Thursday, November 10 2011
There Is No “World Music”: A Conversation with the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart
About halfway into his three-decade run as a drummer in the Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart became one of the most significant figures in the music industry, despite the fact that this side of his story is still mostly unknown.
Wednesday, September 28 2011
Various Artists: 101 Things to Do in Bongolia
Hip Brooklyn label sells nostalgia and world grooves, one 45 at a time.
Tuesday, June 14 2011
Ana Moura: Coliseu
The familiar fado themes of love, loss, uncertainty, grief, pain, and disquiet are all hymned, while the city of Lisbon acts as a metaphor for other cities of the heart.
Monday, March 21 2011
Paolo Fresu: Mistico Mediterraneo
Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu looks to a neighboring island for his latest collaboration of horn, bandoneon, and archaic voices.
Wednesday, January 12 2011
Various Artists: Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga!
Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! offers the screeching guitar tones and blurting organs you'd expect, with spirited and blissful head trips peppering its 20 thoroughly researched selections.
Thursday, December 16 2010
Omar Souleyman: Jazeera Nights
Omar Souleyman is far from being a "typical" world music artist, even if he remains a fine example of what many musicians typically do around the world, namely experiment with, extemporize, and extend musical styles.
Friday, July 23 2010
Lila Downs y La Misteriosa: En Paris - Live à FIP
Like the late Mercedes Sosa, Lila Downs is keen to promote a sense of pan-Latin-American solidarity, recognizing the ability of the Spanish language and declarative song to create and maintain social bonds in audiences well-versed in each other's cultural traumas.
Monday, June 28 2010
Various Artists: Nigeria Special Volume 2 / Nigeria Afrobeat Special
These two compilations unearth more hidden gems from the recording boom that followed the end of the Biafran War in Nigeria. Deep roots rock, funky sermonizing, and even operatic folk-fusion make these collections as necessary as any in Soundway's impressive catalog.
Thursday, May 27 2010
Tony Allen: Secret Agent
Rarely has a music of resistance been so musically irresistible. Secret Agent is a brilliant album.
