World Music
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Various Artists: Womad, Australia and New Zealand 2018 Compilation (Womad)
4 Mar 2018 | 1 min read
This 15-track collection of diverse world music artists is a tasty amuse-orielle, not just for those going to this year's festival in Taranaki (details below) but for those who still wonder what all the fuss is about. The fuss is about the unexpected, where acts from various corners of the globe bring their traditional music or a contemporary take on it. Sometimes the latter comes... > Read more
Jojo Abot (Ghana/USA), Gods Among Men
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ELSEWHERE WORLD SERVICE: A quick overview of recent world music releases
15 Feb 2018 | 3 min read
Here's a frequent flyer/transit lounge/vicarious listening music column for those at home who want to get their musical passport stamped. Elsewhere has so many CDs and downloads commanding and demanding attention that we run occasional columns which scoop up releases by international artists (IN BRIEF), in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks out New Zealand... > Read more
THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE: Victoria Hanna
12 Feb 2018 | 1 min read
The annual Womad festival in Taranaki brings diverse artists not just from all over the world but through many genres, from raw folk to spiritual songs, from cultural dance music to electronica. Victoria Hanna, raised in an ultra-orthodox Jewish household in Jerusalem, touches on nearly all of those in her set. She found a way to express herself and overcome her stutter when she... > Read more
Aleph-Bet/Hosha'ana
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Nano Stern
6 Dec 2017 | 3 min read
Singer/guitarist/composer Nano Stern from Chile was born into a family of musicians and activists, and – after learning violin as a child – became part of the underground punk rock scene in Santiago and began his musical travels (literally, he lived in Cologne and Amsterdam after quitting his music composition course at university) and followed them up with classical and jazz... > Read more
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE: Ghada Shbeir
20 Nov 2017 | 2 min read
The arc around the Mediterranean we loosely refer to as “the Middle East” boasts some astonishing voices, not the least that of Lebanese singer Ghada Shbeir whose yearning sound conveys the passions and tragedies of that region. School in many Arabic traditions as well as the sounds of Andalusian-Arabic songs and ancient chants, she brings a formidable personal history to... > Read more
Ya Nadimi
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Trio-Da-Kali and Kronos Quartet: Ladilikan (World Circuit)
13 Nov 2017 | 1 min read
Everybody's favourite hipster string quartet, Kronos – once referred to as the Talking Heads of the classical world – here further their many explorations into world music (previous encounters with Chinese, Eastern European and Indian musicians, and Tanya Tagaq, among others) with more African adventures, here with an acclaimed trio from Mali. Trio-Da-Kali are rightly... > Read more
Kene Bo
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE: Kiya Tabassian of Constantinople
13 Nov 2017 | 1 min read
For nearly twenty years the ensemble Constantinople -- with memebers from Canada and Senegal -- have explored musical diversity through the lens of ‘East meets West’,an ever changing melting pot, much like the city after which they are named. Their inspiration for their Jardins Migrateurs performance is a poetic meeting between strings and voice, with griot Ablaye Cissoko adding... > Read more
Poisson au fond de l'ocean
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE: Bubba from My Bubba
12 Nov 2017 | 2 min read
Now don't be put off by the name which conjures up Anika Moa's recent albums for wee ones, My Bubba from Sweden/Iceland's most recent single Gone was recorded by Jack White in his Third Man Studios in Nashville and it's a ghostly alt.country affair. The My Bubba duo are My Larsdotter (vocals and Norwegian lap-harp-playing) with guitarist/ singer and banjo player Guðbjörg... > Read more
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Dayme Arocena
10 Nov 2017 | 1 min read
Singer, composer, arranger and bandleader, Daymé Arocena was recently dubbed by The Guardian as “Cuba’s finest vocalist”. The young Afro-Cuban artist, mentored by Gilles Petersen and winner of the prestigious Juno Award in 2015, has a rich understanding of her heritage but is also constantly finding new musical inspiration and connection through her love of... > Read more
Drama
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THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE WORLD MUSIC QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Jamie MacDowell
10 Nov 2017 | 2 min read
One is good with his fingers, the other is good with his mouth. Beatbox sensation, Tom Thum – best known for the most watched TEDx talk of all time: Beatbox Brilliance – joins forces with bohemian singer-songwriter Jamie MacDowell to create original, genre-defying music that is "redefining musical parameters". Armed only with a guitar, and a versatile... > Read more
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THE EVER- EXPANDING LINE-UP FOR WOMAD 2018: The world coming to Taranaki
18 Oct 2017 | 9 min read
With the teaser announcements out off the way (Dragon, Kamasi Washington and Anoushka Shankar) we now get down to the detail with a major list of other acts confirmed to play next year's Womad in New Plymouth (more details below). And with a fascinating mix of well-known internationals (Tinariwen ! Rodrigo Y Gabriela !!), acclaimed local artists (a coup to get Aldous Harding we would think)... > Read more
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TWO WOMAD ACTS FOR 2018 ANNOUNCED
28 Sep 2017 | 1 min read
If the first anouncement of an act for next year's Womad festival in Taranaki was a bit undewhelming (Dragon) now it is starting to get serious with two major artists announced, Kamasi Washington and Anoushka Shankar. Both of these artists have appeared at Elsewhere and we have a big interview with jazz saxophonist/arranger and composer Kamasi Washington here and an archive one with... > Read more
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ELSEWHERE WORLD SERVICE: A quick overview of recent world music releases
18 Sep 2017 | 2 min read
Here's a frequent flyer/transit lounge column for those at home who want to get their musical passport stamped. Elsewhere has so many CDs and downloads commanding and demanding attention that we run an occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists (IN BRIEF), in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks out New Zealand artists. And of course Yasmin picks up... > Read more
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Various Artists: Musical Explorers Series; Deben Bhattacharya, Krishna in Spring (ARC CD/DVD)
25 Aug 2017 | <1 min read
The excellent archival reissue series of music and films by the late ethnomusicologist Deben Bhattacharya (1921 – 2001) continues with this, a CD of field recordings and a 25 minute film by Bhattacharya from '69. As a note attached observes, at time of the film in the commentary mentions 500 million Hindus in India, today there are about twice that number. The film in... > Read more
Kathak-Krishnalila
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Various Artists: Musical Explorers; Deben Bhattacharya, Colours of Raga (ARC Music)
30 Jun 2017 | 1 min read
Elsewhere has previously introduced the excellent double CD set The Rough Guide to Indian Music which, on release in 2014, immediately went into our Essential Elsewhere albums list. For those more familiar with Indian classical and folk traditions, or now ready to take the next step after that Rough Guide, this CD/DVD curated by the founder of Songlines world music magazine Simon... > Read more
Bageshri
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ELSEWHERE WORLD SERVICE: A quick overview of recent world music releases
15 May 2017 | 3 min read
Here's a frequent flyer/transit lounge column for those at home who want to get their musical passport stamped. Elsewhere has so many CDs and downloads commanding and demanding attention that we run an occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists (IN BRIEF), in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks out New Zealand artists. And of course Yasmin picks up... > Read more
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Alice Coltrane: Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda (Luaka Bop/Southbound)
5 May 2017 | 1 min read
Although well-known in jazz circles for albums such as A Monastic Trio, Ptah the El Daoud, Universal Consciousness and others under her own name on the Impulse label, the pianist-composer Alice Coltrane is perhaps more widely acknowledged as the wife of the legendary John Coltrane with whom she also recorded and performed in the two years before his death in ’67. Shattered by... > Read more
Om Shanti
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Rakkatak: Small Pieces (rakkatak.com)
28 Apr 2017 | 1 min read
This core trio of tabla, bass and sitar (augmented in places with violin and vocals) began in Toronto as a solo project for tabla player Anita Katakkar who mixed live sounds with electronica. But it is now a fully-fledged performing and recording group inspired equally by Indian classical traditions and the possibilities of 21st century electric instruments and technology.... > Read more
Riffing on 9
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ELSEWHERE WORLD SERVICE: A quick overview of recent world music releases
24 Apr 2017 | 3 min read
Here's a frequent flyer/transit lounge column for those at home who want to get their musical passport stamped. Elsewhere has so many CDs and downloads commanding and demanding attention that we run an occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists (IN BRIEF), in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column picks out New Zealand artists. And of course Yasmin picks up... > Read more
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Yasmine Hamdan: Al Jamilat (Crammed Discs/Southbound)
19 Apr 2017 | <1 min read
Those who missed the excellent debut Ya Nass by this Lebanon-born singer-songwriter might have caught her as the bar singer in Jim Jarmusch's studied Only Lovers Left Alive movie. On this second album she again works the line between electronica, Arabic pop ballads, edgy and cinematic soundscapes and a smattering of indie rock (Steve Shelley among the guests). With her background... > Read more