Baiana System – Jah Jah Revolta – Song for the Weekend
I love Twitter. No, not because you end up reading lots of little sentences about people’s unfulfilled lives. It’s because you can find music which you would not otherwise have ever found before. So I was delighted to hear through a Guardian Music Tweet about the Musical Alliance Pact (MAP) which is being run by...
Oasis Defeated by Serbian Sousaphone
Serbia’s music has had a strange journey to holeytonal – beginning in Lebanon, via Brooklyn and Hammersmith. Well it didn’t strictly start in Lebanon, but I fell in love with Gulag Orkester, Beirut‘s debut album. I was completely lost in Balkan brass and indie fusion for a year. Excitedly I introduced Beirut to my Serbian...
Learn your Vwls BLK JKS
“Reminds me of gap year students smacking bongos trying to save the planet” was my friend’s reaction to world music. Sadly, a view echoed by many. But the world is big and music doesn’t only come from the US and the 51st State. Not even rock. BLK JKS are from Johannesburg. They rock. South African...
Son De La Frontera
They won the European category at the 2008 BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards, and you can hear why. Son de la Frontera are a flamenco band like which you have probably never heard. Their flamenco looks back to the legendary Diego del Gastor, however Son de la Frontera win awards because their influences aren’t...
