GLOBAL A GO-GO

April 5, 2013

Kobo Town | Jumbie In The Jukebox

ARTIST: Kobo Town
TITLE: Jumbie In The Jukebox
LABEL: Stonetree / Cumbancha
Kobo Town is a Toronto-based band fronted by Canadian-Trinidadian calypsonian Drew Gonsalves. In the true calypso tradition, Gonsalves is a writer first and foremost, penning erudite rhymes that comment on news, the economic order and the human condition.

ARTIST: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
TITLE: Jama Ko
LABEL: Out|Here
Bassekou Kouyate is sometimes called the Jimi Hendrix of the ngoni, but I think he’s really the Earl Scruggs -- like Scruggs, he’s revolutionized the technique for playing his instrument, turning it into a vehicle for soloing where it had previously served a rhythm function.

Program April 5, 2013

The sound of Malian music in 2013 is edgy, aggressive, loud -- not surprising if your peaceful country has undergone a military coup, a fundamentalist assault and a foreign invasion all within the last year. This week on Global A Go-Go, you'll hear some current recordings coming out of Mali, including brand-new releases by Rokia Traore and by Bassekou Kouyate (pictured above in performance at the Richmond Folk Festival in 2011).

Charts March 31, 2013

Criolo | No Na Orelha

ARTIST: Criolo
TITLE: No Na Orelha
LABEL: Sterns
Kieber Gomes, aka Criolo, is a gifted Brazilian singer and songwriter. On this album, he shows that he can handle almost any genre from rumba and Afrobeat to samba and rap.

I'll have a special guest co-host in the studio with me this week. Cayman Mooney (pictured above) is the accordionist for the band My Son The Doctor, a former WRIR DJ and, like me, an enthusiast for Central and Eastern European music.

I invited Cayman to join me to spin some of his favorites -- what we came up with is a show of music of Europe's untouchables: the Gypsies and the Jews. You'll hear everything from haunting melodies to punk rock, by artists from Clejani (Romania) and Kodyma (Ukraine) to Paris and New York City. It's going to be a blast, y'all.

Charts March 24, 2013

March's Global A Go-Go Picks:

Brooklyn Balkan kingpins Slavic Soul Party (pictured above) at Balliceaux on Friday March 15 and at the Kennedy Center's Millenium Stage on Saturday March 16
More Balkan madness: Balkan Beat Box and Delhi 2 Dublin at the 9:30 Club in Washington on Tuesday March 19
The legendary Afro-Cuban All Stars at DC's newly renovated historic Howard Theatre on Sunday March 24
South African jazz direct from the source: the University of KwaZulu-Natal Jazz Legacy Ensemble plus the VCU Africa Combo and special guest J. Plunky Branch at VCU's Singleton Center on Thursday March 28

Have an event you'd like me to include, or a suggestion for the concert calendar? Just drop me a line at globalagogoradio [at] gmail [dot] com, or leave me a message right here.

Click "Read More" to see the entire March calendar.

Chicha Libre | Cuatro Tigres

ARTIST: Chicha Libre
TITLE: Cuatro Tigres
LABEL: Barbes
Chicha Libre is back with a 4-song EP for Record Store Day (the vinyl edition will be released on April 20, the download is available beginning on April 2). Cuatro Tigres includes four covers of four very different songs, with each getting the band’s Peruvian-psychedelic treatment.

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Dabke: Sounds Of The Syrian Houran
LABEL: Sham Palace
Dabke wedding music from Syria is known in the West because of the breakout success of Omar Souleyman. And Souleyman was introduced to us by Mark Gergis, who released four albums of his work on the Sublime Frequencies label and produced his collaboration with Bjork in 2011.

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: The Rough Guide To Latin Psychedelia
LABEL: World Music Network
Here’s a terrific collection of mostly lesser-known artists and tracks from Latin America and Latino USA incorporating the influence of psychedelic rock.

Program March 22, 2013

As I write this post on Thursday afternoon, WRIR's Spring '13 Fund Drive has just crossed a major milestone: 500 people have now donated, making this only the second drive in which we've gone over the 500-donor mark. Thank you to all of our donors for helping keep this amazing experiment in community-made radio thriving for another six months.

And the drive isn't over yet: we're still trying to raise as close to $40,000 as we can, so if you haven't donated yet it's not too late to do so -- just click on the Donate button on our website (www.wrir.org), or simply use this link:

https://wrir.wufoo.com/forms/fund-drive-donation-wrirlp-973-fm

Richmond is being treated to another performance next week by the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Jazz Legacy Ensemble (pictured above) -- they played at the Camel last fall, and they'll be at VCU's Singleton Center on Thursday March 28, along with the VCU Africa Combo and special guest J. Plunky Branch. To get you warmed up for this event, I'll play a set of some of my favorite South African jazz recordings by Abdullah Ibrahim, Dudu Pukwana and others.

Charts March 17, 2013

Program March 15, 2013

WRIR is just past the midpoint of its Spring '13 Fund Drive, and I want to thank the more than 200 people who have already donated in the current drive. If you haven't yet donated, we can really use your support right now to keep this unique radio station, one of the finest not only in Richmond but anywhere in the country, firing on all cylinders.

Our goal is to raise $40,000 (1/3rd of our 2013 budget) by Tuesday -- please help us get there by donating what you can sometime in the next five days. You can donate by calling us at 804-622-9747 any time (we're here making great radio for you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year), by visiting us in person at 1621-B West Broad Street in Richmond between 9 AM and 9 PM, or by clicking the "Donate" button at www.wrir.org or this link:

https://wrir.wufoo.com/forms/fund-drive-donation-wrirlp-973-fm

Charts March 10, 2013

WRIR's Spring '13 fund drive is now underway, and we're off to a good start -- we raised about $8,000 in the first 48 hours, on the way to our goal of $40,000 by March 19. A big thank-you goes out to our friends in the world music community who have donated the following recordings for us to use as premiums:

GLOBAL A GO-GO

April 5, 2013

Kobo Town | Jumbie In The Jukebox

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba | Jama Ko

April 4, 2013

Program April 5, 2013

March 31, 2013

Charts March 31, 2013

March 28, 2013

Criolo | No Na Orelha

Program March 29, 2013

March 24, 2013

Charts March 24, 2013

March 2013 Concert Calendar

March 22, 2013

Chicha Libre | Cuatro Tigres

Dabke: Sounds Of The Syrian Houran

The Rough Guide To Latin Psychedelia

March 21, 2013

Program March 22, 2013

March 17, 2013

Charts March 17, 2013

March 15, 2013

Program March 15, 2013

March 10, 2013

Charts March 10, 2013

GLOBAL A GO-GO'S HOST