It's outstanding to honor those who have made significant contributions to society. Great people ought to be honored in every way possible. The motivation behind Mariaa Siga's "Mame Bamba" tribute to Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba is obvious, but there are other reasons for the song's existence as well. Poet, brave resistance fighter, and nonviolent theist Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba founded the Mouridist and Touba movements. That aspect of...

Sometimes the most honest music comes from the spaces between certainty and doubt. Blake Kelly knows this territory well. The Charlotte-based artist has spent his time moving between basketball courts, college classrooms, and recording studios, collecting experiences that fuel his latest EP, Guidance. "Left or Right" serves as the centrepiece of this four-track collection, and it arrives with the kind of laid-back confidence that suggests Kelly...