Ahmad Naffory fell in love with the guitar in a Syrian grocery store, but he didn't know that his music would cause him to flee his home for another continent. Strangers in a strange land, Ahmad and his bandmates — the bandit poets of Assa'aleek — use their music to remember the homes they left behind as they make their lives in a new world. Read more: http://thegroundtruthproject.org/making-music-syrian-diaspora/

Making Music in the Syrian Diaspora

During the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s, nearly all of the country’s musicians were killed. But in a strange twist of fate, music saved the life of a Cambodian boy named Sovann. Now a U.S. citizen in Lowell, Mass., he’s trying to make sure Cambodia’s music traditions live on. Across town, a 9-year-old boy seems uniquely gifted to do just that.

About this season: http://thegroundtruthproject.org/new-american-songbook/

The New American Songbook: Cambodia Reincarnate

Somalia is the “land of poets,” a place where love, law, war and peace have been carried out in verse for centuries. This is a story of what happens when that tradition is driven far from the dry soil and open skies that inspire the poets’ metaphors. Two young Somali-American women in Boston are drawn together by poetry, and use it to connect with their grandmothers or ‘ayeeyo’ in Somalia.

About this season: thegroundtruthproject.org/new-american-songbook/

The New American Songbook: For My Ayeeyo

HMI stands for Haitian Music Industry, but its artists and fans are spread around the globe. Vladimir Mead immigrated to Boston 10 years ago at age 16. Since then, he’s built up a music career under the name Masterbrain — largely through YouTube and Facebook. His Creole freestyles and music videos have accumulated tens of thousands of hits, but he’s never returned to Haiti. We follow him as he prepares for his first trip back to Haiti, where he dreams of being a star.

About this season: thegroundtruthproject.org/new-american-songbook/

The New American Songbook: Making It In The HMI

At age 20, percussionist George Lernis sought to travel halfway around the world from Cyprus, to follow in the footsteps of the American jazz masters. He navigated a series of obstacles, and once his student visa expired, he faced an even more difficult challenge: qualifying for an O-1 visa — a special designation for “extraordinary artists.” It’s no easy feat, to prove that one can make an extraordinary contribution to music in America.

The New American Songbook: Rhythms from Cyprus

For Omar Naré, mariachi is in his blood. His grandfather, a Mexican farm laborer, brought the music with him to California’s Central Valley, where he settled his family. Omar grew up hearing mariachi at family get-togethers and had a childhood career as a mariachi singer. After a hiatus and period of disillusionment with the music of his childhood, Omar returned to mariachi. He realized, to make mariachi that felt honest to his experience, he had to break the rules. But if you break the rules of mariachi, is it still “mariachi”?

The New American Songbook: Nuevo Mariachi

GroundTruth's founder and CEO Charles Sennott traveled to Jerusalem to witness the traditional Jewish holiday Sukkot, or the Feast of the Tabernacles, as experienced by Christian Zionists, a group that comes around the idea that the return of Jews to the Holy Land and the establishment of the state of Israel are in accordance with Biblical prophecy.

Christian Zionists and the Feast of Tabernacles

For the latest season of the GroundTruth Podcast: https://bit.ly/3sG1CRO

A disclaimer about our podcast: Whenever possible, sounds in this podcast were derived from the actual places and events they accompany. However, new sounds were added in a few places where the original sounds were not recorded or otherwise available.

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