Jimmy Cliff | The KCRW Session

ARTIST: Jimmy Cliff
TITLE: The KCRW Session
LABEL: Universal
Jimmy Cliff’s comeback album Rebirth was one of 2012’s most pleasant surprises – at age 65, Cliff’s voice is still in fine form and he’s writing quality songs to boot. This short album is a follow-up to Rebirth, a live session from KCRW’s "Morning Becomes Eclectic" program with Cliff’s voice and guitar accompanied by Ben Peeler (The Mavericks, The Wallflowers) on guitar and lap steel.

Gogol Bordello | Pura Vida Conspiracy

ARTIST: Gogol Bordello
TITLE: Pura Vida Conspiracy
LABEL: ATO
Gogol Bordello has a well-deserved reputation for their killer live shows, full-bore performances of authentic energy that are equal parts punk-rock and theatre. With their last two albums, 2010’s Trans-Continental Hustle and this new one, they’ve now come up with a studio approach that complements their gigs.

Charts July 21, 2013

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 BIO RITMO | "Picaresca" [Single] | Paris DJs
2 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Saoco! Vol. 2: Bomba, Plena And The Roots Of Salsa In Puerto Rico 1955-1967 | Vampisoul
3 THE GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE | Ayo | Cumbancha
4 NOEL MCLOUGHLIN | Home Is The Rover | ARC
5 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Rough Guide To Psychedelic Bollywood | World Music Network
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Ladies At Joe Gibbs | 17 North Parade
7 VIEUX FARKA TOURE | Mon Pays | Six Degrees
8 ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO DE COTONOU | Volume 3: The Skeletal Essences Of Afro Funk 1969-1980 | Analog Africa
9 DANNY MICHEL WITH THE GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE | Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me | Cumbancha
10 BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS | Legend Remixed | Tuff Gong-UME-Island

Bio Ritmo | Picaresca

ARTIST: Bio Ritmo
TITLE: Picaresca
LABEL: Paris DJs
Here’s the first single from Bio Ritmo’s currently-in-process album.

Fat Freddy's Drop | Blackbird

ARTIST: Fat Freddy’s Drop
TITLE: Blackbird
LABEL: The Drop
Wellington, New Zealand-based Fat Freddy’s Drop is one of the most unique bands you’ll ever hear. They’re a seven-piece ensemble with no drummer (percussion and bass parts are created on Akai MPC sampler and other electronics by DJ Fitchie, who has more ideas than any 10 hip hop producers combined), one of the world’s finest soul singers, a skanking guitar/keyboards rhythm section, and a horn section that can honk like an R&B combo and solo like free-jazzers.

Program July 19, 2013

We're just past 2013's midpoint, so I thought I'd give world music releases a mid-year review.  They definitely get a high grade thus far.  I've heard plenty of good ones; in fact, I'd say that the reissues are earning an "A" at this point.

I'll play tracks from 18 or so of my favorite 2013 releases on this week's program.  Maybe you'll hear a few of your favorites too, or better yet, something new that becomes a favorite.

Charts July 7, 2013

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 THE GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE | Ayo |Cumbancha
2 GOGOL BORDELLO | "Malandrino" [Single] | ATO
3 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Saoco! Vol. 2: Bomba, Plena And The Roots Of Salsa In Puerto Rico 1955-1967 | Vampisoul
4 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Daora: Underground Sounds Of Urban Brasil - Hip-Hop, Beats, Afro & Dub | Mais Um Discos
5 FEMI KUTI | No Place For My Dream | Knitting Factory
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Ladies At Joe Gibbs |17 North Parade
7 ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO DE COTONOU | Volume 3: The Skeletal Essences Of Afro Funk 1969-1980 | Analog Africa
8 BASSEKOU KOUYATE AND NGONI BA | Jama Ko | Out|Here
9 KOBO TOWN | Jumbie In The Jukebox | Cumbancha
10 ALPHA BLONDY | Mystic Power | VP

July 2013 Concert Calendar

July's Global A Go-Go picks:

1. This year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival features a host of Hungarian tanchaz (dance-house or folk-dance) bands; the festival runs June 26-30 and July 3-7 on the National Mall and is entirely free of charge
2. Romania's Fanfare Ciocarlia (pictured above), the titans of gypsy brass, will blow down the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage on Tuesday July 16
3. Kobo Town, an exciting Toronto-based new-calypso project, also has a two-part DC gig: Monday July 8 at Millennium Stage (early), and Tropicalia (late) along with The Garifuna Collective
4. Global A Go-Go faves Quatro Na Bossa at VCU's Guitar And Other Strings series, Friday July 19 at the Singleton Center's Vlacevic Concert Hall

 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 July calendar.

Saoco! Vol. 2: Bomba, Plena And The Roots Of Salsa In Puerto Rico 1955-1967

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Saoco! Vol. 2: Bomba, Plena And The Roots Of Salsa In Puerto Rico 1955-1967
LABEL: Vampisoul
While Cuban rhythms are the root source material for contemporary salsa, it was the Puerto Rican combos of the 1950s and 60s that really put together the ingredients we today call salsa dura. That’s the key idea behind Vampisoul’s Saoco! series, curated by French journalist Yannis Ruel.

Program July 5, 2013

The United States of America is a nation of immigrants -- indeed, if Native Americans had had a stricter anti-immigration policy, few of the people who want to "complete the dang fence" would be here to do so.

(By the way, did you know that the Dang Fence has its own Twitter feed?  Right here: https://twitter.com/TheDangFence.  You're welcome.)

The week of the USA's Independence Day (also the week of Monticello's annual naturalization ceremony, pictured above), seems like a great time to celebrate this country's world musicians -- folks who have come here to further their musical and other life dreams, folks who have woven their native or inherited musical traditions into the American fabric, and born-and-bred Americans whose music taps into that of other cultures.

So this week on Global A Go-Go: World music made in the USA.

Charts June 30, 2013

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 THE GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE | Ayo | Cumbancha
2 KOBO TOWN | Jumbie In The Jukebox | Cumbancha
3 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Ladies At Joe Gibbs | 17 North Parade
4 ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO DE COTONOU | Volume 3: The Skeletal Essences Of Afro Funk 1969-1980 | Analog Africa
5 BASSEKOU KOUYATE AND NGONI BA | Jama Ko | Out|Here
6 DANNY MICHEL AND THE GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE | Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me | Cumbancha
7 MAGIC SYSTEM | "Mamadou" [Single] | EMI France
8 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Rough Guide To African Disco | World Music Network
9 BARRINGTON LEVY | Sweet Reggae Music 1979-84 | 17 North Parade
10 LES BOUKAKES | Punky Halal | Jules Sonic Prods

The Garifuna Collective | Ayo

ARTIST: The Garifuna Collective
TITLE: Ayo
LABEL: Cumbancha
In 2007 Watina, credited to Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective, introduced listeners around the world to the music of the Garifuna people of Caribbean Central America, descendants of shipwrecked Nigerian slaves whose culture and language were close to extinct.

Program June 28, 2013

The Garifuna Project (a few of whose members are pictured above) are responsible for one of the most memorable recordings that's been produced since this radio program has been on the air -- Watina, featuring the late Andy Palacio, from 2007.

Now the Garifuna Project is back with a wonderful new album, to be released on July 2.  I'll feature two songs from it on this week's program, along with songs from two other artists backed up by the Project (Danny Michel and Kobo Town) and three songs from other Project members.  It's a Garifuna music-fest this week on Global A Go-Go.

Charts June 23, 2013

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Daora: Underground Sounds Of Urban Brasil - Hip-Hop, Beats, Afro & Dub | Mais Um Discos
2 FEMI KUTI | No Place For My Dream | Knitting Factory
3 NOEL MCLOUGHLIN | Home Is The Rover | ARC
4 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Rough Guide To Psychedelic Bollywood | World Music Network
5 LES BOUKAKES | Punky Halal | Jules Sonic Prods
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Ladies At Joe Gibbs | 17 North Parade
7 LORD MOUSE AND THE KALYPSO KATZ | Go Calypsonian | Piranha
8 PIERRE AKENDENGUE | Destinée | Lusafrica
9 ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO DE COTONOU | Volume 3: The Skeletal Essences Of Afro Funk 1969-1980 | Analog Africa
10 DIEUF-DIEUL DE THIES | Aw Sa Yone Vol. 1 | Teranga Beat

Les Boukakes | Punky Halal

ARTIST: Les Boukakes
TITLE: Punky Halal
LABEL: Jules Sonic Prods
This is the fourth album in 14 years from the Montpellier, France-based band that aptly describes their sound as “rock ‘n’ rai” or “Oriental rock.”