The Beginner's Guide to Bollywood (2003)

«Bollywood music has been loved in the West for the way it Cuisinarts different styles together, mixing and matching like crazy in the same song. This extensive collection places a great emphasis on that side of the music, which makes for an easy introduction to the myriad styles that have made up Bollywood over the last 50 years. There’s plenty of music from the’70s (one whole disc is devoted to

The Festival in the Desert / Le Festival au Désert (2003)

«It’s the unlikeliest place to imagine a festival, in the Sahara, not far from the Malian town of Timbuktu. But that’s the home of the Festival in the Desert, which celebrated its third anniversary in 2003. While it attracts international talent, the real focus is on artists who make their homes in the area, often of the nomadic Tuareg people. But there are others who live locally, like the

Laila Orient by Saatchi (2004)

«The concept lying behind this album is the same one that brought the “Buddha Bar” CD into existence - an album that was recorded by the musicians performing at the Parisian Buddha Bar. Owners of the popular Laila bar in Istanbul decided to do the same with live music their bar featured. Laila Orient is thus a collection of songs, mostly recorded only for this particular album. Among others,

Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain Is A Mouth (2009)

«Dreamt up by Misha Bower and Matt Cully in the summer of 2006, Bruce Peninsula has slowly mutated, elaborating on the Alan Lomax archives that initially inspired them and taking a new turn every time a new member or instrument is added to the mix. Since their second show, Bruce Peninsula has ballooned out to include a large cast of hoot-and-hollerers. The band mutates often but the last couple

Les Têtes Brulées - Hot Heads (1990)

«Les Têtes Brulées (the name means the hot heads or the burnt heads, but implies, more pointedly, the mind-blown) are truly hard to miss in a crowd. The five-man lineup sport neatly torn t-shirts, elaborate dots-and-bars body paint over most of their skin, retro mirror shades, Afro mohawks, huge sneakers, and trademark day-glo book bags that they wear through their electrifying stage shows. The

Musics & Musicians of the World: Mongolia (1990)

«The UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World included more than a hundred pioneering audio recordings of the world’s traditional music published from 1961 to 2003 on a number of different recording labels. The series was launched in 1961 in collaborariginal context. Each recording was accompanied by scholarly annotations and photographs. Together, these disks are a reflection of the

Mandingo - Watto Sitta (1984)

«Foday Musa Suso is an internationally recognised Kora playing Mandingo griot who was born in 1950 in the Gambian village of Sarre Hamadi, a village in the Wuli District, in the Upper River Region. He is a virtuoso master kora performer and composer from a hereditary lineage of other Jalis. […] In 1977, Suso flew to Chicago in the US where he began his recording career as well as forming a group

Fawzy Al-Aiedy - Oud Aljazira (1999)

«The ancient music of the Middle East has been given a modern twist by Iraq-born and Paris-based oud (lute) and oboe player and vocalist Fawzy Al-Aiedy. Affectionately known as the "Sultan of swing," Al-Aiedy continues to bridge the traditional music of the East and the improvised sensibility of the West. Hailing from the Iraqi harbor city of Bassorah, Al-Aiedy studied violin and singing at the

Moussu T e Lei Jovents - Home Sweet Home (2008)

«Co-founder of Massilia Sound System, Moussu T, returns with Home Sweet Home, the third studio album recorded with Lei Jovents [Blu on guitars, banjo and Ciotadin viola, Zerbino on drums, washboard and percussion, and Jam de Silva on percussion and berimbau]. As with previous recordings, this new album features several Moussu T tracks with more personal themes [La Cabussada, Le Divan, Il fait

Spiteri - Spiteri (1973)

«An amazing band that recorded in London in the 1970’s and had the British all excited about Latino Rock. But of course, it was one of those items nobody could get hold of, despite asked for it in every store you ever went to. Even in London where, by chance I came to live, nobody had heard of them. I never got the chance to hear the record either in Venezuela where most people get rid of their

Nathalie Natiembé - Sankèr (2005)

«The raw songs of Nathalie Natiembé are typical of the Reunion island. Adopted by Possession after a youth spent in the streets of the center of St-Denis, Nathalie Natiembé cannot remember not singing. In 1998 she throws herself body and soul into writing. Nathalie Natiembé works in depth with the creole language. She draws strong emotions from words, digging deep into their essence. This

Kassav' - Nou La (2000)

«The story of Kassav’ (the name comes from cassava, which is a mixture of manioc paste and coconut) began in 1979 when Pierre-Edouard Décimus, a member of a dance orchestra since the sixties, decided to revamp and modernize the music he had always played along with Freddy Marshall, another musician from the Antilles. They adored popular carnival music, and so Decimus tried to adapt it to modern

Baba Zula - Roots (Kökler) (2007)

«Turkey is a nation in the midst of a dramatic transition. It’s pushing forward with social and economic reforms as it pursues membership in the European Union. During the process, it’s casting an eye to the rear view mirror, pondering and situating the impact of centuries of history stretching back to its pre-Islamic, Shamanic roots on its current hybrid Islamic-secular nation state. It’s a

Pela Simba - Pela Simba (2006)

Hello everybody, Babe(b)logue goes on holiday, so this will be the last post for a while. See you soon, and stick around! Radu. P.S. As far as I know, this somewhat mysterious CD collects two beautiful Pela Simba’s albums originally published during the first half of the 80’s, Pela Simba and Sambara. If you discover more info, please leave a comment here. Cheers! «Pela Simba,

Yengi Yol - De Seville à Boukhara (2003)

«Yengi Yol means “new way”, in Turkish as well as in Uzbek. The “Yengi Yol” Ensemble was born a few years ago when European musician E.H. During went to meet young musicians his age in Uzbekistan. Back then, when his flamenca guitar met their traditional Uzbek music, the result was convincing straight away. The band was born and several concerts and recordings were rapidly done, so that a new

Blo - Chapters and Phases: The Complete Albums 1973-1975 (2009)

«Blo fused the Afrobeat rhythms of their native Nigeria with the mind-expanding psychedelia and funk of late-'60s Western rock to forge a wholly original sound embracing the full spectrum of black music. The roots of the group lay in the Clusters, already one of the most popular Nigerian highlife acts of the mid-'60s even prior to a stint as the support band for the Sierra Leonean pop superstar

Ancient Future - Asian Fusion (1993)

«Ancient Future was formed in 1978 by guitarist Matthew Montfort, who was interested in combining ancient musical traditions with modern technology. The band's inviting melodies, exotic instruments, and ethnic textures helped popularize of world-music fusion. In Asian Fusion, Jim Hurley and Matthew Montfort's shared violin-and-guitar-line leads catch hold of a strong melody and bite down hard.

Pete Rodriguez - El Rey del Boogaloo (1966-69)

«Massive Boogaloo album, with loads of catchy grooves all the way through! Pete & his band were one of the best of the Latin soul era, & this album's certainly one of their strongest. Includes 'Guagaloo', 'Pete's Boogaloo', & 'Do the Boogaloo'. Hard funky & very upbeat all the way through. If someone asked you what the definition of Latin Soul was, this would be the album to play for them! A

Opa - Goldenwings / Magic Time (1976-77)

«Hugo Fattoruso, born in Montevideo, Uruguay, began his musical career as a prodigious and somewhat reluctant piano student at the age of four. By the time he was nine his father Antonio formed El Trio Fattoruso by drafting Hugo’s younger brother Jorge on drums, with Hugo on accordion and Antonio on "inverted bucket bass" (using a broom as the neck, and a cord as the instrument’s single string).

Mick Wills - Fern Hill (1988)

«Guitarist and songwriter Mick Wills is a close pal of Bevis Frond frontman Nick Saloman. Wills and Saloman played and recorded together in a band called the Parthenogenetick Brotherhood of Woronzow. Woronzow is a pet label project of Saloman’s, hence this record’s issue in 1988, and its eventual very limited CD release on Acme in 1995. Much of the disc falls into the trad folk and blues category

Ismael Ledesma - Music Around the World: Paraguay (1998)

«Ismael Ledesma was born in the town of Lambarré ( Paraguay) en 1962. He played his first notes on the harp with his father when aged five years old. His career as a musician started in his mother’s group, Los Madrigales, which appeared in different evening concerts in the town of Asunción, in various private and social events. At the end of his secondary school studies Ismael was invited to

Bhundu Boys - The Shed Sessions 1982-1986 (2001)

«The most commercially and creatively successful act ever to emerge from Zimbabwe, the Bhundu Boys embodied the world music zeitgeist of the mid-'80s. Creators of a frenetic, guitar-dominated style they dubbed "jit," they fused airy melodies, shimmering harmonies, and pulsating rhythms drawn from across the African continent to make music that was both alien and accessible. Taking their name from

Le World... Cuba: Los Exitos de los Años "50"

Benny Moré, Rolando La ‘Serie and Tony Camargos have had considerable success in Cuba and the world over in the 50s. Omly Benny Moré is still famous today and considered a Cuban music god. The three musicians were regrouped in this compilation for their highly similar voices and repertoires. Maximilian Bartolomeo Moré (1919-1963), “el barbaro del ritmo”, was born to a modest African family

Freshlyground - Nomvula (2004)

«Freshlyground is a South African Afro-fusion band that was formed in Cape Town in 2002. The band members are from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Stylistically, Freshlyground incorporates elements of traditional South African music (such as kwela and African folk), blues and jazz, as well as features of indie rock. The lead singer is Zolani Mahola whose distinctive voice contributes much

Saddar Bazaar - The Conference of the Birds (1995)

«Bristol based and formed in 1990 by Shaun Hyder (Sitar etc.) and Rehan Matthew Hyder (Slide Guitar), Saddar Bazaar (Central Market) were soon joined by John Sage on Drums and supported various bands in the local area such as The Seers, Praise Space Electric and the Bevis Frond. They also played at the well known Ashton Court Community Festival in Bristol. By 1992 John had left the band and had

Erkin Koray - Benden Sana (1982)

«Erkin Koray (born June 24, 1941, in Beykoz, Istanbul) has been in the Turkish rock music scene since the late 1950s or early 1960s. He is widely acclaimed as being the first person to ever play rock and roll in Turkey; in 1957, he and his band gained fame by playing covers of Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. He was also one of the first Turkish musicians to embrace the electric guitar and modern

Music of the Andes (1994)

«Well, this music does come from the Andes, but it's not representative of the wide range of Andean music, given that there are only five artists on the disc, and one of those, the late, great singer and songwriter Victor Jara, only appears once, with "El Tinku." Like Jara, the other groups here have their roots in the time before the Chilean military coup of 1973. Among them is the venerable

Trilok Gurtu & Arkè String Quartet - Arkeology (2006)

«Another Trilok triumph. Once again, the Indian percussionist and composer Trilok Gurtu proves himself to be among the world’s most adventurous, skilled and intelligent fusionists, on this spectacular marriage between East and West, in collaboration with Italy’s Arkè String Quartet. Many of the best fusions are sound collisions, their very success based on a thrilling clashing of cultures.

The Rough Guide to World Party (2007)

«The Rough Guide to World Party is the perfect soundtrack to some of the world’s most spectacular festivals and celebrations. From the swinging jazz of New Orleans Mardi Gras to the African blues of the Festival in the Desert, and from the driving samba rhythms of Brazil ‘s Rio Carnival, to Pushkar’s amazing camel fair, this release features a stunning selection of tracks from the critically

Enzo Avitabile & Bottari - Salvamm' O Munno (2004)

«Italian saxophonist Enzo Avitabile went from being a noted sideman to blazing his own trail in the new millennium fusing traditional Italian music with progressive, new ideas. Born in Naples in 1955, Avitabile began studying sax as early as age seven. His musical path led him to conservatory, where he would gain an education in both contemporary and traditional musical techniques. Throughout

Musiche dal Mondo: Scandinavia - Suoni dal Grande Nord (2001)

A great collection of modern Scandinavian folk, featuring some of the most representative artists in the genre. Gjallarhorn are from the Swedish-speaking area of Finland, and as a result their lyrics are sung in Swedish (as opposed to Finnish, as one might expect of a Helsinki-based band). Although fairly traditional, the band does incorporate ethnic percussion instruments (from all different

Magic Carpet - Magic Carpet (1972)

«Magic Carpet made just one album in the early 1970s, the self-titled Magic Carpet, that fused Indian ragas and singer-songwriter folk in a manner suggestive of Joni Mitchell playing with the Incredible String Band. Three of the four musicians – sitarist Clem Alford, guitarist Jim Moyes, and tabla player Keshav Sathe – had issued a previous album on Windmill under the name Sagram (a misspelling

Spring Season II

Cissoko - Bakine Percussion (2001)

«The Senegalese Jules Souleymane Cissokho, together his brother Moussa Cissokho, created the percussion group "Cissoko Bakine Percussion". It is a wonderful album inspired by traditional African music and instruments, including the balafon played by Lansiné, the peul flute, the kora and a mixture of djembé. Listen» «Le Sénégalais Jules Souleymane Cissokho, avec le

Rogério Tavares - Galope (2004)

«Rogerio Tavares is undoubtedly one of the greatest new talents to play Spanish guitar. This exceptional debut album somehow manages to mix the traditional side of Brazilian traditions with modern influences. His superb mastery of the Spanish guitar is evident on nearly every track, but unlike many players he brings in very light touches of electronica to help fuse the sounds. Galope is an

Spring Season

Urban Trad - Erbalunga (2007)

«Une rencontre entre musique traditionnelle et arrangements contemporains, folk ancré dans le XXI e siècle... C'est ce que propose le groupe Urban Trad […]. Composé de six musiciens et de deux chanteuses, Urban Trad est né avec le nouveau millénaire en Belgique, lorsqu'un folkeux, Yves Barbieux, rassembla autour de lui, pour un premier CD, une vingtaine de musiciens de la scène belge. Huit ans

Marabi Africa (2007)

«Marabi is the independant label created in 2002 by Christian Mousset, director of the Festival Musiques Métisses d'Angoulême in France.The festival, place of exchange and discovery, is widely opened to urban popular musics from the African Continent, Indian Ocean, the Caribbeans, America. Marabi is mainly a discographic extension of this event. On the same artistic line, the label puts upcoming

Dengue Fever at Póvoa de Varzim

Movers! A collection of greasy soul, sleaze funk, psychedelic cumbia, fuzzy jazz and more... (2006)

«Greasy soul takes on a rather visual meaning with Andre Williams demanding his “chicken thighs” (“I’d give my right eye for a thigh, ‘coz I’m a greedy greedy man”) in Vampisoul’s Movers. And the food theme continues in “Soul Butter” and there are other rarities here some people would chew their right arm off for. This is real dirty soul: some of the production is appalling, raw, untouched, and

Riccardo Tesi - Presente Remoto (2007)

«A composer, an instrumentalist and a researcher: these are the aspects of the complex and multifaceted musical personality of Riccardo Tesi, a true pioneer of ethnic music in Italy. From his debut in 1978 with Caterina Bueno, strongly rooted in the folk tradition, to the present day collaborations, the musical curriculum of Tesi, born in Pistoia, is characterized by a precious continuity based

Gladys Moreno - El Disco de Oro (1987)

«Gladys Moreno es, sin duda, la intérprete más notable de la canción boliviana. Nacida en Santa Cruz de la Sierra, con su voz transformaba en clásicos las canciones que interpretaba. [...] Las décadas de 1950 y 1960 marcan el período más notable y activo de doña Gladys, con permanentes giras y recitales a lo largo y a lo ancho de Bolivia; período que también es el de sus más difundidas

L’âme du Gospel: la lumière du peuple noir (1994)

A great cross section of ultra-legendary Gospel performers, somewhat to my surprise ignored by the Internet world. The track listing speaks for itself: 27 timeless songs from some of the best Gospel singers (and bands) of all times: Disc One 1. "Oh Happy Day" -The Edwin Hawkins Singers2. "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" -Marion Williams3. "How Many Times" -Alex Bradford4. "Nobody

Steve Shehan & Baly Othmani - Assarouf (1997)

Here are some Amazon customers reviews (click here for more): «This is an amazing album. The Amazigh artist Othmani has created a once in a lifetime expression of the desert. As an Amazigh myself, I must commend Othmani on an impeccable and smooth collection. Highly recommended for anyone who wishes to get lost in the rhythms and melodies of the Algerian Sahara.»«Baly

Abdelli - New Moon (1995)

«The poetic and passionate music of a man who brings his ancient culture into the twentieth century, in collaboration with musicians from South America and the Ukraine. Abdelli is a Berber of the Kabyle people, indigenous North Africans who inhabited the region since pre-Arab times. His instrument is the mandole, an Algerian instrument that is similar to the Portuguese guitar. Abdelli blends

Kolinda - Kolinda 6 (1988)

«Kick-butt underrated Hungarian band. They probably don't like to call themselves progressive but they're just as progressive as most other 70's output. They're also very innovative. Masterminded by their founder Peter Dabasi, Kolinda invites you to partake in their sometimes insane, sometimes beautiful, sometimes hypnotic world of Hungarian folk and gypsy prog which includes a plethora of exotic

Houria Aïchi - Hawa (1993)

«Née au pied du massif des Aurès dans le Nord-Est algérien, Houria Aïchi, qui vit en France depuis trente ans, perpétue une tradition de poésie populaire chantée, héritée de sa grand-mère. Dans sa famille et depuis au moins trois générations, les femmes sont de grandes solistes qu’on appelle pour chanter lors des cérémonies familiales.Qu’elle reprenne une tradition ancienne de chants a cappella

Alta Madera - Alta Madera (2004)

«Our musical “voyage” begins with the traditions of Cuban music, passing then through Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela, going back to its Hispanic origins. The strong acoustic impact and jazz language our music carries with it, takes us in a direction we could perhaps define as “Acoustic Latin Jazz” or “World Latin Jazz”. A characteristic of Alta Madera’s sound is definitely the absence of

Abou Chihabi - Folkomor Ocean (1997)

«Abou Chihabi is a folk singer and songwriter from Grande Comore who fights against social injustice and racial discrimination. Abou Chihabi chose to call his group "Folkomor Ocean" because his main source of inspiration is his native land, the comors, which is insular and which no distance will ever make him forget. Folkomor Ocean has been released in 1997 on Playa Sound» (Mondomix) «Abou

Smadj - Take It and Drive (2004)

«Tunisian born, Parisian musician Jean-Pierre Smadja (Smadj) grew up listening to Oriental, Brazilian, funk, soul, and folk music. Entering a jazz school at age 15 due to his intense interest in the guitar, Smadj’s musical development came to be characterized by transforming traditional jazz styles into eclectic sounds. This interest in the mechanics of making music led Smadj to pursue a degree

Max Cilla - La Flûte des Mornes (1988)

Max Cilla is the master of the traditional flute; his country [Martinique] calls him “Le Père de la Flûte des Mornes” (“The Father of the Mountain Flute”). The mountainous regions in the French West Indies are called the “Mornes”. The term also refers to the deep countryside, “the big forests”, which inspire mystical dreams and feed the imagination of storytellers and poets. The “Mornes” used

Haiti: How to Help

Some useful links: Haiti Earthquake: How to Help Terremoto a Haiti: gli aiuti Cómo ayudar a las víctimas del terremoto de Haití Please, integrate this short list with other reliable links. Thanx.

Lhasa de Sela - Con Toda Palabra

Adiós, querida!

Ludovico Einaudi & Ballaké Sissoko - Diario Mali (2003)

«Mali Diary (Diario Mali) is a studio recording of duets between the highly successful Italian classical-crossover pianist, Ludovico Einaudi, and Mali musician Ballake Sissoko – one of the most gifted kora players in Africa. This unexpected collaboration was recorded in February 2003, less than a month after they had appeared together at the now famous Festival in the Desert. They had a track