STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
The real stuff of legend
TONY BURKE recommends a biography which sets the record straight on the great blues musician Robert Johnson
THOUGH he only made 40 recordings, US blues artist Robert Johnson’s legacy has endured for over eight decades and his songs are now part of the blues canon.
Those recordings — some were never issued and others were alternate takes — were made in 1936 and 1937, yet even with such a modest catalogue Johnson’s influence has stretched from the late 1930s to the post-war Chicago blues era of Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Howlin’ Wolf through to the 1960s, 1970s and beyond.
Similar stories
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
This is poetry in paint, spectacular but never spectacle for its own sake, writes JAN WOOLF
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
Two new releases from Burkina Faso and Niger, one from French-based Afro Latin The Bongo Hop, and rare Mexican bootlegs



