboration with US psych-rock superstars Khruangbin — Vieux’s star has soared, cementing his reputation as one of the most exciting and electrifying forces in contemporary world music.”
From: Vieux Farka Toure