womad 2012

Very few musicians could claim to have not only changed the musical direction and possibilities of their chosen instrument, but of also of having played a key role in how that instrument was constructed and developed. In South Korea, the master musician Byungki Hwang (interviewed here) rescued the tradition of the gayageum from being...
> world-music/4784/shivkumar-sharma-interviewed-2012-answering-the-masters-call/

The connection to Renate, wherever she is, seems to be fine. But between her and Kinshasa in the Congo where Ricky Likabu, our target, is . . . that's another matter. Then of course there is the translation thing between my English through Renate into French for Likabu and back again. And, to my amusement and frustration, lengthy...
> world-music/4771/staff-benda-bilili-interviewed-2012-takin-it-from-the-street/

With the annual Womad festival about to descend on New Plymouth's beautiful Bowl of Brooklands site once again -- over the weekend of March 16-18 -- this 16 song collection wil serve as a primer and a memento for many. Of course there is no subtitute for seeing some of these acts (some are very visual) or enjoying deep immersion in whole...
> music/4777/various-artists-womad-the-worlds-festival-2012-cartell/

On paper, it doesn't work no matter which way you look at it. A sound which brings together techno-dance beats with American country music and upbeat hand-clap gospel? If you tried to sell it as a concept you'd be turned down at every corner, as Alabama 3 out of Brixton in London were by big American record companies like Sony and...
> absoluteelsewhere/4758/alabama-3-interviewed-2012-pillsnthrills-and-country-heartaches/

For a medium-sized town in France, Angers – pronounced An-jey, population about 240,000 – boasts a fascinating ancient and recent history. It was once a Roman town, numerous kings and queens had their courts here, and the main castle dates from the early 13th century. A cultural hub, Angers in the Loire valley has also...
> world-music/4697/lojo-interviewed-2012-the-maison-where-worlds-collude/

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – known to his people as Gudjuk and in the wider world as simply Gurrumul – is an overnight sensation which has been about two decades in the making. The blind, self-taught, singer-songwriter from an Aboriginal community on the small and remote Elcho -- an island off the north coast of Australia...
> absoluteelsewhere/4202/gurrumul-profiled-2011-songs-of-the-sacred-world/

From the deliberate domesticity of the band name/album title, this album which began as a knockabout home sessions between Neil Finn and his wife Sharon comes with some coy downplaying. I guess Neil would be aware of the subtext of the words "Linda McCartney". But here with Neil on drums and guitar, Sharon on bass and SJD...
> music/4432/pajama-club-pajama-club-isaac/

A previous album Majaz by these oud-playing Palestinian brothers was a Best of Elsewhere 2008 selection, so this one seems long overdue -- although I have just learned there was a live album in '09 which was aimed at the local market. They are the fourth generation in their family of players and oud makers but, to these ears at least, do not...
> world-music/4186/le-trio-joubran-asfar-world-village-ode/

Elsewhere has previously noted the surprising music which comes out of Kinshasa in the Congo, notably the Congotronics albums. But where that music hit a strange place somewhere around cheap electronic instruments alongside traditional thumb piano, odd chants and a production job that cost all of $2.50, this album is something very different...
> world-music/2376/best-of-elsewhere-2009-staff-benda-bilili-tres-tres-fort-crammed-southbound/

When this beautiful, elegant tone poem of Indian classical music was reissued in 1995 on the EMI Hemisphere label (with three extra tracks), people like me with a long affection for Indian music could hardly believe our luck. Long hard to find even though it had been kept in print in India -- I had a bad copy on cassette -- Call of the Valley...
> essentialelsewhere/2473/shivkumar-sharma-brijbushan-kabra-hariprasad-chaurasia-call-of-the-valley-1967/

They may look like those agency-groomed opera singers you see on the back of buses -- immaculately trimmed stubble, tuxedos with ties hanging loose, brooding good looks and sultry come-hither eyes -- but put aside any preconceptions: this trio of oud-playing Palestinian brothers is the real thing. This exotic, hypnotic and deeply emotionally...
> world-music/1686/best-of-elsewhere-2008-le-trio-joubran-majaz-jawwal-ode/