Everything Viyolens publishes on World Music — reviews, buying guides and how-tos written for players and producers in the UK.
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The Ultimate Guide to Claves
Two wooden sticks that organise a whole family of music: how to hold and strike claves, the difference between son and rumba clave, and what 3–2 and 2–3 really mean.
Erhu Explained: Features, Types and Tips
The erhu is China's best-known bowed instrument — a two-stringed, fingerboard-free fiddle with a voice closer to singing than playing. Here's how it's built and why it sounds the way it does.
The History of Highlife
From Ghana's coastal palm-wine circles to E. T. Mensah's golden-age dance bands: the full story of how highlife came to be.
The Best Highlife Songs Right Now
Forget the charts — these are the highlife songs that have earned decades of staying power at parties, weddings and radio stations.
The Ultimate Guide to Sitar
There's far more to the sitar than its famous drone. A grounded guide to how India's great long-necked lute makes its sound, where it comes from, and how to start.
The Best Highlife Artists to Know
A guided tour of the highlife artists worth knowing, from the genre's first international star to the band that took it global.
A Beginner's Guide to Bossa Nova
What bossa nova actually is, in plain English — the sound, the story and the handful of names worth knowing before you dive in.
A Beginner's Guide to Reggae Music
The bass carries the tune, the guitar skips the beat, and the whole thing still somehow feels relaxed. Here's what reggae is and where it came from, in plain terms.
Highlife Subgenres, Explained
"Highlife" isn't one sound. Here's a plain-spoken breakdown of the genre's real subgenres, from palm-wine guitar to international fusion.
Essential Highlife Albums Explained
Highlife's golden age ran on singles, not albums. Here's how to build an essential highlife albums collection that's actually honest about that.
A Beginner's Guide to Highlife
Never heard of highlife before? Here's the friendly, no-pressure introduction to West Africa's great guitar-and-horns tradition.
