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El Rego: A Singer From Benin With Soul And Funk

It may seem counter-intuitive, but the history of world music proves that unfamiliar instruments and rhythms cross borders much more readily than vocal styles. There's no question that, starting in the...

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Hugh Masekela: Wedding Songs That Don't Sound Blue

In 1968, Hugh Masekela was not quite 30 years old and though he was in exile from his homeland of South Africa, he seemed ready to become at home on the American jazz and pop markets. That summer, he...

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From Dominican Roots, Bachata Is Here To Stay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBCq0cSxvEE

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A Sure-Footed Collection Of 'African Blues'

I have to hand it to the Putumayo label. Since it started as a soundtrack-provider to a clothing store in the early '90s, the operation has placed racks of CDs with friendly-primitivist art by Nicola...

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Paying Tribute To San Francisco DJ Cheb I Sabbah

Cheb i Sabbah's life traces an almost fairy-tale perfect path through the evolution of what's now called world music. Born in Algeria in 1947, he absorbed the Judeo-Arabic Andalusian music of his local...

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Boban i Marko Markovic: Irresistible Party Music

A dozen years ago, if someone told me that one of the liveliest, most inventive party albums of the year would come from a band originally associated with wedding celebrations and beer festivals, I...

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Analog Players Society: A Party Cooked Up In A Studio

Albums made by collections of professional studio players once had a bad reputation with the traditional rock audience. Such works were supposedly arid and chilly — more like the results of a board...

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Samuel Yirga Ushers In A Golden Age Of Ethiopian Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyI7IWtb-NI

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Tunes To 'Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard' To

The first thing to note about the collection of old-timey music Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard is that it resulted from a record-discovery event that happens less and less often, and soon will likely...

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Yo La Tengo: Decades In And Far From Fading

Yo La Tengo wouldn't seem to be very rock 'n' roll, given that it's a very stable and long-lasting operation. Since 1991, the lineup has consisted of a married couple — drummer Georgia Hubley and...

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Festival Au Desert: Music Of Peace Not Silenced By War

Long ago, one of my college history professors hammered home a durable truth: "If you love art," she said, "you should hate war." Because some art is always among war's victims.A case in point is a...

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Sylvester: 'Mighty Real' Disco Star Deserves A Modern Spotlight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue2UXnxp8Rs

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Europe Swings The Body Electric

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiA6u-w0uZchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE7XkaFFtGE

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Will The Real Llewyn Davis Please Stand Up?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56qo9sinSdc

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Before He Joined Congress, A South African Janitor's Disco Past

The appearance of Penny Penny's Shaka Bundu in the American market is welcome not only in itself, but also as a sign of a larger trend. Five or six years ago, it was clear the music business was going...

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Fight Sound With Sound: Grateful Dead's Arena Combat

The same week that Neil Young introduced his Pono music player designed to spark a huge boost in audio fidelity, I listened for the first time to a recording of a Grateful Dead concert I attended...

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Golem Ain't Your Grandparents' Klezmer

The New York City band Golem describe their music as punk-klezmer. Music critic Milo Miles says that on the group's new album, Tanz, they mange to find new ways to balance urban irreverence with folk...

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A Lost Piece Of Soul History Appears

In the early 1960s when soul star Sam Cooke had his own record label, SAR, he recorded songs by his younger brother, L.C. Cooke. Ten of the tracks were supposed to become L.C.'s debut album in 1964....

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For Duo Tennis, Pop Is A Natural Language

Can you re-invent lively pop from the distant past? Fresh Air music critic Milo Miles says the songwriting team Tennis does just that with their new third album, Ritual in Repeat. Copyright 2014 NPR....

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Rare Latin Grooves Excavated In Anthology

There's a new entry in the ongoing series of Rough Guide music anthologies called Latin Rare Groove Volume 2. The mostly instrumental cuts draw on salsa, funk, soul and rock from vintage and new...

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