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Archive
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17 Hippies, Heimlich (Hipster Records), “In Germany—and only in Germany—people tend to count musicians on stage,” chuckles Kiki Sauer, “and sometimes they say, ‘Why, there aren’t 17 of you!’ One or two have wanted their money back! Same thing happens about the hippie thing: ‘Why, you’re not hippies?’ We tell them, ‘Well, the Rolling Stones aren’t exactly stones.’” 07/17/07 >> go there
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2008 Asian Cultural Festival, Queens Theatre in the Park, A new language is emerging in an unexpected place. It’s a vocabulary of fresh and varied voices marking new directions in Asian heritage. It includes the Nashville twang of a Korean-American comic, the elegance of Indian classical dance gestures transformed by contemporary music, the bouncing flow of a pioneering Asian-American Hip Pop musical, the words of a Vietnamese immigrant returning to his lost homeland. This well of innovation is not bubbling up in the Downtown scene or the highly regarded historic stages of Manhattan. It is sprouting where a significant contingent of Asian America lives and thrives: Queens, New York. The Asian Cultural Festival at Queens Theatre in the Park will showcase this new lexicon and demonstrate how a broad range of Asian and Asian-American performers are finding new expressions for old sounds, gestures, and tales, with both tradition and popular culture as their allies. 03/10/08 >> go there
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23rd Annual Jewish Music Festival (SF Bay area), Every year a musical Jewish time machine lands in the San Francisco Bay Area. Each day for over a week, you step into the contraption and find another place and time on the Jewish sonic spectrum. One day you land in the ancient repertoire of a Polish Hasidic dynasty. Another day you find yourself enveloped by the songs of late 1800s Yiddish theater. You realize the performers have been time-traveling too. You find a 1907 Yiddish play coming to life on stage with the planet’s premier punk klezmer drummer on hand. Then some unnamable future where musicians from New York, New Orleans, Ukraine, and Israel magically congregate for a one-of-a-kind collaboration. Wires obviously have been crossed. 01/29/08 >> go there
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Abyssinia Infinite, Zion Roots (Network), The overthrow of Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie in a “creeping coup” organized by his own military began two decades of chaotic rule. Under the Derg regime, a curfew was imposed which drove live musicians to prison and unemployment. For twenty years, horns and live bands were replaced with synthesizers and drum machines. With the release of "Zion Roots," Abyssinia Infinite, featuring Ejigayehu “Gigi” Shibabaw, is bringing back live instrumentation and experimentation to Ethiopian music. The album with is a return to a classical sound--it picks up right where music left off in the mid-’60s through mid-’70s. 10/01/03 >> go there
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Acoustic Brazil (Putumayo), "If Márcio Faraco lived in Brazil he would probably be very famous," says Putumayo producer Jacob Edgar, who with Putumayo founder Dan Storper compiled the new Acoustic Brazil CD, set for release by Putumayo World Music on February 22, 2004. "We stumbled across Márcio about four years ago in a bar in Paris called the Blue Noite while visiting with Brazilian singer Nazaré Pereira," Edgar recalls. "The music scene in Brazil has a strong local flavor and it’s hard for expat Brazilian musicians to be successful in their homeland when they are not based there. Here we were on a rainy winter day in Paris in this bar and this whole community was creating a great tropical feeling, artists with great potential had they lived back home in Brazil." 12/13/04 >> go there
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Afro-Latin Party (Putumayo) , Croatian salsa, Cuban ska, and Oregonian mambo!?!? These are three of the unlikely gems listeners will find on the new Afro-Latin Party CD to be released by Putumayo World Music on March 22, 2005. What started out as an effort to provide the perfect soundtrack to a Latin dance party became a tribute to the global appreciation and realization of the musical ricochet between Cuba and Africa. 01/20/05 >> go there
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Albert Kuvezin and Yat-Kha, Re-Covers (World Village), After a string of misfortunes worthy of an action movie—including stolen passports, forcible deportation from Hungary, mob shakedowns, and a car crash—Albert Kuvezin found himself recovering from injuries in a hospital in Tuva. He was left with little solace save his collection of rock and blues records. 06/22/06 >> go there
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Alex Alvear, Equatorial (alexalvear.com), "All these years, I played Cuban music, but I’m not Cuban. I played Brazilian music, but I am not Brazilian. I played North American music, but I’m not really North American. I had been writing Ecuadorian songs for myself, as a way to remember. And now this is what I want to do. This finally makes sense with who I am.”
10/11/07 >> go there
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Anastácia Azevedo, Amanaiara (Piranha), Anastácia Azevedo weaves the vibrant rhythms of her homeland in Nordeste Brazil into her songs of the sweetness and sadness of the world, reflecting in her words the force majeure of nature, love and children. Together with her partner Zé Eugênio she celebrates the joy and heartache of the urban exile with the life-affirming melancholy power of Saudade for home. 07/15/04 >> go there
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Andy Palacio, Watina (Cumbancha), To avoid shipwreck in a sudden storm off the Nicaraguan coast, Garifuna musician Andy Palacio’s boat captain decided to take a detour to a nearby village until the storm passed. He said to Palacio, “There is a Garifuna man in this village. You should talk in your language and see how he reacts.” When the eighteen year-old Palacio greeted the old man, Mr. López, in the Garifuna tongue, the elder replied in complete disbelief, “Are you telling the truth?” “I told him, ‘Yes, my uncle; I am Garifuna just like you,’” explains Palacio. “He embraced me and would not let go.”
10/16/06 >> go there
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Another World is Possible (Uncivilized World), They break out of the bar(code)s that threaten our freedom of independent speech to talk the talk. They walk the walk by re-envisioning the role of the musician, either as activists or as community development leaders. 08/25/05 >> go there
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Antibalas, Talkatif (Ninja Tune), Carrying on the legacy of Fela Kuti is a Brooklyn collective putting their Latin spin on afrobeat. Constant touring and frequent NYC gigs have earned them a following, but it is their relentless sound and politics that put them front and center. 12/08/02 >> go there
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Antonia Curry, the possibility of loss, Childhood is fragile. The 1970s taught us that. It was a time when couples started getting divorced in large numbers, or never bothered marrying. A time when kids got shuffled from party to party and from parent to parent, left to fend for themselves. In an exhibit titled the possibility of loss, Bloomington photographer Antonia Curry not only captures the vulnerability of childhood in that era, but explores how it has impacted the mothering of her own child. 11/25/03 >> go there
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Aphrodesia, Lagos by Bus (Cyberset), Aphrodesia’s sound represents the next generation of the American Afrobeat movement, where respect is paid to various music forms, but with fluid migrations between genres and cultures, all with the intention of making people move: heart, soul, and feet. 10/16/07 >> go there
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Arabesque Music Ensemble, The Music of the Three Musketeers (Xauen Music), “We come from a tradition where usually the singer gets all the credit,” explains Hicham Chami. “And many people forget that behind the singer is a person who put the music together." 11/14/07 >> go there
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Arielle Dombasle, Amor, Amor (Wrasse Records), The multi-talented femme fatale—who has worked as actor, director, and screenwriter on more than 100 films and television pieces, ranging from projects with John Malkovich to Miami Vice—has outclassed herself again, reinventing her musical career, appearing as a crooning songbird from a bygone era that bespeaks her romantic life story. “Je suis inclassable! (I am unclassifiable),” declares Dombasle. 01/30/06 >> go there
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Asha Bhosle, Love Supreme (Times Square Records), Behind the youthful looks and acting skills of Bombay’s stars such as Rai, Karisma Kapoor, and Rani Mukherjee is what might be found behind many successful women: a warm, dimple-cheeked matron. 02/01/06 >> go there
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Auktyon, Girls Sing, Auktyon is the only band able to play a funeral march happily. But they are not theatrical for the sake of farce. Deliberate disintegration of beautiful melodies into a cacophony. On-stage clowning around and the occasional scream. All of it is an attempt to break down the walls between performer and listener. 12/07/07 >> go there
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Auktyon, Pioneer (Circular Moves), The sound of Auktyon's contagious chord defies easy comparison to Western acts and stereotypes of Russian music. You may hear musical hints of performers and genres as diverse as the Talking Heads and Charles Mingus, Leonard Cohen and Plastic People of the Universe, and punk and klezmer. What you won’t hear are balalaikas or Volga boatmen lurking in Auktyon’s songs, though there is something more elusive that could only come from cosmopolitan St. Petersburg, home of the darkness of Dostoyevsky: the graceful nonsense of early 20th-century Russian poetry and the playful earthiness of jam sessions in Soviet-era kitchens. Auktyon has kept the best of Russia’s bohemian past alive, reassembling it with rock sensibility. The result is utterly worldly, unabashedly eclectic and instantly accessible to international listeners. 02/05/06 >> go there
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Azam Ali, Elysium for the Brave (Six Degrees Records), Her dedication to defying cultural specificity in music, and her unwillingness to settle into one form of musical expression have earned her the respect of both her peers and critics worldwide. When one looks at her entire body of work, it is hard to deny Azam Ali her rightful place among the best singers and composers in music today.
06/07/06 >> go there
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Baaba Maal U.S. Tour 2004, Senegalese master musician Baaba Maal is a pillar of the African music world. For over ten years, he has been creating magical compositions ranging from the purest traditional sounds to exciting, innovative fusion. In March and April 2004 Baaba will bring his unique sound to American and Canadian stages on a 34-date tour, beginning in Los Angeles and stretching as far as New Hampshire, Texas, Montreal and Hawaii. The tour will feature the acoustic ensemble from his latest release Missing You… Mi Yeewni (Palm Pictures). 02/25/04 >> go there
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Bachata Roja: Cabaret Bachata (IASO Records), Bachata began with the death of a dictator, wrestled with social stigma, and wound up with international fame thanks to an electric guitar advent. But before bachateros plugged in, they performed acoustic guitar music at rural dance parties and in urban cabarets of ill repute. 08/27/07 >> go there
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Baka Beyond, East to West (Narada ), Deep in the rainforest, the undergrowth is so thick you cannot see far ahead. So the Baka “pygmies” have acquired very sharp hearing and learned to find their way using sounds of streams and other far-off surroundings. UK-based Baka Beyond's Martin Craddick and Su Hart first lived and played music with the Baka people in 1991. Since then, they have pioneered a new Afro-Celt sound. The creation of Global Music Exchange ensures that royalties travel back to the musicians' community and encourages self-worth and respect for their culture by showing that it is appreciated in the wider world. 12/08/02 >> go there
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Baka Beyond, Rhythm Tree (March Hare Music), A large tree, an indigenous forest community, and a solar-powered mobile recording studio. 07/20/05 >> go there
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Balkan Beat Box - Tour (JDub Records), Blending electronic music, hip hop beats, and hard-edged folk music from the Balkans, North Africa, and the Middle East, the internationally acclaimed collective Balkan Beat Box is out to prove that the entire world is, indeed, a stage—and that we are all gypsies. 07/28/06 >> go there
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Balkan Beat Box, Nu Med (JDub Records), “We believe in listening to localities… to local music,” says Balkan Beat Box co-founder and saxophonist Ori Kaplan. Nu Med is a musical vision of what the New Mediterranean would sound like if borders were removed. 03/09/07 >> go there
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Bantu feat. Ayuba, Fuji Satisfaction (Piranha Musik), This AfroPean, NiGerman story begins with Japan’s mighty Mount Fujiama, passes through ruthless murders, and ends on a Pan-Africanist dancefloor with a mission. The artist is Bantu a.k.a Adé Bantu, joined by Ayuba, a.k.a. Adewale Ayuba. The two collaborated to create Fuji Satisfaction on Piranha Musik. 07/07/05 >> go there
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Bembeya Jazz, Bembeya (World Village), Colonialism, independence, diaspora, and economics. These ingredients have been brewing with tradition for decades in West African music. Just as a good stew tastes even better the next day, the best pioneering bands of Afropop have returned sounding tastier than ever. 05/09/03 >> go there
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Ben Bowen King, Sidewalk Saints (Talking Taco Music), In a patch of shade on the sidewalk sits a blues musician, busking for some change with a guitar and a slide. He sits with a friend, the rhythm section, playing an old suitcase, a rub board, a bottle. You may catch a few bars of a risqué blues song, only to hear him switch mid-tune to a devout hymn as a pious storeowner or policeman strolls by. Or he may be one of the many sidewalk preachers ministering to passersby with a unique mix inspired by Delta blues guitar, Appalachian banjo, and early jazz rhythms. You just passed a "sidewalk saint", a common figure in the early 20th-century Midwest and South but little more than a folk music footnote today. 01/05/07 >> go there
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Besh o drom, Can't make me! (Asphalt Tango), The inability to photocopy traditional music reflects itself in the band’s name. Although its literal meaning is ‘to ride the road,’ Besh o droM also means to follow your own path and not be held back. The Gypsy idiom connotes controlling something stronger than you. Like a person riding a horse. When that person takes charge, he or she can go anywhere they desire.
03/10/03 >> go there
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Bio Ritmo (Locutor), “We’re lactose intolerant”, says Giustino Riccio, timbalero for Bio Ritmo. “We are very adverse to cheesy salsa. There is not a lot of new stuff we can stand. It’s all watered down.” A monotonous formula: the matching silk shirt/suits (usually tacky), the same cover tunes (consisting mostly of the latest Latin pop hits, whatever they may be), and enough glitz and show to wow the most innocent bystander. “Turn on a Latin pop station and you hear the same kind of lyrics over and over: casual romance, inconsequential subject matter. Anything just to make a hit that won’t make people think too hard,” explains lead singer Rei Alvarez. “Most of the songs you hear now lack the individuality and sense of lyrical purpose that classic Latin music is known for. They’re just tunes for the apathetic masses to bob their heads to.” 12/10/03 >> go there
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Boban Markovic Orkestar, Boban I Marko: Balkan Brass Fest (Piranha), Famed for their contribution to the soundtrack of Emir Kusturica’s film Underground, Boban Markovic’s Balkan Gypsy brass band can both enrapture live audiences and display equal ingenuity and exactitude in the studio. Their latest album features 15-year-old Marko Markovic—son of the bandleader—and, true to tradition, a young man deeply attached to his instrument since birth. It was the Gypsies that kept the country’s tradition of brass music alive, from the times of the Ottoman Empire through Tito’s communist regime, right into Slobodan Milosevic’s infamous reign. It is said that during the war, US President Bill Clinton—enthusiastic saxophonist that he is—appreciated the Gypsy contribution and mercifully spared Serbia further bombing.
02/11/04 >> go there
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Boban Markovic Orkestar, The Promise-The King of Balkan Brass (Piranha Musik), “I didn’t know you could play the trumpet that way”—Miles Davis, upon hearing players at the annual Guèa Brass Band Festival 04/03/06 >> go there
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Boban Markovic, Live in Belgrade (Piranha), Boban Markovic and Orkestar's music is characterized by rapturous arrangements stuffed with beautiful, yet rocking, melodies against an often-pounding low-end harmonic backdrop, which, in spite of all the dizzying intensity, remains as Frank London describes it, "the unmistakable essence of funk." 12/08/02 >> go there
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Bole 2 Harlem, Bole 2 Harlem Vol 1 (Sounds of the Mushroom), While hip music enthusiasts are digging through record bins for Ethiopian funk and soul of the ’60s and ’70s, a diverse crew of Ethiopians, other Africans, and Americans in New York’s Harlem have created a new sound with positive Ethiocentric rhymes, funky horns, lively percussion and booty-shaking beats. 07/05/06 >> go there
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Bonga, Kaxexe (Times Square), In the years since "Angola 72," Bonga has remained active in politics. The post-colonial era in Angola brought about constant power struggles, resulting in a brutal civil war that has lasted for three decades. Bonga—whose name means “he who searches or “he who goes ahead”—remains critical of both sides of the political equation and continues to use his music to inspire peace and prosperity. As Gerald Seligman writes in his five-star review in Songlines magazine, “We have known suffering, the songs and melodies seem to say, but we prevail. ...Bonga is not only a standard-bearer but a standard-setter, and Kaxexe is a gem from start to finish.” 02/23/04 >> go there
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Boris Grebenshikov, Russian Songwriter (Naxos World), Russian Buddhist singer-songwriter Boris Grebenshikov was an 'un-official' artist during the days of the Soviet Union, the 'Darling of Glasnot' during the post-cold war Soviet Rock boom in the USA, and now is the ambassador of Russian song to the world. 01/30/03 >> go there
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Boris Kovac & la Campanella, World After History (Piranha Musik), What turns out to be a major problem in politics is a blessing within the arts. “Our advantage is that people from 20 different nationalities live together in the Pannonian plains”, says Boris Kovac, whose latest CD World After History will be released on August 9, 2005 on Piranha Musik. The composer, instrumentalist and multimedia artist from Novi Sad, capital of the multiethnic region Vojvodina in the Pannonian plains of former Yugoslavia continues, “No one can say which folklore my music stems from exactly. Me and my musicians, living in an urban situation, have no contact with the little villages in the country. We cannot retrace where the music comes from, anyway. It is not necessary. The crucial point is to use the sources as nourishment for your own creativity.”
07/01/05 >> go there
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Boris Kovac, Ballads at the End of Time (Piranha), At first sight, the band’s name looks a little bit like the Dadaist answer to Lambada. But in fact the orchestra is named after the driven fantasies of bandleader, composer and multimedia-artist Boris Kovac when confronted with the grim reality of living and working in the war-ridden territory of the Balkan states. Written out in full the orchestra’s name actually means La Danza Apocalyptica Balcanica, a perfect match to their music: An eccentric cycle of dances like tango, waltz, calypso or rumba, played in the style of a syphilitic salon-orchestra, switching rapidly between the atmosphere of a decadent café in 1920s Vienna and the Titanic half an hour after every drink came with ice. 04/23/03 >> go there
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Boubacar Traore, Kongo Magni (World Village), Singer-composer-guitarist Boubacar Traoré was born in Kayes, Mali in 1942 and his fascination with the Khassonke traditions of his homeland began early. Boubacar used to secretly use his older brother’s guitar but one day he was caught. His brother had been studying music in Cuba, and was in fact a member of a group that was to become the famous Maravilas de Mali, performing in the trendy Latin style. After hearing his younger brother play he told him it was the most beautiful music he had ever heard, and predicted he would become famous one day. 07/28/05 >> go there
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Cabruêra, Proibido Cochilar (Piranha Musik), In 1998, six nordestinos, all with backgrounds in the contemporary music scene, joined forces to find a way to bring their folk roots into the modern era. Seeking counsel from an indigenous Tupí oracle, “they were told they needed to start a band” to bring a new injection of life to the communities of Campina Grande and João Passoa. According to the oracle, the band was to be called Cabruêra, from the word cabras, meaning “a group of goats,” and they were to be as hardy as their namesake as they practiced the alchemy of music, turning suffering into resistance. Their wise counselor sent them on their way with a warning: beware of sleep. 11/17/05 >> go there
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Cascade Folk Trio, Old Street (Bandaz), “We always start with the melody line,” says Cascade Folk Trio’s Arman Aghajanyan, “The melody must be Armenian.” Many dispersed cultural groups struggle to maintain ties to their heritage. So this is no surprise considering the wave of genocide that forced millions of Armenians into exile in the early 1900s. But the Trio—one of the best in the Armenian Diaspora—was affected as much by more recent history. 11/04/03 >> go there
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Celebration of Chinese Cinema on DVD, Twenty percent of the world’s population live in China. After thousands of years of dynastic rule, the nation has spent several decades shedding a centuries-old system and redefining itself and its place in the world. Its size and emerging standing within the global market make it a nation with which to be reckoned. Yet few Americans are conscious of this awakening dragon. This may change with the Celebration of Chinese Cinema. Now on DVD (released by Knight Mediacom Intl.). 06/01/03 >> go there
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Cesaria Evora, Rogamar (Sony/BMG), It's been an unexpected road for Cape Verde's best-known singer. Yet her stardom never overshadows her island roots. When Madonna invited Cesaria to perform without her band at a castle wedding in Scotland, Cesaria declined. In another instance, Cesaria fulfilled a lifelong dream to get a Mercedes, only to find it near-impossible to find parts for the car in Cape Verde (witness her band members packing mufflers and car parts into their bags while on tour) and the near-impossible road conditions on Cesaria's island. Never kowtowing to the whims of a trend, audiences of Cesaria’s June and July 2007 North American tour will find her once again just being herself. 05/02/07 >> go there
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Chango Spasiuk, Tarefero De Mis Pages (Piranha) , “Chamamé songs blend melancholy and happiness together. It’s a music with many levels: like an onion, you peel off layers and find real lives inside it.” – Chango Spasiuk 12/15/04 >> go there
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Charanga Cakewalk, Chicano Zen (Triloka/Artemis), For the making of Chicano Zen, Ramos thought about what was important to him. “I had achieved all of the goals I had set for myself as a young kid: becoming a successful session musician, recording my own CD, owning my own home, performing on TV and radio, but at the core I realized that what was central growing up as a young Latino was the same as anyone going after the American dream. A home, loved ones, kids. It all boils down to what everyone wants… happiness.” 02/01/06 >> go there
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Charanga Cakewalk, Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge (Triloka), The man behind Charanga Cakewalk --Austin’s emerging cumbia-tronic project -- has fully embraced the diversity of his life experience. Michael Ramos’ background in rock, Latin, and electronic music all come into play on Charanga Cakewalk’s debut solo outing, Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge (Triloka Records). While most of his musical career has been dedicated to providing keyboard and accordion expertise to the likes of John Mellencamp, Patty Griffin, Paul Simon, the Bodeans, and the Rembrandts, Charanga Cakewalk allows Ramos’ unique cross-cultural experience to shine. 03/23/05 >> go there
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Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble, The Songs of Sayyed Darweesh (Xauen Music), Upon seeing a photo of Giuseppe Verdi, someone once commented to Sheikh Sayyed Darweesh (1892-1923) that he and Verdi looked alike on account of their similar hairstyles. “That is because I am Egypt’s Verdi,” Darweesh replied. He sold everything he owned to go to Italy to study opera in the last year of his life, but never made it due to a fatal overdose at the age of thirty-one. 01/18/06 >> go there
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Chondo, Mike Eastman believes the “world music” field is largely untapped. “I started collecting international music fifteen years ago when I was living and working abroad in London,” says the African-American Harvard Law School graduate (’83). Since then, the Internet entrepreneur has worked in Dayton (OH), Miami, San Diego and Seattle, and traveled extensively throughout Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. “Everywhere I went, I asked people what they listened to and I’d go out and buy their top picks. Over here in the US, much of this music is unavailable. I want to help more people have the same experience of discovery and excitement that I’ve had.” 06/03/04 >> go there
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Choro Ensemble, Nosso Tempo (Anzic Records), There is a time machine located in a New York bar powered by a clarinet, a couple of guitars, a small hand drum, and the cavaquinho. When played with just the right soul, listeners are transported to 1930s Brazil, when for the first time ever, a single genre was being listened to by the notoriously diverse nation. That genre was choro, a sweet style of music that originated in Rio de Janeiro and which has been compared to a tropical Dixieland. 07/10/07 >> go there
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Chöying Drolma and Steve Tibbetts, Selwa (Six Degrees), Guitar aficionados have been following Steve Tibbetts’ since 1977 as he has steadily gone about making himself one of the more inventive musicians on the American music scene. To a wider audience, however, Tibbetts remains a mystery. His albums reflect his own interest in everything from 1970s progressive rock (King Crimson, Eno, etc.) to ambient electronica, to world music. But the two collaborations with Chöying Drolma occupy a special place in Tibbetts’ music. 08/02/04 >> go there
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Chris Berry, Dancemakers (Wrasse), “Chris Berry picked up where Paul Simon left off,”
-- Michael Kang of The String Cheese Incident. 02/08/06 >> go there
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Christopher Hedge New Heroes (Triloka), The rim of a car wheel hangs from a tree in Children’s Town in Zambia where it is rung like a school bell every day. Something pops in a fire during a ceremony of the original firewalkers on Beqa Island. A boy, just freed from slavery in India, says his name proudly. These are some of the sounds on The New Heroes, a recording by Christopher Hedge inspired by a four-part PBS documentary with the same name. The series, hosted by Robert Redford, airs June 28 and July 5, 2005. Triloka Records will release the CD on June 14, 2005. 04/24/05 >> go there
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Cuban Essentials, Various Artists (Escondida Records), What nobody ever told you about the expert musicians of the now-famous Buena Vista Social Club is that they are among a group of Cuban music super heroes. Yes, when they showed up to America with sidekick Ry Cooder, they looked like elder veterans stepping out of a past era and into the bright lights of New York. But each artist possesses a superpower... 09/06/05 >> go there
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Daara J, Boomerang (Wrasse), “Born in Africa, brought up in America, hip hop has come full circle,” proclaims Daara J on the title track of the group’s American debut album Boomerang (Wrasse Records, October 5, 2004). Hailing from Senegal, the western-most country in Africa, Daara J must have caught some of the sound waves rolling over the Atlantic from the South Bronx in the mid-seventies, or was it the other way around? 07/30/04 >> go there
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Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar - Mhm A-ha Oh Yeah Da-da (Piranha), All over the world, freethinkers are seeking camaraderie beyond borders, searching for new friends from distant places, trying to find a way to communicate in any language that makes authentic interaction possible. It happens in the vast space of the world-wide web, in foreign lands, and in the urban jungles of big cosmopolitan cities. 07/06/06 >> go there
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Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar, Ruke (Piranha), Darko Rundek, singer, poet, actor, theatre director and frontman of the late Yugo-cult band "Haustor", took a holiday from his solo-career for the adventures of a real Cargo Orkestar. The comédie des sens of Paris meet the European spleen of Zagreb, cosmopolitan influences of immigration clash with Balkan traditions. Join the Cargo Orkestar for a mysterious musical journey, rough and real, made of questioning, pain, joy and humour. 07/15/04 >> go there
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Dave Holland, Critical Mass (Sunnyside), "When you talk about something reaching critical mass, it has finally reached a point where it just has to happen.” Which is not too different from Dave Holland’s career as a whole. The bass player, the band leader has reached a defining moment. The artist demands to be. 06/22/06 >> go there
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David Krakauer & Socalled; Bubbemeises (Label Bleu), The music on Bubbemeises: Lies My Gramma Told Me—the upcoming Label Bleu CD that teams Krakauer with Jewish hip hop beat master SoCalled—is not your gramma’s klezmer. Unless gramma likes remixed Hasidic chant, klezmer tributes to James Brown, and an in-your-face raving battle for reinvented Jewish identity. 10/06/05 >> go there
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Deepak Ram, Steps (Golden Horn), Deepak Ram may be the only South African-born Indian musician to compose a tune in honor of the dance that Nelson Mandela does on stage. He may be the first person to ever master the jazz standard “Giant Steps” on bansuri (Indian bamboo flute). But none of this is surprising given where he came from. 11/01/07 >> go there
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Dervish Fall 2007 tour, The members of traditional Irish band Dervish met as most Irish musicians do: as strangers in a bar. "I'm a farmer's daughter," says singer Cathy Jordan, "and someone else in the band is an architect's son. Outside of music, we may have never met, but this is how Irish people have forged unlikely friendships for years, playing music together." 09/28/06 >> go there
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Desert Blues 2 (Network), "Bahr bela ma", ocean without water, was the name by which Arab camel drivers knew the Sahara, the world’s largest desert. They travelled that ocean by camel, the ships of the desert, as we say in English, or, as the French call their caravans, le train de sable. In this way, people, goods and ideas traverse the endless expanses of the desert with its remote and barely accessible places, where conditions are harsh and landscape is reduced to a minimum of forms. 02/16/03 >> go there
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Do Your Ears Travel?, A retail promotion program that leverages the repertoire of the best world music labels with the grassroots chutzpah of independent CD stores. 01/15/03 >> go there
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Dobet Gnahore, Na Afriki (Cumbancha), Village Ki-Yi M'Bock, an enclave in the Ivory Coast, is home to over fifty resident artists of diverse traditions, ages, and origins, including dancers, actors, puppeteers, sculptors, painters, costume designers, and musicians, and has played an important role in the African arts scene. There African artists with a multitude of ethnic backgrounds collaborate freely, united in their commitment to creating uniquely African artistic expressions. 02/09/07 >> go there
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Dona Dumitru Siminica - Sounds From a Bygone Age Vol. 3 (Asphalt Tango), I was happy / but to complete my misery / I suspected nothing / I was having too good a time/next to her / I didn’t notice / that she loved the other man.
— from “La Salul Cel Negru” (“The Black Scarf”) sung by Dona Dumitru Siminicã 09/01/06 >> go there
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Drop the Debt (World Village), Debt kills. Each year, a lack of even basic medical treatment kills thousands of people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America because their governments, bled white by debt-servicing requirements, are unable to fund health programs. According to the United Nations Programme for Development, many countries spend a greater proportion of their budget on debt repayment than they allocate to education, health, and other social services. In 2001, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that 38% of the budget of African countries was devoted to debt servicing. This figure alone shows how the vital needs of populations are being sacrificed to truncated economic rules. 06/27/03 >> go there
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Earth Wheel Sky Band, Waltz Rromano (Asphalt Tango), After 40 years on stage, Olah Vince takes a big step forward. Just the basics are featured: guitar, violin, cymbalom, doublebass, percussion, and voice. No electronic gadgets or keyboards; simple, but pleasurable. 02/12/04 >> go there
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Easy Star All-Stars, Dub Side of the Moon (Easy Star Records), “It would be so easy to botch a project like this given the virtually iconic nature of the material,” wrote Billboard magazine about the Easy Star All-Stars’ 2003 sneak hit Dub Side of the Moon, an ambitious reinvention of Pink Floyd’s classic Dark Side Of The Moon album. But the band and producers “clearly appreciated the neo-psychedelia of Dark Side and did a superb job of capturing that feel in translating the music to reggae,” continues the review. Three years later—while the album continues to register on the Billboard Reggae Catalog Chart—Easy Star is set to release their concert DVD, Dub Side of the Moon Live, featuring the Rasta-naut, a Rasta astronaut orbiting the moon in original animated sequences that punctuate the DVD’s psychedilic, live concert footage. 05/09/06 >> go there
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Eccodek, More Africa In Us (White Swan Records), “I think putting more Africa into something suggests connecting with the root of the matter, finding the deeper mystical history of things, the soul connection,” proclaims Andrew McPherson, the man behind eccodek’s blend of downtempo grooves, tribal electronica, and world dub. 07/21/06 >> go there
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Elijah Wald - Global Minstrels: The Voices of World Music (Routledge), What unites global minstrels is their insight into the fusions and clashes of a globalizing entertainment scene, the need to hold on to precious heritages while reaching out to an international market. While their music may be exotic to American ears, their stories hit close to home, showing how art from elsewhere can create meaning in our communities and help us explore worlds very different from our own. 11/13/06 >> go there
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Emeline Michel, Rasin Kreyol (Times Square), Emeline draws on the roots and history of Haiti—the world’s first Black republic—in many ways. The intertwined rhythms of the manman tanbou, boula, and katabou—Haitian drums—provide the foundation for original lyrics peppered with Haitian proverbs and positive messages. “Everybody knows that Haiti is in trouble,” she says. “Sometimes I feel like I should be there helping! This album is my way to be there. It’s my chance to show a side of Haitian culture that is positive.” 09/20/04 >> go there
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Encuentro, 11/12/2006 at SOB's in NYC (Chonta Records), Drummer Daniel Correa puts it this way: “You can just feel you’re witnessing the birth of a new generation of artists looking to their roots and their past generations, learning from their own history and making it part of themselves, trying to express their own life experiences, every one of them telling us a different history, with one common element: Colombia.” 09/29/06 >> go there
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Erol Josué, Régléman , Vodou is one of the most misunderstood spiritual traditions in our society. Erol Josué’s music and life is dedicated to shedding new light on this way of life.
03/30/07 >> go there
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Eva Ayllon, Eva! Leyenda Peruana (Times Square), For thirty years Afro-Peruvian singer Eva Ayllón has been selling out theaters not only at home in Peru--where she can fill a stadium of 30,000--but here in North America as well. For the non-Peruvian audience, this may have gone unnoticed until now. Ayllón focuses on the elegant and lively genres of the coastal plains of Lima in particular. She is known for singing the landó, the festejo, and the vals; all mestizo blends of Peru’s indigenous, African, and Spanish musical heritage. Call-and-response, complex syncopation, and polyrhythms combine with sweet, melancholic melodies to create a sound unique to Peru’s diverse ancestry. 08/04/04 >> go there
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Ex-Centric Sound System, West Nile Funk (EXS), “The first time you stand next to the sound system trucks at Carnival in Trinidad it is unbelievable,” exclaims Yossi Fine, founder and bassist for Ex-Centric Sound System. “On one truck alone, the amount of low end sound, the number of speakers: it’s huge! That is what we tried to create on the album,” he says referring to their latest release, West Nile Funk, released on July 13, 2004 on EXS. 05/12/04 >> go there
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Fanfare Ciocarlia, Gili Garabdi (Asphalt Tango), When the enslavement of Romania’s Gypsies officially ended in 1864, tens of thousand fled the nation for new horizons. Several thousand landed in the United States, often settling in the black ghettoes of the Southern US states, where they continued to make music. Ioan, Fanfare Ciocarlia’s oldest member and group historian, once answered when asked if jazz was a big influence on the Fanfare, "Who’s to say our cousins who went to the US didn’t help invent jazz?" On Ancient Secrets this matter and other mysteries of Gypsy magic are set forth. -- Garth Cartwright 05/26/05 >> go there
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Fanfare Ciocarlia, Iag Bari (Piranha), This art has been handed down from generation to generation. There is no sheet music. The instruments—bearing the marks of the previous decades—have lost their shine and gained their own patina. Fanfare Ciocãrlia manages to set off a musical firework display of traditional dances from Romania and rhythms from Turkey, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Every weekend the players haul off their instruments to weddings often playing for over thirty hours non-stop. Back in their village they soothe their sore lips and await their next engagement. 03/28/03 >> go there
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Fanfare Ciocarlia, Queens and Kings (Asphalt Tango), Despite DJs, CDs, and electronic keyboards, live traditional music still occupies an important place in everyday life in communities like Zece Prajini. A wedding or other celebration without musicians would be simply unthinkable. Fanfare Ciocãrlia’s thumping bass, driving percussion and spinning horn solos plunge listeners straight into a wild world of Romanian Gypsy parties, which can last for 30 hours at a stretch. 05/04/07 >> go there
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Fela Kuti, The Best of Fela Kuti; Music is the Weapon (Wrasse), It's almost impossible to overstate the impact and importance of Fela Kuti to the global musical village: producer, arranger, musician, political radical, outlaw. He was all that, as well as showman par excellence, inventor of Afro-beat, an unredeemable sexist, and a moody megalomaniac. His death on August 3, 1997 of complications from AIDS deeply affected musicians and fans internationally, as a musical and sociopolitical voice on a par with Bob Marley was silenced. 03/16/05 >> go there
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Festival In the Desert (World Village), Imagine a community celebration so remote it could only be reached by camelback or 4x4. Add to the picture a day filled with camel racing, impromptu jam sessions under camel-skin tents, and a stage full of electric guitars. You are starting to get a picture of what it must have been like to attend Le Festival au Désert or The Festival in the Desert in the Sahara in January. October 2003 sees the release of a CD on World Village that captures this magical event with Robert Plant, Ali Farka Touré, Oumou Sangare, Lo'Jo, Tinariwen, Justin Adams, and more! 07/31/03 >> go there
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Festival in the Desert 2003, There are nomads with electric guitars in the Sahara Desert of Africa. They have heard the music of Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon, and have become inspired. Robert Plant’s guitarist Justin Adams and a group of modern day French troubadours named Lo'Jo came across these Tuareg rebels on a musical Mecca to Mali. Now they all collaborate across continents to produce the annual Festival in the Desert.
photo (c) René Goiffon 01/21/03 >> go there
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Festival in the Desert DVD, Filmmaker Lionel Brouet takes you into the heart of this inimitable Sahara desert experience with his unforgettable account – The Festival in the Desert, a new DVD set for release via World Village on October 12, 2004. The film assembles a wide variety of performances from diverse artists like Tinariwen, Lo’Jo, and Oumou Sangare, to legends rock vocalist Robert Plant and Malian bluesman Ali Farka Toure; thirty acts in all from Africa, North America and Europe. The DVD release coincides with a 12-concert tour by Tinariwen in October and November, as well as their October 12 CD release, Amassakoul (World Village). 07/19/04 >> go there
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Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars, Brotherhood of Brass (Piranha), Combining decades of expertise in Klezmer and brass band music in general, London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars draw on ancient traditions to reconstruct the original spirit that led to today’s Klezmer. Based on extensive research—laced with a heavy dose of guesswork and intuition—and a few smudged sheets of music found in the cellar of a tavern in Minsk, a group of the greatest living klezmorim have lovingly and painstakingly fashioned an aural docudrama of Di Shikere Kapelye and their sound and spirit. 02/10/03 >> go there
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Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars, Carnival Conspiracy (Piranha Musik), Few people know that the first Jews in North America came to New York on a boat from Recife, Brazil 350 years ago. Marking the Semiseptcentennial of this momentous occasion, Frank London’s Klezmer Brass All Stars’ Carnival Conspiracy: In the Marketplace All is Subterfuge (released by PIRANHA Musik/Harmonia Mundi) brings the spirit and aesthetic of Brazilian carnival together with the street sounds of Brass Band and Klezmer in the celebration of what London calls “the original New York Jewish music.” 11/17/05 >> go there
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Gangbe Brass Band, Whendo (World Village), Picture the sound of military brass bands, voodoo ritual chants and rhythms, scratchy American jazz records, with a dash of Fela’s Afrobeat, and you can almost hear Gangbé Brass Band. Gangbé—which means “the sound of metal” referring to the trumpets, saxes, trombones, sousaphone (related to the tuba), and sometimes elaborate metal bell percussion—epitomizes the unlikely history so often found in Africa. 08/16/05 >> go there
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Geno Delafose, Everybody's Dancin' (Times Square), There is this other way of life in the south; a musical ethnicity that has simmered itself to a uniquely homespun flavor. Immersed in the culture since birth, Geno Delafose has lived the life of a true cowboy. He relies on his traditional Creole sensibility for guidance in music, and divides his time between touring and operating his Double D Ranch outside of Eunice, deep in Southwest Louisiana’s bayou country, where he breeds cattle and raises quarter horses. 05/01/03 >> go there
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GeoRemixed: Big Beats for a Small Planet, “GeoRemixed: Big Beats for a Small Planet”, a 13-song collection of previously unreleased tracks and remixes, showcases sampled, dubbed-out, bass-thumping beats ranging from Gypsy brass to Maasai rap and Ethiopian hybrids, from Latino-Jewish rhymes to Mediterranean-meets-Caribbean surf rock and Brazilian hip hop. 02/21/07 >> go there
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Gesher-Jisr: Bridging Cultures in Conflict Through the Arts, Hicham Chami’s zither-like qanun once exploded on stage. Another time the Moroccan musician’s trapezoid-like instrument was inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs. But his most dangerous performance occurred when he was invited into a synagogue to play. “One of the congregants was so angry that there was a Muslim in his synagogue that he started screaming at me, even tearing his own clothes,” says Chami. “This was the only time in my life that I ever thought about calling 911. It bothers me that there is a failure somewhere in the system. Some people cannot see the beauty of putting together Jewish and Muslim musicians. On the other hand, I have performed in dozens of synagogues to audiences which were joyous and receptive.” 07/27/05 >> go there
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Gigi, Illuminated Audio (Palm Pictures), A modern Ethiopian artist had never sounded so progressive while keeping her music firmly rooted in its original culture. “Gigi’s modal melodies and urgently questioning voice rise out of grooves that swirl jazz and funk into the complexities of Ethiopian pop,” said Jon Pareles in the New York Times, “broadening the music without Americanizing it.” Now comes Illuminated Audio, a complete reconstruction of Gigi’s debut as an ambient epic by producer and dubmaster Bill Laswell. In the same spirit as his noted interpretations of Miles Davis (Panthalassa, 1998), Bob Marley (Dreams of Freedom, 1997), and Carlos Santana (Divine Light, 2001), Laswell went back to the original multi-track masters and re-imagined new versions and perspectives to highlight Gigi’s singular vocals. 01/24/03 >> go there
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GlobalFEST, Since 9/11, dozens of articles have run in major newspapers about the difficulty of foreign artists gaining entry for concert tours in the U.S. A handful of key, grassroots activists in the world music field are now taking things into their own hands to break down barriers for artists touring America and to raise the profile of world music within the touring market. The result is GlobalFEST, a one-night fête modeled after other popular music industry events that draw in players from the music industry and the public at large. GlobalFEST will present short performances of sixteen artists from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas on three stages. 10/07/03 >> go there
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globalFEST 2005, globalFEST, which sold out its debut last January to wide critical acclaim, showcases world music in all its diversity. This year’s festival, which brings thirteen musical acts from five continents to three stages at The Public Theater on January 8, 2005, simultaneously satiates the growing hunger for global sounds, and plants seeds for future touring. 11/19/04 >> go there
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globalFEST 2006, Returning for a third year after two consecutive sold-out events, globalFEST expands into a two - night extravaganza (with the same artists each night) - featuring a remarkable line-up of artists simultaneously performing 45-minute sets on three stages at The Public Theater (NYC), including Joe's Pub, the Anspacher Theater and Martinson Hall. Pay one price for an evening-long festival of contemporary and traditional music from around the globe. Artist line-up to be announced. 09/28/05 >> go there
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globalFEST 2007, Webster Hall (NYC), Roots revival, surf rock, classical ouds, Brazilian and Afro-Portuguese songs. Expect these and many more styles on three diverse stages of the fourth annual globalFEST 2007 (www.globalfest-ny.org), which takes place Sunday, January 21, 2007, starting at 7 pm. This year the event moves to Webster Hall (125 East 11th Street, NYC) to better accommodate crowds that packed previous venues. The event, which has sold out three years in a row, has become one of America’s leading showcases of global sounds, demonstrating the multiplicity of sounds and performance contexts that fall under the ‘world music’ label. 11/17/06 >> go there
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globalFEST 2008, Webster Hall (NYC), thirteen artists. three stages. one night. globalFEST. 11/08/07 >> go there
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Grey Larsen, Any bird expert will tell you, there is no such thing as a cuckoo’s nest. The cuckoo is one of the few birds that lays its eggs in another bird’s nest and leaves its young to be raised by someone else. Grey Larsen learned the old traditional Irish tune called “The Cuckoo’s Nest” when he himself had fallen into a surrogate nest rich in Irish tradition. Larsen learned the tune in Ohio and transcribed it for his unprecedented 450-plus-page tome "The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle" to be released by Mel Bay Publications the same month as his new CD, "Dark of the Moon" on Sleepy Creek Music. 08/19/03 >> go there
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Habib Koite & Bamada, Foly! (World Village), Habib Koité is known for his unique approach to playing the guitar. He tunes his instrument to the pentatonic scale and plays on open strings as one would on a kamale n’goni. At other times Habib plays music that sounds closer to the blues or flamenco, two styles he studied under Khalilou Traoré a veteran of the legendary Afro-Cuban band Maravillas du Mali. Unlike the griots, his singing style is restrained and intimate with varying cadenced rhythms and melodies. His supporting cast, Bamada, is an explosive super-group of West African rhythm section talent. 12/03/03 >> go there
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Habib Koité, 2005 North American Tour, “Nobody really taught me to sing or to play the guitar,” says Habib Koité. “I watched my parents, and it washed off on me.” Koité was headed for a career as an engineer, but on the insistence of his uncle, who recognized Habib’s musical talent, he enrolled at the National Institute of Arts in Bamako, Mali, launching his twenty-year career. Now, with four critically acclaimed albums under his belt, Habib Koité & Bamada returns to North America for a 35-concert tour. 12/06/04 >> go there
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Habib Koite, Afriki (Cumbancha), “People here in Africa are willing to risk death trying to leave for Europe or the USA, but they are not willing to take that risk staying to develop something here in Africa,” says Habib Koite. “Life can be really good or really bad wherever you live. People need to understand that." 06/20/07 >> go there
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Hazmat Modine - Bahamut (Barbes Records), The small diatonic harmonica was popularized in Germany as a folk instrument, almost a toy. It was sold in massive quantities and was affordable to American Southerners, both African-American and European-American. “They pulled from it things it was never meant to do,” explains Hazmat Modine's Wade Schuman. “Bending a note is an accident of physics, creating that glissando blue note. An instrument designed for one thing is used in a different way, and a new music form is invented for it." 07/05/06 >> go there
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Hip Deep: Afropop Worldwide's series-within-a-series, The first national world music radio program is re-inventing itself. Afropop Worldwide launches Hip Deep—a “series within a series” that taps into renewed public interest in history, an emerging wave of pop culture scholars, and the best production techniques available to radio. For 17 years, Afropop Worldwide has been turning listeners on to the music of Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond. Now, Hip Deep shifts the focus to the often-untold histories behind the dance crazes, love songs, and myriad grooves that Africans have helped to create around the world. Just as community elders and griots hold a special place in African societies, Afropop Worldwide’s Hip Deep is tracking down modern-day storytellers to connect the dots, creating a new sense of who we are as a society. 04/07/04 >> go there
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Hugh Masekela, Live at the Market Theatre (Times Square/4Q), Before jazz had a name and “world music” was a concept, a young trumpet player emerged from another hemisphere and landed alongside some of the greatest icons in American music. 06/20/07 >> go there
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Ion Petre Stoican, Sounds from a Bygone Age, Vol. 1 (Asphalt Tango), This is the miraculous story of a rural Romanian musician who turned in a spy in exchange for a record deal, the chance of a lifetime. The musician’s name was Ion Petre Stoican, and the end result—the only LP he ever made—is being released on CD for the first time under the title "Songs from a Bygone Age, Volume 1" by Asphalt-Tango Records. 10/26/05 >> go there
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Issa Bagayogo, Tassoumakan (Six Degrees), Issa Bagayogo is one of the great, if tongue-twisting, names in world music. In fact, even in his homeland of Mali, they rarely use his last name; he’s usually just called “Techno Issa.” Issa topped the charts in 2002 with his groundbreaking “Timbuktu,” an album that spawned a host of imitators hoping to match his compelling blend of Malian roots music and Western dance technology. But no one’s been able to pull it off as convincingly and as elegantly as Issa has. Now he’s back to show how it’s done. 06/17/04 >> go there
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Italian Cafe (Putumayo), After the chaos and destruction of World War II and its accompanying military music, the Italian public was ready for a more relaxed sound. Jazz, swing and boogie-woogie were achieving worldwide popularity and, in Italy, merged with the Italian crooner tradition. The musical rebirth of the 1950s and ’60s was like a second liberation. What’s old is new and Putumayo’s July 5, 2005 release Italian Café captures the music and attitude from that era and from current singers whose musical DNA follows that lineage. 04/22/05 >> go there
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Jalilah's Raks Sharki 6, In a Beirut Mood (Piranha), This famous “Oriental dance” impressed kings like Herodes who offered half of his kingdom to Salomé, the most famous temple dancer of the day. Raks Sharki originated in Mesopotamia. Artifacts of ancient dancers have been found in Anatolia (modern Turkey) dating back to 10,000 B.C. 06/04/03 >> go there
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Jaojoby, Malagasy (World Village), In Madagascar—an island nation east of Mozambique in the Indian Ocean—salegy is very popular and Jaojoby is its acknowledged monarch. Born at the end of the ’60s around the time the nation became independent from the French, salegy is electric music with no debt to the West. The compelling 6/8 rhythm, which descends from traditional, ancestral Malagasy music forms, entrances dancers. It is said to date back to the 15th century when humans first settled on the “Red Island.” The term salegy, of Indonesian origins, emerged in the 1960s and refers to a new, electric music once Malagasy guitarists transposed popular and traditional music from instruments like the tube-zither called the valiha. “We play folklore music that we have electrified,” says Jaojoby. “If we take away the electricity, it would be like the music of our ancestors. We have only added it to get people to dance; to get more… [wide smile] decibels.” Before Jaojoby and a few others popularized the sound in the 1970s, there were few salegy recordings, and they were only instrumental.
07/05/04 >> go there
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Jewltide w/ Golem + SoCalled (JDub), So what’s a Jew to do on the most observed of the Christian holidays, when every business but the Chinese restaurants uses the excuse to close down? 11/03/06 >> go there
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Jony Iliev & Band, Ma maren ma (asphalt tango), Filled with passion, thrust in between happiness and despair, between poverty and discrimination on one side, freedom and zest for life on the other—Jony Iliev and Band mesmerize with their masterly compositions spiced with Romani lyrics. 03/11/03 >> go there
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Jose Conde y Ola Fresca, (R)evolucion (Mr. Bongo Records), The theme of Jose Conde's new album is to evolve beyond the �R� of Revolution, beyond change through violent means, beyond the Cuban Revolution, and towards an evolution of music, coexistence, good times, and preservation of the Earth. Conde draws on his life experience to weave together this vision.
04/04/07 >> go there
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JP Morgan Chase Latino Cultural Festival 2007, The JPMorgan Latino Cultural Festival reveals the deep roots, cultural icons, and groundbreaking future of the Latino arts in New York City and beyond. 06/06/07 >> go there
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JPMorgan Chase Latino Cultural Festival, When a giant model globe was placed in Flushing Meadow Corona Park, it is unlikely that 1964 World’s Fair organizers envisioned the 1255-acre park’s transformation four decades later. Yet it was a sign of things to come: a multicultural, demographic manifest destiny about to hit Queens, New York. After a period of disuse, NYC’s second-largest park has become a community hub for the burgeoning Latino and Asian populations of the borough formerly known as outer. The Queens Theatre in the Park (QTP) wholeheartedly embraces the community’s transformation as the most diverse borough with the JPMorgan Chase Latino Cultural Festival. The annual event has become an international springboard for the careers of artists throughout Latin America, Spain, and Latino America. 04/20/04 >> go there
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JPMorgan Chase Latino Cultural Festival 2005, “We always seek to represent the variety of Latino and Latin American arts,” explains JPMorgan Chase Latino Cultural Festival director Claudia Norman. “This year’s schedule includes the contemporary voices, the traditional aspects, the legends, and the African influences of the Americas.” The surrounding Latino residents, who have been migrating to the area in large numbers in the past two decades, have adopted Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The Festival also attracts New Yorkers regardless of cultural heritage and draws Latinos from throughout the Northeast. “This is the rare opportunity to see Latino arts presented in a serious way, in a formal theater setting, rather than a club or church,” Norman says. 06/14/05 >> go there
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JPMorgan Chase Latino Cultural Festival 2006, Emerging voices. Historic icons. Debut American performances. Commissioned modern dance. 05/18/06 >> go there
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Julia Sarr and Patrice Larose, Set Luna (Sunnyside Records), Senegalese-French singer Julia Sarr is full of subtle surprises. And in a sense, she and French flamenco-inspired guitarist Patrice Larose are living their music in reverse. “Our first big concert was at Carnegie Hall,” Sarr exclaims. “Usually people arrive there at the end of their career. For us it was the beginning.” The concert took place in October of 2005 on a night billed as “Youssou N'Dour Presents The Fresh Face of African Music,” after Sarr and Larose had only played five concerts together. 12/15/05 >> go there
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Justin Adams, Desert Road (World Village), After twenty years playing the guitar in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, Justin Adams found himself with three weeks with nothing to do. So he retreated to his bedroom, closed the door, and conjured images of Tuareg wanderers, ancient Gnawa slaves, and solitary nomads crossing the Sahara and Gobi deserts. Desert Road is the product of this experience. 12/29/02 >> go there
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Kal, Kal (Asphalt Tango), The disparate sounds of Kal’s music describe a new, post-modern Roma identity that confronts romantic Gypsy clichés. Dragan Ristic, who founded the band with his brother Dushan, says, “We are not living in the past… I’m an urban person, belong to the modern world, [and] go to rave parties… so mixing traditional and urban elements is the best way of presenting our culture.” 03/08/06 >> go there
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Kekele, Kinavana (Stern's Africa), Rumba Congo. That was the title of Kékélé’s debut album. The term had never gained wide currency outside of Africa and hadn’t been used much for quite a few years even there. So when Kékélé’s CD was released to much interest and acclaim in 2000, people wondered, “Rumba is Cuban music, so what’s rumba Congo?” 06/08/06 >> go there
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Kerekes Band, Pimasz, Ethno-funkster Zsombor Fehér says: "When I realized that each shepherd flute player is a local Jimi Hendrix both in their manner of playing and musical re-creation, I saw the fusion of these two styles as completely legitimate.”
11/16/07 >> go there
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King Sunny Ade & Obi Osadebe North American Tour, In Nigeria, King Sunny Ade plays at naming ceremonies, weddings, or business launches. The tradition of praise singing gives musicians a chance to make a living and patrons to gain public recognition. The praise-singer will call on stage community leaders, elders, and politicians to literally sing their praises. The singer draws upon diverse and complex knowledge about family names and reputations, historic poetry and epic tales, and geography and regional folklore to create relevant stories or admiration that honor the addressee. The recipient of the praise responds in kind by “spraying” the singer with cash—which can take the form of pasting dollar bills on the singer’s sweaty forehead, showering the singer with money, or other ways of demonstrating gratitude for the praise. His 2005 tour, marks King Sunny's first visit with the intent of re-creating this Nigerian tradition in America. 02/10/05 >> go there
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Kiran Ahluwalia, Kiran Ahluwalia (Triloka, 2005), It took many years for Kiran Ahluwalia to find one of the last living masters of ghazal—a form of sung poetry that originated in Persia 1000 years ago and reached India 400 years later. When she met Vithal Rao—her teacher—she was exposed to a bygone era, a time before Indian independence when princes and kings employed court musicians to put music to poetry. In an odd twist of fate, Kiran is now a bridge to this colorful past and—as featured on her new self-titled CD (released May 31, 2005 on Triloka Records)—may be one of the only composers of contemporary ghazals in Canada and even the Western Hemisphere. 03/17/05 >> go there
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Kiran Ahluwalia, Wanderlust (Times Square/4Q Recordings), If yearning had a musical form it would be ghazals, the Indian and Pakistani sung poetry about unrequited love. If longing was a genre, it would be fado, the melancholic Portuguese song form also based in poetry. Singer Kiran Ahluwalia unites the two on her latest recording, Wanderlust. 06/06/07 >> go there
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Kitka & Davka in Concert: Old and New World Jewish Music (Forest Creatures Entertainment), "Culture and music can transcend the boundaries between religions. That’s something that we really need for coexistence,” states Leonard Kurz of Forest Creatures Entertainment 10/26/06 >> go there
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Kitka, The Rusalka Cycle (Diaphonica), Beware of the mesmerizing songs of the siren-like beauties that inhabit the streams and lakes, the forests and fields. In Slavic folklore, these restless spirits called Rusalki—thought to be women who have died unjust or untimely deaths—will draw unsuspecting innocents to their doom. 10/09/07 >> go there
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Kitka, Wintersongs (Diaphonica), "Only a Slavic folk tune, after all, can express bliss in a minor key, agony in jaunty dance rhythms. The languages in which they sing are largely unfamiliar to American ears. It is exactly this unfamiliarity that is so riveting, as Kitka’s sensitive precision lifts their work out of the merely musical into a universe beyond words, an experience that is primal and elemental." -- The Oregonian 10/29/04 >> go there
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Klezmatics, Brother Moses Smote the Water (Piranha), Only in America could Jewish slaves in Egypt inspire White Southern Christians who in turn stirred Black Christians to sing about emancipation who in turn inspired an African-American Jewish gospel singer named Joshua Nelson. The Klezmatics--known for their unique blend of melodic mysticism and improvisational activism--have once again turned their music inside out, exposing the complexity of Jewish identity, Black identity, human identity. 12/14/04 >> go there
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La Cumbiamba Eneye, Marioneta (Chonta Records), This is a story of why master musicians in Colombia are playing flutes made from Bronx goose feathers. It’s an account of rural people displaced by war, and undervalued Afro-Colombian musical traditions finally coming to light. It’s the tale of New York-based ensemble La Cumbiamba eNeYé, whose new CD is called Marioneta (Chonta Records).
08/31/06 >> go there
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Ladysmith Black Mambazo, No Boundaries (Heads Up), The legendary Ladysmith Black Mambazo crosses borders once again on their new CD, No Boundaries (HUCD 3092), to be released by Heads Up International on January 25, 2005. The recording finds the South African a cappella powerhouse joined by the strings of the English Chamber Orchestra for a unique project pairing their isicathamiya (a Zulu word meaning “to tiptoe”) singing with the likes of Mozart, Schubert and Bach. 11/30/04 >> go there
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Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Raise Your Spirit Higher (Heads Up), If you missed the heavenly chorus that defined Paul Simon’s landmark Graceland album, maybe you caught them on TV; on Sesame Street, Michael Jackson’s “Moonwalker” video, a 7-Up commercial, or, in the UK, a Heinz Baked Beans ad so popular it led to a million-unit selling album there. But it was the Lifesaver’s commercial that caught the attention of Dolly Parton sparking her to invite Ladysmith Black Mambazo to guest on her album Treasures on the song “Peace Train.” Now Ladysmith Black Mambazo releases "Raise Your Spirit Higher—Wenyukela" (HUCD 3083) on Heads Up International, in time for the ten-year anniversary of the end of apartheid. The CD is Ladysmith’s message of hope and unity for a troubled world. 11/03/03 >> go there
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Ladysmith Black Mambazo; Long Walk to Freedom (Heads Up), The heavenly voices of Ladysmith Black Mambazo are joined by Natalie Merchant, Emmylou Harris, Melissa Etheridge, Sarah Mclachlan, Zap Mama, Taj Mahal, and Joe McBride, as well as a virtual who’s who of South African artists on "Long Walk to Freedom" (on Heads Up International). The release marks 25 years since Mambazo stepped onto the world stage with Paul Simon on his landmark album, "Graceland." The chart-topping album (probably one of the biggest selling "world music"-influenced records of all time) and Mambazo's subsequent releases played a significant role in raising global awareness about the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. But even without this intriguing history, the music speaks for itself with some of North America's favorite singers joining Mambazo on songs like "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes," "Homeless," and "Rain Rain Beautiful Rain." 11/13/05 >> go there
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Le Trio Joubran, Majâz (Randana), “Human beings in their nature are sad. It starts with their first tear at birth, and continues throughout life. The nice moments in life are short, but we are obliged to make them longer. The world is full of sad situations waiting to be changed into happy ones. It’s our duty in life." 12/17/07 >> go there
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Le Trio Joubran, Randana (Fairplay/Sheer), This is a tale of the sons of a master luthier, who is the son of a master luthier; a family steeped in the 4,000-year saga of the oud, ancestor of the guitar. 03/13/06 >> go there
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Leah Callahan, Even Sleepers (Baraca Records), The Bartok came from a skeptical piano teacher that agreed to take on a child as young as three. The tin pan alley and ’20s pop came from the heyday of a 70 year-old singing teacher. The new wave and punk came from teenage years of listening to 1980s college radio. And the receptivity to any and all sounds came from Leah Callahan’s propensity to “listen to anything that would clear a room.” 07/31/03 >> go there
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Les Yeux Noirs, Balamouk (World Village), French for “The Black Eyes”—takes its name from the title of a Russian gypsy tune made famous by Django Reinhardt in the ’30s. It’s the perfect name for a French sextet that plays their own variety and melding of Gypsy music and Klezmer, with a nod to Manouche (or French Gypsy) jazz. 12/29/02 >> go there
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Les Yeux Noirs, Live (World Village), Les Yeux Noirs—French for “The Black Eyes”—takes their name from the title of a Russian gypsy tune made famous by Django Reinhardt in the ’30s. It’s the perfect name for a French sextet that plays their own variety and melding of Gypsy and Yiddish music, with a nod to Manouche (or French Gypsy) jazz. 03/28/03 >> go there
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Les Yeux Noirs, tChorba (World Village), "TChorba is a soup, a Turkish soup made with a lot of good things," Eric Slabiak explained to the Maui News recently, on a tour in Hawaii. "In France, when you say tChorba it’s a pejorative. There are a lot of ingredients so we hope it's a good soup. It's different: we play a little bit funky on one tune and we have a lot of samples. It's the album we prefer. We are very excited about it." 11/17/05 >> go there
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LinkTV, World Music Programming, Nobody knows the future of the music industry. But while the Chicken Littles were declaring the end of the music biz, new delivery patterns surfaced, using all available technologies. New tools are connecting markets not served by old models, and audiences overlooked by commercial media are finding music through alternative outlets. The often-described global village is finally emerging in the realm of music delivery. 08/27/07 >> go there
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Linton Kwesi Johnson - Mi Revalueshanary Fren, "I always have a bass line at the back of my mind when I write," says Linton Kwesi Johnson.
06/22/06 >> go there
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Linton Kwesi Johnson, Live in Paris (Wrasse), "Shock-black bubble-doun-beat bouncing / rock-wise tumble-doun sound music / foot-drop find drum, blood story / bass history is a moving / is a hurting black story.”
--Linton Kwesi Johnson, world's first reggae poet 12/14/04 >> go there
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Lo'Jo, Au Cabaret Sauvage (World Villlage), After two releases and extensive worldwide tours, the French troubadour ‘triban’ Lo’Jo is garnering the attention of international audiences. Led by a man compared to a barefoot and be-hatted Serge Gainsbourg, and with a history colored by circus artists, actors, pyrotechnicians, street performers, painters, acrobats, festivals, and cabarets, the band has built an inimitable charisma. 12/29/02 >> go there
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Lo'Jo, ce soir la... (world village), Read the reviews of French band Lo’Jo and you’ll hear descriptions of a veritable where’s-where of world music: Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, North African, West African, English, Gypsy, Caribbean, and of course French. These diverse origins are united seamlessly by the gravelly voice of lead singer Denis Péan, the genetically synchronized tones of singing sisters Nadia and Yamina, and the legacy of the band’s quirky origins of street performance. Operating communally from a house in Angers, France, Lo’Jo’s success has largely resulted from constant worldwide touring and a do-it-yourself mentality that is paying off twenty years after the band’s founding. 09/14/04 >> go there
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Lo'Jo, Mojo Radio (World Village), “Lo’Jo, led by a smoky-voiced chanteur named Denis Pean, sounds like an itinerant cabaret band that has wandered a long way from the boulevards, hearing griot tunes and tangos and Tom Waits but not forgetting its accordion” —The New York Times 12/29/02 >> go there
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Lura, 2005, Di Korpu Ku Alma, The music of Cape Verde—an archipelago 300 miles west of Dakar, Senegal—is a music of emigration. While the island nation’s best-known singer is Cesaria Evora, a young singer born and raised in Lisbon’s émigré community is presenting once-hidden Cape Verdean styles to American and European audiences. Her name is Lura. 04/24/05 >> go there
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Lura, 2006, M'Bem Di Fora (Times Square Records), “The place my family came from is a recent discovery for me and I fell in love with the islands. It is very important to have someone sing our thoughts… we are rich in music, culture, rhythms. I try to sing the little things of the daily routine, the beautiful things, the simple things.”
09/20/06 >> go there
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Mahmoud Fadl, The Drummers of the Nile in Town (Piranha), Welcome to the adventures of the “Drummers of the Nile,” part III. After their southbound journey they are back in town, as strong as ever. Join Mahmoud Fadl on his walk down Cairo’s Mohamed ‘Ali Street, the notorious musicians’ hang out, where he meets up with master drummers Mohammed “Kallo” Sobhi and Magdi Berbish, the Khalil family (flagship of Said musicianship) and the legendary Hasaballah Brass Band, the one and only brass band in Egypt. 02/12/04 >> go there
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Mali (Putumayo), “A lot of people believe Mali will be the next Cuba,” says Putumayo VP of A&R Jacob Edgar, reflecting on the potential of Mali’s music to crossover to a wider audience. The Putumayo World Music compilation Mali will be released on May 3, 2005. “The music is otherworldly and familiar at the same time, and the artists have really interesting stories.” 02/24/05 >> go there
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Mamani Keita & Marc Minelli, Electro Bamako, (Palm Pictures), “Mainly this is the record of a music fan who’s received beautiful Malian songs for Christmas as gifts to build around,” explains Marc Minelli who collaborates with former Salif Keita's former backing vocalist Mamani Keita on "Electro Bamako." Minelli draws on techniques from the Techno realm -- from loops to samples -- but uses gentle intrumentation and a swinging rhythm that respects Keita's sweet voice. 01/30/03 >> go there
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Marcel Khalife, Caress (Nagam), Oud master Marcel Khalife’s mission began before Israel seized his cassettes upon invading his country, Lebanon in 1982. “Since I was born,” he says, “I’ve felt I had a rebel’s soul within me. I rejected things that might be inherited, but that were wrong.” Born into a Christian family, Khalife—who plays the oud, an Arabic lute, has always been a voice of reconciliation, peace, and hope. During Lebanon’s civil war, he risked his life performing in bombed out concert halls, bringing his music and the great poetry of the Arab world to his war-ravaged country. At the same time, Khalife has been stretching the boundaries of his instrument and Arabic music. 08/16/04 >> go there
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Marcel Khalife, Taqasim (Nagam), "We Arabs have no history of our music. In my judgment, we have linked music to singing, and it is time to write down the history of music, not just song." -Marcel Khalife 10/13/05 >> go there
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Mariana Montalvo, Piel de Aceituna (World Village), Like many musicians from Chile, Mariana Montalvo was forced into exile when Augusto Pinochet took power in a military coup. Montalvo moved to Paris but keeps alive the nueva canción tradition—a South American musical movement that emerged in the 1960s and ’70s. 08/13/04 >> go there
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