An hour of global cover songs started off the show, celebrating the musicianship and life of reggae icon Bob Marley, who would have turned 65 tomorrow. Not your regular reggae show...one listener even described it as "trippy." Plus new releases and more in the second hour. Congrats to the listeners who won the CD and ticket giveaways this week. Global Reggae-Tribute to Bob Marley : Spin The Globe playlist for 5 February 2010 as heard on radio KAOS, 89.3 FM [...]
No, SoundRoots isn't setting you up with a journey to the Great Beyond to converse with the late great father of Afrobeat. But Afropop Worldwide has the next best thing: a contest that will result in two people receiving airfare to New York, a hotel stay, and tickets to the Broadway musical FELA! Is it a good show? I haven't seen it, but Ben Brantley's review in the NYT begins thusly: There should be dancing in the streets. When you leave the Eugene [...]
While his son Vieux pioneers on with great West African guitar music, Ali Farka Touré is gone, and we won't be hearing much new music from him. That's what makes the anticipation of the forthcoming album Ali & Toumani such a delicious agony. The second album of guitar-kora collaboration with Toumani Diabaté after 2005's Grammy-winning In the Heart of the Moon , Ali &Toumani promises more of the intricate fingerpicking we've come to expect from these two African masters. [...]
CD REVIEW Souljazz Orchestra: Rising Sun (Strut) I have to admit a dismissive attitude toward this album when it arrived in my mailbox. I expected perhaps some faux-retro 1970s soul tracks, perhaps with a James Brown cover tossed in for good measure. I mean, these guys are from Ottawa, for heaven's sake, not a particular hub of funkiness in my experience. But I popped it in, and the lethargic horns of the 3-minute opening track "Awakening" did little to shift my position. [...]
CD REVIEW various artists: Tumbélé! Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74 (Soundway) 2009 has seen a number of African retrospective albums, but this is the only one I know of from the French Caribbean. Indeed, one is hard-pressed to find much music at all from Guadeloupe and Martinique, which makes this CD welcome indeed. Afro-Latin is the general theme here and listeners may recognized rhythms and other styles similar to English-language music from the region, though none of these French-speaking artists are familiar to [...]
Is the accordion the common denominator between Sweden and Tunisia? That's one of the themes you may hear in this week's show ping-ponging between the music of the two nations. We also had a set of music from Haiti, some concert previews, and an exclusive preview of music from the Erev Ravs. Tunisia Meets Sweden: Spin The Globe playlist for 29 January 2010 as heard on radio KAOS, 89.3 FM Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com More show info at spintheglobe.earball.net [...]
CD REVIEW various artists: Alan Lomax in Haiti (Harte Recordings) I recently hung out with a friend who isn't insensitive to others' suffering, but he changed the channel every time something about Haiti came on the TV. I understand, and even sympathize: TV news has a way of turning tragedy into sappy, heart-wrenching drama while ignoring the big picture. We hear about a woman pulled from the rubble, or a child orphaned in the earthquake. We don't hear about the geopolitical, social, [...]
As a mid-winter break for those of us in the northern climes, we took a musical visit to the hottest [...]
David "The Xenophiliac" Moseley spun the globe last Friday while I was out of town, and did a fine job of it, particularly highlighting music from Haiti. I'm glad to be home, and will be spinning music from the hottest lands on earth this Friday. Here's what I missed, and what you (hopefully) heard. David Does Haiti [...]
CD REVIEW various artists: Next Stop ... Soweto: Township sounds from the Golden Age of Mbaqanga (Strut) Even under the thumb of apartheid, Soweto was blossoming as a hub for black culture and music in South Africa. Today one doesn't hear as much about the townships (particularly as the coming World Cup dominates news from the nation), but this musical legacy has spawned another compilation of energetic township jive. [...]
Haiti. Already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, plagued by poor governing, over-exploitation of resources, and ignorant comments by religious figures, now this earthquake. Help them out a bit, whether it's by sending money, sending prayers, buying Haitian music , or denouncing bigotry that labels Haitians as devil-worshipers or worse. If voodoo is a sticking point for you, read more about it at wikipedia (you might be surprised to learn that it's monotheistic, for instance). To help directly and immediately, text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief [...]
The delightful sounds of globalized Malagasy singer Seheno top our first monthly Top 10 list of 2010. Notable newcomers to the chart include Jewish singer Siora, gypsy/dance group !Dela Dap, and the modern kora sounds of the Sahel Band featuring Kane Mathis. Browse through some of these sounds, and you'll undoubtedly hear something new and appealing. SoundRoots / Spin The Globe Top 10 Global Albums, January 2010 (click on album title for sound samples / [...]
DVD REVIEW Sound of the Soul: The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music (Alive Mind) For eight days each June for the past 16 years, the city of Fez, Morocco, has teemed with musicians, dancers, and music lovers gathered for a unique celebration of sacred traditions. It's the World Sacred Music Festival, the granddaddy of a number of smaller sacred music festivals that have sprouted up all over the world. For some years, compilations [...]
various artists: Ensigo-East Africa in Binaural (Ensigo) A compilation of binaural field recordings by Aaron Appleton, this album runs the gamut from vocal polyphonies and polyrhythmic drumming to a group spoken word piece on AIDS and one track evocatively entitled "Drunk, & Playing Guitar in Kigali's Streets." The songs -- from Uganda and Rwanda -- were recorded in a variety of locations including churches, mud huts, bedrooms, town halls, and out in the open air. The recordings are generally good [...]
This week: new world music releases, and some of our favorite older tunes. Sorry I wasn't able to fulfill the request of the caller asking for Inuit women's throat singing--there wasn't any to be found in the KAOS music library (but there's a nice explanatory video here ). Will get to that in a future show. Also, please note that I'll be on vacation next week and the show will be hosted by David Moseley, the regular host of KAOS's Xenophilia show. If possible, I'll post the archive of that show after I return from my journey. And [...]
CD REVIEW Anouar Brahem: The Astounding Eyes of Rita (ECM) Something there is about Palestinan poet Mahmoud Darwish that inspires musicians. And not just to set his words to music, as was done by Reem Kelani with the song "Mawwaal" on her album Sprinting Gazelle. Just as interesting is that he inspires instrumentalists to somehow emulate the rhythm or melody or mood of his poems through strictly instrumental music. That's what Marcel Khalife did on his Taqasim, and the poet's words also [...]
Selections from our favorite world music CDs of 2009. Happy new year! Best Global Music of 2009: Spin The Globe playlist for 01 January 2010 as heard on radio KAOS, 89.3 FM Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com More show info at spintheglobe.earball.net Artist - Song - Album Hour 1 [...]
CD REVIEW various artists: Tumbélé! Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74 (Soundway) 2009 has seen a number of African retrospective albums, but this is the only one I know of from the French Caribbean. Indeed, one is hard-pressed to find much music at all from Guadeloupe and Martinique, which makes this CD welcome indeed. Afro-Latin is the general theme here and listeners may recognized rhythms and other styles similar to English-language music from the region, though none of these French-speaking artists are familiar to [...]
Holiday and Christmas songs to round out our month of sacred holiday music celebrations. Plus new releases and other global sounds. Hope you had a great Christmas/holiday season, and I'll be back next week (which is next year!). Until then, live locally and groove globally. Global Christmas: Spin The Globe playlist for 25 December 2009 as heard on radio KAOS, 89.3 FM Listen/download* for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com More show info at spintheglobe.earball.net Artist - Song - [...]
Maybe it was the excitement of Avatar or my efforts to ignore the holiday shopping frenzy all around, but somehow, last week's release of Vieux Farka Toure's Other Roads: Fondo Remixed slipped under my radar. Until I ran across a free track from the album being offered up free by my friends at KCRW, that is. They've posted to the song " FaFa (J-Boogie Remix) " for free download on yesterday's Today's Top Tune page. For comparison, here's the original track: Vieux Farka Touré - Fafa [...]
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