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Charts January 22, 2017
WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten1 NOUVELLE VAGUE | I Could Be Happy | Kwaidan / !K72 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | Greatest Hits | self-released3 SLAVIC SOUL PARTY! | Plays Duke Ellington's Far East Suite |...
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Program January 25, 2017
He's only been out of office for a few days, and I'm already nostalgic for the 44th President of the United States. So I dusted off my favorite songs about Barack Obama from the 2008 campaigns, ones...
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Awa Poulo | Poulo Warali
ARTIST: Awa PouloTITLE: Poulo WaraliLABEL: Awesome Tapes From AfricaThe Fulani people are the ethnic group with the largest nomadic pastoral community in the world – you’ll find Fula herdsmen all...
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Hard Proof | Stinger
ARTIST: Hard ProofTITLE: StingerLABEL: Modern OutsiderAustin is of course one of the USA’s great music scenes, so it ought to have a top-shelf Afro-funk band – here it is. Hard Proof is a 10-person...
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Ani Cordero | Querido Mundo
ARTIST: Ani CorderoTITLE: Querido MundoLABEL: self-releasedAni Cordero is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who’s been a member of the bands Pistolera and Bee And Flower, has fronted her own combo...
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Girma Beyene & Akale Wube | Ethiopiques 30: Mistakes On Purpose
ARTIST: Girma Beyene & Akale WubeTITLE: Ethiopiques 30: Mistakes On PurposeLABEL: Buda MusiqueGirma Beyene is one of the leading lights of Ethiopia’s Swinging Addis period of the 60s and 70s. As a...
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Charts January 29, 2017
WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten1 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | Greatest Hits | self-released2 SYSTEMA SOLAR | Rumbo A Tierra | Nacional3 TIKEN JAH FAKOLY | Racines | Wrasse4 GIRMA BEYENE AND AKALE WUBE |...
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Program February 1, 2017
Of course they came for the musicians. They always come for the musicians -- people who can speak directly to your soul, even without the use of language, are the most dangerous of all.The first hour...
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Charts February 5, 2017
WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten1 YENI NOSTALJI | 2016 EP demo (final mix) | self-released2 ALKIBAR JR. | Jamal | Studio Mali3 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | Greatest Hits | self-released4 BONGO HOP | Satingarona Pt....
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Program February 8, 2017
Juan Campos (pictured above) is a bad hombre -- he's from the southside of Richmond and he plays music from the Peruvian Amazon; he takes the electric accordion to outer space and beyond.In real life,...
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Charts February 12, 2017
WRIR's RWR World Music Spins1 Afro-Zen Allstars | Greatest Hits | self-released | 32 Tinariwen | Elwan | Anti- | 23 Systema Solar | Rumbo A Tierra | Nacional | 24 C.A.M.P.O.S. | Miracles &...
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Program February 15, 2017
The Garifuna people are direct descendants of the survivors of two shipwrecked Nigerian slave ships that landed on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent in 1675. Those survivors inter-married with...
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Tinariwen | Elwan
ARTIST: TinariwenTITLE: ElwanLABEL: Anti-This is the band that invented the sound: whatever you want to call it, assouf or tishumaren or la guitare or desert blues, Tinariwen created it in 1979 in...
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Aurelio | Darandi
ARTIST: AurelioTITLE: DarandiLABEL: Real WorldAurelio Martinez’s fourth studio album is a valedictory: a summing-up of his 30 year career as the world’s best-known Garifuna musician as he prepares to...
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Charts February 19, 2017
WRIR's RWR World Music Spins1 Aurelio | Darandi | Real World | 22 Tinariwen | Elwan | Anti- | 23 Ani Cordero | Querido Mundo | self-released | 24 Girma Beyene & Akale Wube | Ethiopiques 30:...
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Synthesize The Soul: Astro-Atlantic Hypnotica From The Cape Verde Islands...
ARTIST: various artistsTITLE: Synthesize The Soul: Astro-Atlantic Hypnotica From The Cape Verde Islands 1973-1988LABEL: OstinatoSpace Echo, Analog Africa’s anthology of the trippy, funky 70s and 80s...
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Jaakko Laitinen & Vaara Raha | Naennainen
ARTIST: Jaakko Laitinen & Vaara RahaTITLE: NaennainenLABEL: Playground MusicOK, a band from Finland with a Balkan sound? I’m game, expecting it’s going to be a tongue-in-cheek Leningrad Cowboys...
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Ibibio Sound Machine | Uyai
ARTIST: Ibibio Sound MachineTITLE: UyaiLABEL: MergeThe second album by London-based Ibibio Sound Machine is being released by the indie-rock Merge label, a sure sign the band is trying to escape the...
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Program March 1, 2017
Ani Cordero (pictured above), is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter of Puerto Rican ancestry whose work straddles the line between indie-folk and world music. She and her band will be at Ashland...
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Mokoomba | Luyando
ARTIST: MokoombaTITLE: LuyandoLABEL: Out|HereIt’s been a while since Zimbabwe, home of Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi, produced an international music star. The young band Mokoomba is a beacon in a...
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