EDITOR´S CHOICE: SIDETRACKS & DETOURS Sunday 22nd February 2026

free concerts Yaiza Naturaleza Sonora 2026

ExperienCE Duo,

Uga Picnic Park, Saturday 15^th February

reported by Lancelot Digitas and shared by Norman Warwick

The jazz fusion performance (right) by the duo ExperienCE, formed by saxophonist and keyboardist Cristopher Pérez and drummer Eloy Mañogil, left a very good impression on the hundred people who headed down to  Uga picnic park to enjoy open-air art. The event was the premiere of the Yaiza Naturaleza Sonora project, a series of concerts of different musical genres organized by the City Council presided over by Óscar Noda and the creative collective, Rofe, which plans a calendar of five more shows between now and December, all free in open public spaces in the south of Lanzarote.

Music lovers residing in different parts of the Island and artists such as the narrator Cristina Temprano or the photographer Rubén Acosta discovered the Uga picnic park as a free place to welcome music, in the form of the notes and improvisation of Cristopher Pérez and Eloy Mañogil, as their jazz fusion into an amalgam of interpretation, loudly applauded by an audience that recognized the musical quality of the two virtuoso guests.

Organisers said afterwards that they were very pleased with the jazz program at ExperienCE, with the number of attendees who enjoyed the concert, and with the very positive impression left by the premiere of Yaiza Naturaleza Sonora.

¨Some of the audience members have already agreed to meet at the next show, which will take place on August 23rd at the La Degollada picnic area,” confirmed César Rijo, the Councilor for Culture of Yaiza.

For his part, Ubai Alemán, head of the production company Rofe, maintains that “seeing so many people gathered in our town, Uga, to celebrate music with respect and active listening was very moving. This project was born from a deep desire to care for the land through art, and I can’t think of a better way to start.”

Yaiza Naturaleza Sonora will continue its tour of all the towns in the municipality with free, small-format concerts, held on the second-to-last Saturday of each month until December, always at 7:30 p.m.

The next event will be on Saturday, August 23, at the La Degollada picnic area, featuring a solo concert by Lajalada, an artist who will take us on an intimate journey through folk, pop, and electronic music.

Yaiza Naturaleza Sonora is a monthly invitation to pause, listen, and reconnect, through music, with our environment.

Sidetracks And Detours reviewed a couple of similar occasions here on Lanzarote in 2025.and both were remarkable performances by outfits of great potential.

One was by Lulu Mora, on the sea front in Playa Blanca. This exciting female duo of close harmony vocals and loose train of thought stories and lyrics now have a handful of hauntingly beautiful recorded tracks available on Spotify. To learn more, type the duo´s name  into our easy to negotiate archives of almost 2,000 free to read articles of news, previews, interviews and reviews.

Whilst doing so you might like to search for Opus Duo 22,  two classical musicians who also played in last year´s series, with one of the most special concert we have ever heard. In the children´s play area in Femes, at 7.30 pm, they delivered fitting classical pieces into the shadowed silence of this town high in the hills. They sent mellifluous  melodies smoothly down the unlit valleys into the xxxxx seas, as the poet Dylan Thomas might have described it. When the sea was full Opus Duo 22  sent music climbing the mountains so as to ring out among the stars at an event at which the night was ours.

If you enter the name of Opus Duo 22 into our search facility you will find a couple of entries: one being a review of that incredible concert, the other being an exclusive e mail interview we conducted with them as they talked about that concert and expanded on their hopes and ambitions for what should be a triumphant musical career.

By serendipity, we also received from them the brief news update below even as we were preparing this piece for today´s edition. Sidetracks and Detours are pleased to share the news below from Claudia Guerra Martín (violin) and Daniel León Sánchez (guitar), the members of Opus Duo 22

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DUO OPUS 22 news update.

Hello to all readers of Sidetracks & Detours. We were delighted to see our interview with the editor carried on the pages of the blog´s edition on 30th January, (ed. note, now available in our easy to negotiate archives of more than 1,800 free to read articles)

We have uploaded the interview to our humble Instagram account in a post encouraging people to visit your blog.

We have been working very hard preparing for recitals. On Friday20th February we were on Gran Canaria, offering a journey through early 20th-century Spanish music, featuring Isaac Albéniz, Joaquín Turina, Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, and Federico García Lorca, among others.

Once again, thank you very much and we hope to see you again and share more than just our business cards. We will look for a way to give another concert in Lanzarote so that we can share more music with you.

Meanwhile, we just wanted to thank you again for your attention and kindness towards us.

It was great to hear from this young duo of guitar and violin, and if you have learned more about them by browsing our archives I am sure you you will have made a note of their name so please remember to

EDITOR´S CHOICE: Although neither are of our preferred Americana genre, two new releases in February, both singles, have very quickly found their way on to several new playlists here in the office

FALLING IN LOVE WITH A SAD SONG

by Norman Warwick

Sad Song, by JP Cooper featuring Gabrielle, is surely headed for the top of the pops number 1 slot. Its a soulful love ballad which actually belies its title. Perhaps bercause I am so obsessed with all things Americana I am not familiar with PJ Cooper, and because of that I have until now missed out on an amazing voice. Rough, and throaty and souldful, Cooper is accompanied by Gabrielle, known to my wife and I from holidays we spent here on Lanzarote more than a quarter of a century ago. A ´pirate´ restuarant in Costa Teguise, called The Hook, that had model pirates swinging in the through the windows, played fantastic Now That´s What I Call Music compilations that accompanied our summer cocktaiuls as we sat and watched the night life go by. A track that captured our attention on those balmy nights was Rise by Gabrielle but since moving here to live on Lanzarote in 2015 we have lost traction with the British music scene. That is until I caught the end of The One Show on tv recently whilst looking for a football match. PJ Cooper and Gabrielle are a sound-match made in heaven. Although her voice has changed, lowered slightly, it retains a certain huskiness and clarity of diction and she remains an enigmatic but compelling characteer

Gabrielle is known for her distinctive use of an eye patch or sunglasses, which she wears due to ptosis, a drooping eyelid, but the protection pieces have become an integral part of her artistic character. 

Louisa Gabriella Bobb (born 19 July 1969), known professionally as Gabrielle, is a British singer. Born in Hackney, London, she released her debut single, “Dreams“, in 1993, and it topped the UK Singles Chart the same year. Her other singles include “Going Nowhere“, “Give Me a Little More Time“, “Walk On By“, and “If You Ever“ – a duet withEast 17.

After a few inactive years, Gabrielle made a comeback with “Rise“, which became her second UK number one, in 2000. Her album of the same name reached the top spot on the UK Albums Chart, where it stayed for three weeks. The song “Out of Reach“, from the soundtrack to Bridget Jones’s Diary, reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. She released the compilation Dreams Can Come True, Greatest Hits Vol. 1 in 2001.

Gabrielle began recording her third studio album Rise in 1998 through 1999. Rise was released on 18 October 1999 in the United Kingdom, and 15 August 2000 in the United States. The album became Gabrielle’s biggest selling album to date with it becoming her only number one album. The album became a huge commercial success, spending three weeks at number one in the UK Albums Chart, and achieving 4× Platinum status. “Sunshine” was the album’s first single and peaked at number nine in the UK giving her her sixth UK top ten hit. “Rise“ was released as the album’s second single. It was her second number one single in the UK (and thus far, last). Written by Gabrielle, Ollie Dagois, Ferdy Unger-Hamilton and Bob Dylan, and produced by Johnny Dollar, the song used a sample from Bob Dylan‘s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door“. The song reached number one on the UK singles chart for two weeks in January 2000. The song has sold 460,000 copies in the UK as stated by the Official UK Charts Company making the song one of the 14th best selling of 2000 in the UK. The album of the same name also reached the top spot in the UK Albums Chart, where it stayed for three weeks. It spent 87 weeks in the charts. “When a Woman“ was released as the third single from Rise in June 2000. The song reached number six on the UK Singles Chart and was the second-highest-charting single from the album. It became Gabrielle’s eighth top ten hit. “Should I Stay” was released as a single in 2000 and was the fourth and final single released from the Rise album. The song charted at 13 in the UK Singles Chart, the fourth top 15 hit from the album. The video for the single is very moody and depicts the atmosphere of the song more so than having a linear storyline. The song samples part of the BBC News theme. In 2004, it was used in the second episode of theBBC drama serial Blackpool.

Gabrielle released her first greatest hits collection on 12 November 2001, entitled Dreams Can Come True, Greatest Hits Vol. 1. The album achieved success in the UK where it was certified as a four times platinum seller and became the fifth best selling album of 2001. It was also the 76th biggest selling album of that Decade in the UK. The lead single from the greatest hits album was “Out of Reach“ which was also from the soundtrack to the film Bridget Jones’s Diary. The song reached number four in the UK and nine in Australia, making it her second biggest hit in the country and also the 37th highest selling single of 2001. It remained on the chart there for more than 20 weeks. In New Zealand, the song was the tenth most successful single of 2001.The song has sold 320,000 copies in the UK as stated by the Official UK Charts Company. The second and final single from the album was “Don’t Need the Sun to Shine (To Make Me Smile)“. The single managed to peak at number nine in the UK Singles Chart, the song was also her eighth consecutive top 15 hit in the UK and her tenth top ten hit.

And now, at the outset of 2026, Gabrielle has released a single with JP Cooper.

John Paul Cooper (born 1 November 1983) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known for featuring on the single “Perfect Strangers“ by Jonas Blue. The song was certified platinum in the UK. His follow-up solo single was “September Song“. He is signed to Island Records. I hadn´t heard of him at all, despite the fact that he was born and raised in Middleton, a stones throw from where I lived in Heywood.

In 2002, Cooper (left) studied Contemporary Popular Music at North Trafford College, based at Beehive Mill in Manchester. There, he joined a band called Kid Conspiracy, which later changed its name to Azure Glow. They grew a small following locally and enjoyed limited success, releasing self made EPs including ‘December Falls’ and ‘Listen’. They ultimately disbanded following their last UK tour in 2006.

On 27 June 2012, Cooper released his first two extended plays EP1 and EP2. He featured on Don Diablo‘s single “The Artist Inside”, which was released on 9 November 2012. He released his third extended play, EP3 on 8 February 2013. On 20 July 2014, he released his fourth extended play Keep the Quiet Out. He released his fifth extended play, When the Darkness Comes on 26 January 2015.

On 18 March 2016, Cooper released the single “Five More Days”, featuring vocals from Avelino. He featured on Jonas Blue‘s single “Perfect Strangers“, which was released on 3 June 2016. The song peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, and reached the top ten positions in eight additional countries, including Germany, Australia and Sweden. On 10 June 2016, Cooper released the single “Party” as the lead single from his debut studio album. He released “September Song“ on 16 September 2016 as the second single. The song peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, and also reached the top 10 in the Republic of Ireland and Sweden. “Passport Home“ was released as the third single on 7 April 2017, peaking at number 86 on the UK Singles Chart. On 21 July 2017, Cooper released “She’s on My Mind“ as the fourth single. “Wait” was released as the fifth single on 25 August 2017. He eventually released the album, Raised Under Grey Skies on 6 October 2017. He was featured on Craig David‘s seventh studio album The Time Is Now on the song “Get Involved”, which was released on 26 January 2018. On 16 June 2018, he played at Pinkpop, a festival in the Netherlands. On 26 July 2018, Cooper released “All This Love”, featuring singer-songwriter Mali-Koa Hood. In August 2019, he collaborated with Gabrielle Aplin on her song “Losing Me” and in November that same year he collaborated with Stefflon Don. Cooper’s second album, She, was released on 21 February 2022.

Furthermore JP Cooper’s new album, ” Just A Few Folk “, has been selected as BBC Radio 2’s Album of the Week for the week of February 13, 2026. This work includes the single “Sad Song” featuring Gabrielle, which is also featured on the station’s playlist .

BBC Radio 2 highlights this album in its playlist, further solidifying Cooper’s position after his previous work.  The album brings new songs in his signature style, having been released in February 2026.

Since I first came across the pairing of JP Cooper and Gabrielle on The One Show ten days ago I have spoken about these artists to my son Andrew in South Korea, and he now has some added tracks on his playlist: off which he occasionally plays appropriate tracks to his junior and adult students. How music weaves its way around the world !

Andrew is forty five and took his love of Americana music with him when he went to live in South Korea some twenty five years ago. He plays acoustic guitar and banjo and is a great fn of the newe and the old in the genre: Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, Steve Goodman, Guy Clark et al.

It is only in the last year or so that he has fallen in love with wah wah pedals, and pick ups and multi tracking, and he has sent me some you tubes that put me in mind of the multi tracking of John Stewart on his instrumental tracks like Betsy From Pike, and on a song, Louisianne, which Stewart modelled around Pacelbelles canon around a lyriuc that proclaimed how ´the river understands´.

EDITOR´S CHOICE. Orange County

GORILLAZ AND THEIR GENIUS ACROSS ALL GENRES

Norman Warwick walks with Gorillaz

I had been listening to my son´s ´studio-style´ home recordngs the other night, before I later turned on the tv, looking for footbsll again, only to land on the Graham Norton show. Oh Gawd, I was just about to give up until I heard Mr. Norton announce hIs musical guests,…Gorillaz.

They played a tasty, tempting teaser off an album due out at the end of February. The track was a gloriuous, seamless hotch potch of spoken word, exquistely sung vocals and some technical jiggery pokery that offered mysterious mixes and loops and fascinating rhythms. If you haven´t yet bought or downloaded the album, which includes this single, you are missing a treat.

Entitled Orange Country, the track features a wordly guest list including Bizzarap, Kara Jackson and Anoushka Shankar plaing the sitar. with Damian Albarn in the CEO chair.

Gonzalo Julián Conde ( Ramos Mejía , August 29, 1998), known artistically as Bizarrap (abbreviated BZRP ), is an Argentine record producer, composer, and DJ, primarily recognized for his BZRP Music Sessions, music sessions he performs with other artists.  For his work, he has been awarded at ceremonies such as the Latin Grammy Awards , the Premios Juventud , the Premios Lo Nuestro , the Los 40 Music Awards , and the Premios Tu Música Urbano .

His musical beginnings date back to 2017, when he posted edited videos of Argentinian freestyle battles and remixed songs on YouTube . These audiovisual works increased Bizarrap’s recognition in the local scene and led to his involvement as a producer for Argentinian artists. Between 2018 and 2019, he released the BZRP Freestyle Sessions , a series of eight sessions featuring freestylers Kódigo, Sony, Lit Killah , Acru, Ecko, Trueno , Dani Ribba , and Aczino .

Kara Jackson is a writer, musician, and performer based in Chicago, Illinois. A daughter of country folks , Kara Jackson is an award-winning poet, singer-songwriter and producer from Oak Park, Illinois. She is the 2019 National Youth Poet Laureate, and Youth Poet Laureate of Chicago (2018). Kara released her debut album Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? in April 2023. Her work draws a map from the Deep South to the Midwest, where she was raised.

She describes herself as  a writer, musician, and performer whose music explores how the experience of the women who came before her informs her reality in the present.

Anoushka Shankar is  British singer, sitar player , and songwriter . She is the sister of singer Norah Jones and the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, a bank employee

Anoushka Shankar was born in London and spent her childhood between London and Delhi . As a teenager, she lived in Encinitas, California , and attended San Dieguito Academy . Graduating with honors in 1999, Shankar decided to pursue a career in music instead of a university degree. ^[

Shankar began being trained on the sitar by her father from a young age: she gave a public performance at thirteen, and signed her first recording contract at 16.

Anoushka Shankar performed at the Concert for George, a tribute to George Harrison held on November 29, 2002, at London’s Royal Albert Hall. She played the sitar, performed “The Inner Light” with Jeff Lynne, and conducted her father Ravi Shankar‘s composition “Arpan”. 

She performs across multiple genres and styles—classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic, as well as being an occasional writer and actress.

My three favourite albums of the several Gorillaz have released are Demon Days, Plastic Beach and Cracker Island, but already Orange County has ousted Dare as my favourite track by the band, of whatever line-up !

As if to confirm the seemingly haphazard but nevertheless eclectic nature of their music, the arts critics seemed to have, themselves, taken a scatter-gun approach  when seeking to categorise the band and their sounds.

Critics have generally described Gorillaz‘ music as art   pop,    alternative rock, hip hop,   electronic,   pop,  trip hop,  dark pop,   alternative hip,  rap rock,  indie rock,  bedroom pop,  dance rock , new wave ,  funk, and worldbeat.  The band’s aesthetic and overall approach have been described as postmodern.  According to Allmusic , Gorillaz blend Britpop and hip hop ,  while The Guardian describes the band as “a hybrid of dub , hip hop , lo-fi , indie , and world music .”  According to PopMatters , the band’s early work foreshadowed “the fusion of elements of hip hop , rock , and electronica into pop music” that would grow significantly in the following decade.

I have always felt the best music cannot be categorised. I wrote in our last issue about a classical eleven piece string orchestra that played with the off-hand panache of football teams like Manchester City, Barcelona or Real Madrid, and with the spirited genius of nineteen sixties folk kings, The Incredible Stringband ! Being taken in and out of the sixteen or so categories listed in the paragraph doesn´t influence Gorillaz in any way. He, they, them or whoeve4r Gorrilaz respond brilliantly to Albarn´s genius and vision.

In fact,  2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked Albarn 18th on its list of the 100 most powerful people in British culture.  In 2016, Albarn received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Composers, Authors and Composers.  

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music. In 2020, Albarn was granted Icelandic citizenship . 

Whatever great skills Albarn may possess he has no qualms about collaborating with fellow musicians, no matter what genres the critics might like to plant them in. It is no surprise that Orange County, the current single release under the Gorillaz name is a co-write between Albarn, bizrapp and Kara Jackson.  It will be no surprise, either, if the forthcoming album, The Mountain, will offer far-flung sounds, hidden rhythms, provocative and evocative lyrics and an awkwardstration of instruments that couldn´t possibly sound right together,…until they do.

So, … Gorillaz are back with new single “Orange County” (ft. Bizarrap, Kara Jackson & Anoushka Shankar), which comes with its companion track “The Hardest Thing” (ft Tony Allen), off their forthcoming album The Mountain, available February 2026 via Gorillaz’ label KONG.

Written by Damon Albarn, “The Hardest Thing” opens with the voice of long-time collaborator and friend, musician and drummer Tony Allen who passed away in 2020. The song is a beautiful exploration of grief and hope, both central themes on new album The Mountain, with the haunting lyric, “You know the hardest thing is to say goodbye to someone you love, That is the hardest thing” carrying through into “Orange County”.

The uplifting track sees Albarn joined by singer-songwriter and poet Kara Jackson on vocals, as well as 14-time Grammy-nominated sitar player Anoushka Shankar. Produced by Gorillaz and Bizarrap, Orange County was written by Damon Albarn, former U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate, Kara Jackson, and four-time Latin Grammy-winning, Argentine artist, producer and musical innovator Bizarrap.

If there´s anyone out there who would like to send their own review to us of the new album please feel free to send an e mail with your article as an attachment to to normanwarwick55@gmail.com

As a not-for-profit organisation I am afread we cannot offer you payment, other than our assurance that your article, if included, will e fully attributed, so if you´d like to also attach a photograph of yourself and a brief bio, we will include that too.

Our next scheduled publication is to be posted on Sunday 1st March 2026

SIDETRACKS & DETOURS

featuring

All Across The Arts

including news of

Spoken Word, Theatre, Classical Music,

Live And Recorded Folk Music

as well as all our familiar coverage of

Americana Music

including

news and reviews of

a Lucinda Williams gig by Peter Pearson

a look at the known associates

Bob Weir and Josh Ritter, by Norman Warwick

an introduction to

Tyger Lillie by Norman Warwick

closing with

Live Jazz

identifying

Where Jazz Meets The Kinks, a preview by Jazz In Reading