Jungle Fire | Jambu

ARTIST: Jungle Fire
TITLE: Jambu
LABEL: Nacional
The second album from this Los Angeles-based Afro-Latin-funk instrumental aggregation picks up right where the first one left off – on the dance floor, sweating up a storm.

Andres Landero | Yo Amaneci

ARTIST: Andres Landero
TITLE: Yo Amaneci
LABEL: Vampisoul
Accordionist, singer and songwriter Andres Landero is the soul of cumbia, one of Colombia’s greatest musical gifts to the world.

Macondo Revisitado: The Roots Of Subtropical Music, Uruguay 1975-1979

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Macondo Revisitado: The Roots Of Subtropical Music, Uruguay 1975-1979
LABEL: Vampisoul
Did you know there was a craze for Puerto Rican plena in Uruguay in the late 70s? I certainly didn’t until I heard this fascinating compilation album.

The Nile Project | Jinja

ARTIST: The Nile Project
TITLE: Jinja
LABEL: self-released
The Nile Project is much more than a band – it uses music to build dialogue, empathy and engagement between the citizens of Africa’s Nile River region so they can address the root causes of their conflicts.

Slavic Soul Party! | Plays Duke Ellington's Far East Suite

ARTIST: Slavic Soul Party!
TITLE: Plays Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite
LABEL: Ropeadope
The seventh album by this outstanding 15-year-old NYC-based band, recorded live at Barbes in 2014, has an ingenious conceit: re-imagine the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn as if performed by “an Eastern European brass band discovering an exotic American sound.”

Systema Solar | Rumbo A Tierra

ARTIST: Systema Solar
TITLE: Rumbo A Tierra
LABEL: Nacional
2016 saw the first proper USA release from Systema Solar, a selection of tracks off their first two Colombian-released albums. Now 2017 kicks off with their superb third record – that’s the way to ring in the new year!

Charts January 1, 2017

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 C.A.M.P.O.S. | Miracles And Criminals | Peace And Rhythm
2 ATERCIOPELADOS | Reluciente, Rechinante Y Aterciopelado | Sony Colombia
3 YENI NOSTALJI | 2016 EP demo (final mix) | unreleased
4 ALKIBAR JR. | Jamal | Studio Mali
5 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa
6 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
7 FRIGHTNRS | Nothing More To Say | Daptone
8 ME AND MY FRIENDS | Hide Your Way | Soundway
9 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Struggle Sounds | Sony Masterworks
10 KUTIMANGOES | Made In Africa | Tramp

Program December 28, 2016: The Rest of the Best of 2016

A music fan doesn't live on albums alone.  Indeed, in the streaming music era playlists have overtaken albums as the preeminent way to organize and sequence songs.  And radio whether terrestrial or internet has always been a singles medium: there are actually laws that prohibit WRIR from playing albums from beginning to end.

So I always devote my final best-of-the-year program to my favorite album-independent songs of the year.  I'm talking here about stuff released as singles or on short-form EPs, great tracks from albums that were good or indifferent to my ears, and the best songs from albums that didn't quite crack my top 20.

Holiday leftovers they aren't: this is some of the best music of 2016, just as compelling as the stuff I played in the last two weeks if not more so.  Tune in and hear for yourself.  Oh, and bonne annee, bonne sante to all in 2017!

Program December 21, 2016: Top Ten Compilations Of 2016

It's time for show #2 in the Global A Go-Go recap of 2016.  This week: my ten favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2016, plus ten more honorable mentions.

The crate-diggers who are responsible for bringing so much great African music of the 60s, 70s and 80s to our attention continue to branch out.  This year, the theme seemed to be islands of the African diaspora -- we're the recipients of superb compilations from Cabo Verde, Haiti and Mauritius, and of crucial re-appreciations of Puerto Rico's Cortijo and Jamaica's Augustus Pablo.

You'll hear all of these and more on this week's program.  Click "Read More" to see Global A Go-Go's Top Ten 2016 compilations and reissues list (with links to my reviews):

Program December 14, 2016: Top Ten New Releases Of 2016

It's the most wonderful time of the year ....  That's right, it's the time of the year when Global A Go-Go unwraps its favorite albums of the last 12 months.

This week, it's my Top Ten new releases of 2016, plus ten honorable mentions.  Next week, you'll hear my favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of the year.  And on December 28, it's the best of the rest: all the great songs that didn't fit onto the previous two programs.

And without further ado, click "Read more" to see Global A Go-Go's Top Ten new releases of 2016 (with links to my reviews):

Program December 7, 2016

I hope you got to hear DJ Otto JD's episode of Over The Edge of the Pop Narcotic last week -- if not, you can find it for another week at wrir.org/listen.  The show was all about Vashti Bunyan and English folk eccentrics.

Otto's program inspired me to put together my own set of some favorite trippy British folk material for Global A Go-Go this week, including the gentleman pictured above.  The sitar's a clue to what it's going to sound like.

Also this week: an African plays Coltrane, Coltrane plays Africa; what's new in Afropop; some rock y pop en espanol.

Program November 30, 2016

Joshua Camp (pictured above) is a Richmond boy made good.  He's co-founded two outstanding bands, One Ring Zero and Chicha Libre, he's currently working on Broadway as the accordionist for Fiddler On The Roof, and in his spare time he's put together a brand new 31-song double LP as C.A.M.P.O.S. (short for Cumbias And More Psychedelic Original Sounds), which gets its Richmond airwaves debut this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: North African sounds from Mauritania to Ethiopia, Balkan beats and remixes, Ghanaian highlife and sun-drenched soulful Afro-folk.

C.A.M.P.O.S. | Miracles & Criminals

ARTIST: C.A.M.P.O.S.
TITLE: Miracles & Criminals
LABEL: Peace & Rhythm
Cumbias And More Psychedelic Original Sounds, or C.A.M.P.O.S. for short, is the latest project of ex-Richmonder Joshua Camp, best known for his bands Chicha Libre and One Ring Zero.

Charts November 27, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 TIKEN JAH FAKOLY | Racines | Wrasse
2 FRIGHTNRS | Nothing More To Say | Daptone
3 ALKIBAR JR. | Jamal | Studio Mali
4 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Struggle Sounds | Sony Masterworks
5 ATERCIOPELADOS | Reluciente, Rechinante Y Aterciopelado | Sony Colombia
6 ALSARAH AND THE NUBATONES | Manara | Wonderwheel
7 KOTTARASHKY AND THE RAIN DOGS | Cats, Dogs And Ghosts | Asphalt Tango
8 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
9 AZYMUTH | Fenix | Far Out
10 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa

Charts November 20, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 ALKIBAR JR. | Jamal | Studio Mali
2 TIKEN JAH FAKOLY | Racines | Wrasse
3 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa
4 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Struggle Sounds | Sony Masterworks
5 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | This Is Kologo Power! | Sahelsounds / Makkum / Red Wig
7 KATIE MCNALLY | The Boston States | self-released
8 KUTIMANGOES | Made In Africa | Tramp
9 DAWDA JOBARTEH | Transitional Times | Sterns Africa
10 ALSARAH AND THE NUBATONES | Manara | Wonderwheel