Kefaya + Elaha Soroor
Monday, 10th November 2025 at 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
The Auditorium, St John’s College, St Giles’ OX1 3JP
Kefaya are one of the most exciting and forward-thinking groups in London’s bubbling jazz scene. Elaha Soroor is a Hazara singer, composer and activist from Afghanistan. For seven years, these musicians have worked together to create a blend of Afghan folk traditions, UK jazz, electronica and psychedelic rock that transcends borders and offers a voice to the marginalised.
Elaha Soroor’s story is infused within her music: finding fame and fury through her participation in Afghan Star (think X Factor in Kabul) and her outspoken support of women’s rights; performing under a pseudonym for the safety of her family; fleeing the country under threats of assassination and arriving in the UK among a shipment of watermelons; becoming one of the most literally and metaphorically powerful voices in the UK’s Afghan community. With Kefaya – Al MacSween (keys), Giuliano Modarelli (guitar), and Joost Hendrickx (drums) – she and they honour the women of Afghanistan by singing their songs and telling their stories that have been passed down from mother to daughter for centuries.
It’s an award-winning collaboration that has achieved rave reviews in as disparate publications as Songlines, Uncut, the Financial Times and Mojo, and whose themes have only grown more pertinent with the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. But the group’s commitment to beautiful, dance-inducing, masterfully innovative and absolutely ecstatic music has not dimmed a single degree. With a highly-anticipated forthcoming album on the way, we’re thrilled to be welcoming Kefaya + Elaha Soroor to the World’s Music at Oxford!
The concert will be introduced by support from Saad Barcha Hunzai. Saad performs traditional folk melodies from Northern Pakistan on the Afghan rubab – an ancestor of the modern-day sarod. Originally from the Hunza Valley in Pakistan, Saad is a DPhil candidate in Music at St John’s College whose research and virtuosity centre the musical and literary traditions of Northern Pakistan. For this performance, he will be joined by Haider Ali on the duff and daamal drums.
Afel Bocoum: The Return of the Messenger
Thursday, 22nd January 2026 at 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
The Auditorium, St John’s College, St Giles’ OX1 3JP
Legendary Songhai guitarist Afel Bocoum hails from the town of Niafunké in the Timbuktu region of Mali, where the Niger River meets the Sahara. An apprentice and colleague to the late, great desert blues pioneer Ali Farka Touré for over thirty years, Afel has taken on the mantel as the guardian of Ali’s purest musical soul. It’s a music deeply rooted in Songhai traditions, translated from the molo lute to the guitar while building in influences from the music of the Tuareg from the north and the Fulbe from the east and west, as well as the long shadow of bluesman John Lee Hooker.
After becoming a member of Ali’s band ASCO at the age of just 13 in 1968 – a membership he’d keep until Ali’s death in 2006 – he created his own band Alkibar in the 1980s and forged ahead with his solo career, spanning five successful albums and making long-term creative partnerships with Damon Albarn, Africa Express and Béla Fleck. Now, as one of the Sahel’s most beloved artists and a champion for endangered instruments like the njurkel lute and njarka fiddle, he prepares a new album, Harber, coming soon.
He joins the World’s Music at Oxford as part of a rare 13-date UK tour with a new trio. Accompanied by his own apprentice and rising star Ali Bounaly Traoré on guitar and renowned percussionist Mahalmadane Bountel Traoré on calabash, Afel strips his music down to its core – voice, strings, rhythm, the flow and memory of the Niger, the Sahara wind, and the musicians’ shared Songhai heritage.
The World’s Music at Oxford are proud to present Afel Bocoum alongside tour promoters Mwldan and i4Africa.
Eliza Carthy & Special Guests: The Songs of Martin Carthy
Thursday, 5th March 2026 at 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
The Auditorium, St John’s College, St Giles’ OX1 3JP
FREE ENTRY – booking required! Tickets available via Eventbrite from midday Friday, 6th February.
This third concert of the World’s Music at Oxford 2025-26 series was originally scheduled to present the wonderful Martin & Eliza Carthy – a father-daughter duo who, between them, have shaped the face of English folk music and beyond for the past 60 years. The pair were due to come to Oxford as part of Martin’s final tour. Unfortunately, Martin’s health declined rapidly in January, and the family made the incredibly painful decision that he would be unable to fulfil this tour.
In the wake of Martin’s unexpected recent retirement, Eliza has drawn together a community of varied and talented musicians, all of whom have played a role in Martin’s outstanding career. These artists will share the stage with Eliza, honouring and celebrating Martin’s immense legacy and musical back catalogue.
This evening will present a rolling cast of admirers, colleagues and surprise guests, performing an entirely new set featuring some of Martin’s best loved work from all eras of his career, spanning from his debut to final albums, via Waterson:Carthy and beyond. Martin’s grandson will make his first ever stage appearances, playing one of his grandfather’s guitars. The World’s Music at Oxford is excited to welcome and support Eliza Carthy as she celebrates the bona fide musical giant that is her father.
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Twice Mercury Prize nominee, winner of armfuls of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (among others), President of Folk England (fka the English Folk Dance and Song Society), and even the holder of an MBE, Eliza Carthy is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable faces on the English folk scene. From the purest unaccompanied traditional songs to original music incorporating myriad influences, she has moved through folk music like a force of nature, stirring it up and putting it back on the map. More than most, Eliza has revitalised folk music and captured the most hardened of dissenters with her intelligent, charismatic and boundary-bending performances.
THE WORLD'S MUSIC AT OXFORD 