Thursday, June 17, 2010

LAYA PROJECT- SIX COUNTRIES, THREE RELIGIONS, ONE OCEAN + ONE DISASTER = WHOLE LOTTA MUSIC

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Even before the Boxing Day Tsunami hit the Indian Ocean in 2004 I knew something was wrong. I was lying in bed enjoying the moment in ...
Thursday, June 03, 2010

FEUFOLLET’s En Couleurs- Cajun Indie? Mais oui…

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Anybody who thinks that zydeco is what Cajun music is all about is missing the boat, literally, the boats that brought settlers expelled b...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010

'82' by 'Just a Band'- Ethereal Soulful Hip Hop Trance?

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It was bound to happen... and it IS happening... little by little. The new cultural democracy fostered by the likes of MySpace, FaceBook, a...
Saturday, May 01, 2010

ROCKY DAWUNI’s` ‘Hymns for the Rebel Soul’- THE FUTURE OF REGGAE?

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Okay, so I’m wrong sometimes. Not good enough? Okay, so I’m wrong lots of times. Still not good enough? Mea culpa mea culpa mea cu...
Wednesday, April 21, 2010

DALAI LAMA RENAISSANCE- RELIGION HAS A ROCK STAR (WITH SOUNDTRACK)

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Okay, so the Dalai Lama may not be the prophet Jesus was, but he plays on a much wider stage, and in real time, and he speaks English. S...
Monday, April 05, 2010

LEVAME AOS FADOS by Ana Moura- Portuguese Soul Music

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Fado has been one of the big musical disappointments of my life- until now that is. It’s not like they played it on the AM radio ...
Monday, March 22, 2010

AUSTIN'S SXSW FESTIVAL AND THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

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You can’t see and hear everything (so get your money’s worth). This is an important lesson of life in the world also, of cou...
Thursday, March 04, 2010

SWEET ELECTRA- BLACKER TERCIOPELO… SINCE THEY ABANDONED MEXICO

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Mexican music is hopping. While half-breed Lila Downs runs with the Frida Tehuana mantle and makes music more Mexican than the Mexican i...
Thursday, February 18, 2010

SAUTI ZA BUSARA- SOUNDS OF WISDOM IN A CITY OF DARKNESS

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It sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it, to hold a festival of African- mostly East African- music in one of the world’s most exotic loc...
Wednesday, February 10, 2010

‘GENTE’ BY SAMBA DA- Indie em Portugues

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Bossa nova is the worst thing that ever happened to Brazilian popular music. In that one unique rise to the pinnacle of world music some...