In the 1960s and 1970s Bollywood composers adventurously adopted the trippy guitars, spiralling synthesizers and ethereal vocals of psychedelia and mixed it with lusciously over-the-top Indian orchestrations. Jewels included feature songs by Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, Usha Iyer and yodeller Kishore Kumar.

For more information, visit: http://www.worldmusic.net/psychedelicbollywood

The Rough Guide To Psychedelic Bollywood

Inherently conservative yet beholden to commercial imperatives, the Indian film industry has provided a precious ongoing narrative to the swiftly changing socio-cultural landscape since Independence. Few issues have caused such concern, excitement and debate as the incursion of so-called Western values, yet this Rough Guide shows Bollywood composers at their most playfully engaged, experimenting with radical new ideas, freely adopting myriad ‘outside’ influences and often creating an extraordinary, irresistible psychedelic mish-mash.

Influenced by the Western rock and the intertwined hippy movement, as the sixties rolled on the underground Indian psychedelic scene mushroomed, inspiring composers like R.D. Burman to work far-out music into their blockbuster soundtracks. Evidently the Western psychedelic movement owed much to Indian inspiration and the relationship was mutual: the sounds and styles of the swinging sixties trickled back to Indian shores and went on to manifest themselves, first in the underground scene and then Bollywood.

One of the very first examples of a psychedelic element on the big screen was seen in the classic Hare Rama Hare Krishna. In this film, a young woman runs away and joins a hippy commune where she puffs with pleasure on an oversized chillum and dances loosely to the hypnotic music. ‘Dum Maro Dum’, the famous track from this scene is sung by renowned playback singer Asha Bhosle.

The Virji Shah brothers make up the composer duo known as Kalyanji Anandji. Together they composed several seminal Bollywood hits and openly acknowledged the influence of James Brown and psychedelia on their musical brand; two of their wackiest instrumentals show their worth as standalone compositions here. Other jewels included feature Lata Mangeshkar, Usha Iyer and yodeller Kishore Kumar, all Bollywood megastars whose vocals are taken into another dimension. The full length bonus disc is a compilation of works by the inimitable R.D. Burman.

Delve deep into the time-warp and lose yourself in the heady world of psychedelic Bollywood.

Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle & Mahendra Kapoor: Pyar Zindagi Hai

Welcome to the spiritual rhythms of voodoo, brought by slaves from the religion’s West African birthplace to its incarnations in Haiti (Voudou), Cuba (Santería), Brazil (Candomble), Trinidad, and New Orleans. Grupo Vocal Desandann, Lord Nelson, Gangbé Brass Band, Maria Bethania and Dr John stand side-by-side in this unique take on voodoo’s riveting musical history. 

More information at: www.worldmusic.net/store/item/RGNET1275/


There are many all popular misconceptions of the Haitian Vodou religion in Western media. In fact, there probably isn’t a religion that is more misunderstood that Haitian Vodou and its counterparts.
The songs featured on The Rough Guide To Voodoo include sacred music of Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santeria, Brazilian Candomblé as well as popular songs from the African diaspora that were inspired by these traditions, like those from New Orleans. It reveals that the religions and their music are remarkably resilient and have continued to thrive despite virtually every type of suppression throughout the centuries.
Haitian Vodou originated in Dahomey (modern-day Benin), and was brought to the island via the slave trade. Toto Bissainthe was a brave vocalist who challenged the Duvalier dictatorships by fusing her ballads with rhythms transformed from the sacred music of then prohibited Haitian Vodou. Bonus disc artist Erol Josue is a practicing Haitian Vodou priest. His music explores the traditional rhythms that connect to the religion’s rich history with a contemporary twist.
Santería and Candomblé were brought from Yoruba (modern-day Nigeria) to Cuba and Brazil respectively. Brazilian guitar legends Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moreas teamed up to create music dedicated to the Orishas of Candomblé. ‘Canto de Oxum’ by Brazilian legend Maria Bethania is dedicated to the Yoruba deity of love and intimacy. Lazaro Ros was Cuba’s most famous akpwan, singer of Yoruba ceremonial chants that invoke the Orishas. Grupo Vocal Desandann’s ‘Guede Nibo’ is a traditional Cuban song dedicated to the deity associated with the spirits of the dead.
Dr John is a rip-roaring New Orleans boogie pianist who explores Voodoo mythology. Louisiana military brass bands that are long-distance connected to Haitian Vodou funeral rites are represented by the thick, soupy horn track ‘New Orleans Funeral’.
Explore the fascinatingly rich roots of ancient religious practices across the African Diaspora on this uniquely conceived Rough Guide.

Erol Josué: Hounto Legba (taken from The Rough Guide To Voodoo)

Disco, Bollywood-style, is typically high-voltage: metallic flares, dazzling over-sized mirror-balls, smoke machines galore and Technicolor flashing dance floors.  Let loose those dancing shoes and boogie down to Bollywood’s glittering disco heyday with Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar and more.

For more information: www.worldmusic.net/store/RGNET1327

THE ROUGH GUIDE TO BOLLYWOOD DISCO

James Brown’s trombonist Fred Wesley famously said ‘Disco music is funk with a bow-tie’ - a witty observation but much too modest for Bollywood. In typically high-voltage fashion, disco done Indian style adds so much more: metallic flares, dazzling over-sized mirror-balls, smoke machines galore and more Technicolor flashing dance floors than you could shake a rhinestone encrusted stick at. 

Disco originally steamed up from the hot and hectic streets of 1970s New York. Embracing decadence and presenting a new souped-up beat-driven sound, disco (like punk) can be seen as a reaction to the placid, perennially positive hippy vibes of the 1960s. The UK, its ears already opened to American dancefloor sounds via Northern Soul, had its first disco number one in 1974 with George McCrae’s ‘Rock Your Baby’. Soon, imported cassettes and vinyl worked their way into the hands of Indian film composers such as Bappi Lahiri, R.D. Burman and Biddu Appaiah. 

While ‘Chand Mera Dil Chandni Ho Tum’, a dramatic ballad from the 1977 film Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin, is an early example of the influence of disco on Bollywood, by the 1980s high energy bass-lines, peppy vocals and luscious strings had taken over.  The fun-loving magpie mentality of Indian film, both visually and musically, meant composers were more than happy to cherry-pick their favourite disco sounds and work them into their songs. On ‘Boom Boom’, sung by the Pakistani pop star Nazia Hassan, producer Biddu lifts Giorgio Moroder’s pulsating bass line straight from the Donna Summer hit ‘I Feel Love’, while the aptly named 1982 blockbuster Disco Dancer is a classic rags-to-riches story with a soundtrack that references dancefloor artists as diverse as Ottawan and The Buggles.  

The vocals of legendary Bengali playback singer Kishore Kumar epitomised the Bollywood sound’ throughout the 1970s. Renowned for his distinctive style of yodelling, his forays into disco heard here reflect his versatile vocal ability. 

Other treasures abound on The Rough Guide To Bollywood Disco, including such classics of the genre as ‘Hari Om Hari’ and ‘I Am A Disco Dancer’. Today, Bollywood disco lives on via modern interpretations and vintage appreciations. The cult club night ‘Bollywood Disco’ in New York is ever popular – their DJs instruct American youth in the long-lasting influence of the genre while their website explains how even contemporary hip-hop producers such as Timbaland have worked titillating morsels from the Bollywood back catalogue into their sound. 

Now it’s time to let loose those dancing shoes and boogie down to Bollywood’s glittering disco heyday.

The Rough Guide To Bollywood Disco also shines the spotlight on one of Bollywood’s greats, highlighting the dazzling career of the award-winning playback singer, actor, composer, screen-writer and director – Kishore Kumar.


Usha Uthup & Bappi Lahiri: Auva Auva Koi Yahan Nache (taken from The Rough Guide To Bollywood Disco)

Charley Patton - It Won't Be Long

Scotland’s music is an evolving story of originality and musicianship evoking life in the highlands and islands, the farm, the tenements and now increasingly the cosmopolitan city streets. Celebrate the contemporary sounds of Lau, Admiral Fallow and Karine Polwart alongside classic craft from The Campbells Of Greepe and Kathleen MacInnes.

For More information, visit: http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/RGNET1310

THE ROUGH GUIDE TO SCOTTISH MUSIC

Scotland’s modern social history has engendered the re-imagining of folk and traditional music to suit life amidst the mountains, on the farm or croft, up the close-stairs of city tenements and now as part of a modern, mobile and cosmopolitan world. This Rough Guide offers a contemporary view of Scotland’s finest folk architects.  
Contemporary trio Lau are named after the Orcadian word meaning ‘natural light’ and shed new rays of meaning on the Scottish repertoire. Acoustic quartet Salt House sing ‘Katie Cruel’ accompanied by a chilling fiddle that echoes high in its tessitura before looping cellular minimal motifs.
Another traditional re-interpretation is contributed by the multi-generational family ensemble, The Campbells Of Greepe, one of the great dynasties of Gaelic music rooted in a part of the Isle of Skye famed for its musical connections. ‘Sìos Dhan An Abhainn’ is Gaelic reworking of the 1867 African-American spiritual ‘The Good Old Way’, and inspired by the Coen Brothers’ film, ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’. Joy Dunlop & Twelfth Day also give us an updated version of the traditional waulking (cloth-working) song ‘Faca Sibh Raghaill Na Ailean?’. 
Young traditional music champion Rona Wilkie has blended her dual musical heritage in classical and traditional music, working with her Norwegian-Swedish partner Marit Fält’s låtmandola (a ten-string Nordic mandola) and a classical string quartet. Together they explore, in a beautiful slow air and joyous jig, music that belongs to both traditions and to the coastlines either side of the North Sea. 
Illustrating the current blurring of borders between Scotland’s folk and indie pop worlds, Glaswegians Admiral Fallow forge a path into this territory with their full-on track ‘The Paper Trench’. 
Celebrate the new folk radiating from Scotland’s creative core with this Rough Guide album.


Manran: Latha Math (taken from The Rough Guide To Scottish Music)

Riverboat Records: Celebrating 25 years of making music from around the world

For more information, visit: http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/TUG1082/

Riverboat Records celebrates it twenty-fifth year in 2014. Since its founding in 1989, the independent label has supported creative new music from far-flung corners of the globe.
This limited edition compendium offers a taste of the excellently eclectic Riverboat sounds from across the years.

Music From The Source includes music from thirty-three bands spanning across two bumper discs. Spotlighted artists include Greek folk duo Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis who kick off proceedings with a track from their album Greekadelia which reached number one in the World Music Charts Europe. Monoswezi’s haunting minimalist sound fuses the music of Mozambique, Norway, Sweden and Zimbabwe together in seamless interplay. Indian slide-guitar maestro Debashish Bhattacharya expands his otherworldly sound Beyond The Ragasphere on virtuosic yet quirky track ‘Indospaniola’. Jaipur Kawa Brass Band’s bombastic party music presents an infectious exploration of Indian military music spun together with refigured Bollywood classics.  Lesotho-based ‘junk funk’ renegades Sotho Sounds craft their own instruments as heard on ‘Ba Ea Bojoa (Part 1)’.

Lala Njava’s offering is a Malagasy marvel featuring her silvery wandering voice, lush rolling guitars and rippling percussion. Nigerien nomad bluesmen Etran Finatawa contribute their Wodaabe-Tuareg musical melt. Shiyani Ngcobo acoustic guitar picking illuminates his mastery of the wonderful Zulu maskanda dance style. Boris Kovač & La Campanella’s melody ‘Pearl’ aches with their distinctly Balkan nuance. Klezmer troubadours She’Koyokh spoon out their re-imagined Eastern European folk on ‘Esmera Min’. 

Kardemimmit’s song ‘Ahven (Perch)’ is played by the fresh folksy kantele quartet from Finland. Cuban son band Sierra Maestra deliver their personal account of the nation’s infamous enveloping dance style. Koo Nimo’s lilting palm-wine music flies the flag for Ghana and village ensemble Wayo summon the ancient polyrhythms of Africa’s newest nation, South Sudan. Yunnanese ‘Mountain Men’ Shanren close the set with ‘Drinking Song’ from their new album, which has the UK media hailing them as ‘Chinese folk-rockers to watch’ (The Guardian).

Riverboat Records would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank our supporters. Music From The Source is not only a resplendent retrospective but also highlights the breadth of talented artists that have been given an international platform thanks to Riverboat Record’s ongoing work since 1989.


Samba Touré: Alabina (taken from Music From The Source)

United by their love of rip-roaring artfully delivered klezmer, She’Koyokh spin tales of wild goats, unmarried women and broken hearts drawn from the rich folk traditions of Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Balkans.

For further information, please visit www.worldmusic.net/shekoyokh

Klezmer troubadours She’Koyokh spin tales of wild goats, unmarried women, squabbling Jewish mothers and broken hearts on this outstanding album. Inspired by wandering nineteenth century klezmorim, She’Koyokh have spent the last decade sponging up the rich folk music of Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Balkans. The eight-strong line-up boasts members from the UK, USA, Greece, Serbia and Turkey. United by their love for artfully delivered, rip-roaring klezmer, the first incarnation of the band cut its teeth busking at Columbia Flower Market in the heart of London’s East End. Nowadays they are more likely to be found stomping the stage floors of Europe’s most prestigious concert halls with Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and London’s Southbank Centre already ticked off the list. 

Wild Goats & Unmarried Women opens with ‘Beregovski Sher/Honga/Freilicher Yontov’, She’Koyokh’s arrangement of a trio of tunes – a tribute to Ukrainian ethnomusicologist Moshe Beregovski, followed by a snippet of a popular Jewish-Hungarian dance and then by a tune composed by klezmer clarinet renegade Naftule Brandwein. ‘Hora De La Munte’ is a traditional Moldavian dance. Another Romanian tune ‘Țigăneasca De La Pogoanele’ is inspired by the recordings of accordionist Constantin Fulgerica and violinist Tudor Pana, as well as the manouche jazz of guitarist Django Reinhardt and the sound of the taragot reed instrument. 

Other Eastern European tracks include ‘Kopano Horo’, a Bulgarian tune learned from a collection of early recordings by star accordionist Boris Karlov. ‘Moj Dilbere’ is an age-old Bosnian love song or sevdalinka that has been performed since the days of the Ottoman Empire. ‘Jaseničko Kolo/Miloševka Kolo’ pays homage to two legendary Serbian musicians – the accordionist Krnjevac, and bandleader Urosević. 

Heading further east She’Koyokh explore Russian tradition. ‘Limonchiki’ is a song first made famous by the Soviet Jewish jazz singer Leonid Utyosov in the 1930s. The track is full of character, Odessa gangster character to be precise – the title is Russian rhyming slang for milionchiki (millions of roubles).  

Drifting far southwest to Greece next, ‘Selanik Türküsü’ is a lament for lost love. The lyrics tell the story of a couple who are preparing to marry before discovering that the bride has cholera – the lovers beg death to grant them three more days together. Band members Susi and Matt learnt the traditionally slow tune ‘Argitikos Kalamatianos’ on the overnight boat from Crete to Athens – their version is performed at a moderate pace. The lyrics of another Grecian track, ‘Amarantos/Tsamikos ‘Vohaítissa’’ praise the amaranth flower that can keep its colour and scent for days after it has been cut. 

Turkish tradition is also illuminated on Wild Goats & Unmarried Women. ‘Teke Zortlatmasi’ takes its name from the tekes (billy goats) that live along the South West coast of Turkey. When the mating season starts, the males jump up and down to attract female goats – allegedly the inspiration for the genre of music heard here. The subject matter of Sephardic track ‘Poco Le Das La Mi Consuegra/Schottische ‘Saint Julien’’ concerns a quarrel between two mothers-in-law over a dowry and upbeat Kurdish-Turkish track ‘Esmera Min’ tackles the theme of unrequited love.

On other songs She’Koyokh mesh location and genre with genius ease. ‘Der Filosof/Flatbush Waltz’ partners a satirical song mocking rabbis of the Hassidic movement with a waltz that has become a standard of the klezmer repertoire. This arrangement was authored in part by revered klezmer musician Andy Statman who is known for both for his work as a clarinettist and as a bluegrass mandolinist. ‘Svatbarska Rachenitsa/Yavuz Geliyor & La Comida La Mañana’ casts together three traditional folk tunes from Bulgarian, Turkish and Ladino cultures. The opening instrumental is a Thracian wedding dance, the song that follows in sung in both Sephardic and Turkish, and the Judeao-Spanish tune’s original lyrics tell of a mother warning her daughter not to fall in love too easily. 

Wild Goats & Unmarried Women takes you on a true klezmer odyssey, with She'Koyokh delivering a classic album that combines the zest of their live performance with the virtuosity and intelligence of their musicianship.


She'Koyokh: Esmera Min (taken from the album Wild Goats & Unmarried Women

Mali is a fabled land of musical giants and this Rough Guide features the towering figures of Oumou Sangare, Ali Farka Touré and Basekou Kouyate. However the music of Mali is now under threat as never before. In the words of singer Fatoumata Diawara, ‘music has always brought hope in Mali. Music has always been strong and spiritual.’

For more information, visit http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/RGNET1311

Before the March 2012 coup d’etat of President Amadou Toumani Touré, very few outside of West Africa knew much about Mali (except for perhaps a group of historians and world music devotees). Much of Mali is encompassed by the Sahara desert, which, despite its often scorching temperatures, has been aptly described as an ‘inland sea’, connecting the Arab and Berber cultures of the north, with the Fulani, Bambara, Mandinka and others in the south. After Muammar Gaddafi fell in the Libyan civil war, huge caches of heavy weapons were left unguarded – many ended up crossing that ‘desert sea’ and arrived in Mali. Fueled by outside groups, Al Qaeda gained a stronghold in northern Mali, installing Sharia law, closing schools, and banning so-called ‘Satan’s music’. Tragically, the region that had long been known for its ancient manuscripts, magnificent mud-architectural mosques, and captivating folk music was engulfed in conflict.

Mali’s musicians have never shied away from mixing politics and song. Vocalist Oumou Sangare (who is also a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador) has been outspoken on issues including women’s rights and polygamy since the 1990s. In 2013, when the conflict made it impossible for Mali to host its renowned Festival in the Desert, Sangare helped to take the show on the road, headlining the Caravan For Peace, performing in Tuareg refugee camps in Burkina Faso. Similarly, Khaira Arby (cousin of legendary guitarist Ali Farka Touré) has taken on issues such as female circumcision in her music. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that when war threatened to engulf Mali, its leading musicians banded together. Fatoumata Diawara gathered the nation’s leading musicians together to produce a video calling for a peaceful end to the conflict, most of whom are featured on this compilation, including Oumou Sangare, Toumani Diabate, Vieux Farka Touré, Nahawa Doumbia and Khaira Arby.

The role of these musicians cannot be underestimated, as it both galvanized the Malian public, and the international community into action, leading to military involvement by France as well as United Nations peacekeepers that quickly restored calm to most of Mali. Musically and ethnically, Mali is an incredibly diverse country. This album reflects that diversity, featuring driving Tuareg grooves rooted in a nomadic Saharan past, generations-old ‘social advice’ songs, Wassoulou music from the south, and of course there are a host of songs from Mali’s next generation of stars.

Samba Touré: Koye Ma (taken from the Rough Guide To Mali)

Grounded in authentic Spanish traditions, Calaita Flamenco Son’s innovative flamenco combines passionate vocals, awe-inspiring guitar virtuosity, intense percussion and jazz-inflected saxophone.  Diverse musical influences have infused this stunning debut album with exquisite hidden qualities.

For more information, visit www.worldmusic.net/calaita

Calaita Flamenco Son was formed by flamenco singer Chico Pere, guitarist Glenn Sharp and percussionist Leo Paredes. The trio soon expanded to include Diana Castro’s soulful Spanish vocals and Matt Nickson’s jazz-inflected saxophone.

Founding members Chico and Glenn composed most of the tracks heard on this beautiful recording. Chico draws inspiration from his childhood experiences in Triana, a neighbourhood on the western side of the Guadalquivir River in Seville, while Glenn Sharp, who crafted his incredible guitar playing under the tutelage of flamenco maestros Juan Martin and Francisco Morales, expands the sound via his multifarious fluency in flamenco, Turkish and Arabic music. Together they create a new brand of flamenco that is full of energy, spontaneity and experimentation, taking this most famous of musical forms in new and exciting directions. This is flamenco at its finest, by a group of artists who have incredibly diverse musical stories. 

Chico Pere is from a family of flamenco singers and whose history can be heard in the truth and resonance of his voice. Glenn Sharp has performed internationally with numerous acclaimed world music artists including Nitin Sawhney, Guy Schalom and Nizar Rohana, and has worked on projects in African, Arabic, Indian and Latin American music. These experiences have enabled him to subtly incorporate this musical knowledge and awareness almost subliminally into any musical project that he is involved with. This broader understanding of many musical styles and cultures truly sets his playing apart from other flamenco guitarists. The musical partnership of Glenn and Chico is beautifully illustrated on the track ‘En El Puente’ where the lyrics refer to ‘Triana’s bridge’ where the protagonist ‘gazed at the waters’. The guitar parts here are stripped back, but delivered with exquisite elegance and purpose and beautifully compliment Chico’s coarse and passionate vocals. Other flamenco palos nestle alongside sultry seguiriyas, lilting rumbas and fast-moving bulerías.

Calaita’s last two years have been jam-packed with gigs and tours across the UK and Spain. Venues that have welcomed the band’s headstrong flamenco grooves include The Bridgewater Hall and The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester as well as El Parque del Salao and La Casita Papel in Spain. Calaita Flamenco Son is the group’s debut release on Riverboat Records and captures the spirit of their dramatic live performance, expressing perfectly Calaita’s mysterious duende spirit. The entire album was recorded intensively over three days at Wavelength Studios in the United Kingdom. The tracks were laid down naturally often without copious retakes, cementing the natural and organic musical feel heard throughout.

‘Un Mensajito’ is a up-tempo tango influenced track, driven by Chico and Glenn’s pulsing guitars. Matt’s trilling saxophone riff repeats throughout while cajon and handclaps add to the tight rhythmic structure. ‘Tu Mirada Flamenca’ (Your Flamenco Look), fuses traditional Spanish style with a ballad feel. Drawing on typical flamenco drama the lyrics are sung by one pining for his lovers ‘black eyelashes’ and ‘honey coloured eyes’. ‘Una Mujer Como Tu’ plays on the Latin flavours of a traditional colombiana and spotlights Chico’s bounding and leaping vocal range. ‘Entre El Tardón Y Triana’ is composed in a 12-beat traditional flamenco form called alegrías, this one in the style of an alegria de Cadiz with the familiar opening lyric 'tiriti tran'. ‘Que Lejos Está Japón’ is a traditional bulerías, the fastest and most energetic of all flamenco palos (forms). ‘Si Tu Me Cantas La Caña’ is an ‘ida y vuelta’guajira’, meaning it is a dance form that was brought back to Spain by sailors from the New World – in this case from Cuba. ‘Quedate Con Tus Anillos’ is a seguiriya, a form considered the hallmark of the most emotional and serious genre of flamenco, cante jondo. ‘Rumba del siete’ also draws on Afro-Cuban music that returned to Spain, this time the sexually provocative rumba dance is explored.

This is flamenco as you have never heard it before. Their vibrant sound presents the passion of traditional flamenco alongside the energy of flamenco rumba and jazz. Calaita’s unique sound is set to soar.

Calaita Flamenco Son: Muy Ocupada

Anansy Cissé’s souped-up guitar distortions re-work the West African Desert Blues genre with a new, agitated attitude. Featuring the soku fiddle playing of Zoumana Tereta and accompanied by ngoni, bass and calabash, Cissé’s sound harnesses musical traditions and spits it out anew, taking us into Mali Overdrive.

For further information, please visit www.worldmusic.net/anansycisse

When Cissé’s recording ‘Bala’ landed on our website via World Music Network’s online ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition, we were immediately taken by his gutsy guitar style that plays on tradition by matching it with the direct influence of 1960s and 1970s psychedelic-flavoured rock and roll. 

The story begins in late 2012, when Anansy was forced to dismantle the recording studio he ran in Diré following the invasion of Mali’s northern regions by militant Islamists, many of whom are opposed to secular music-making. His poignant track ‘Gonmi’ calls for peace across Mali and is a reminder of the despair felt by many at the concerning political divisions and connected social reverberations caused by religious tension in the Northern region. Forced to relocate further south, Anansy headed to the beating heart of Mali’s capital city and is now resident blues bad-boy in Bamako.

In Bamako Anansy met Philippe Sanmiguel who is now his percussionist and manager. Anansy soon called on a few more friends to add to the musical pot: esteemed ngoni player Djimé Sissoko laid down some riffs, Abdramane Touré took to the bass and Mahalmadane Traoré found time to slap and smack his calabash. 

Presently Anansy lives in the Faladié district of Bamako and consistently and is steadily working on more material. In the corners of his house, vast towering piles of old-school vinyl peer down on  visiting musicians providing a clue to Anansy’s inspirations: The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd and CSN&Y are all represented. His close appreciation of rock music is heard distinctly via the anthemic guitar riff of the track ‘Fati Ni Koye’. Equal stimulation for his songs, text and rhythm is drawn from traditional Fulani and Songhai music. ‘Sekou Amadou’ pays tribute to the leader and founder of the Fulani Empire of Macina. ‘Horey’ is a takamba song from Gao and Timbuktu. The rhythm is historically linked to the Songhai nobility but electrified and re-energised in Anansy’s version. 

In the often polarised world music community, young African musicians are often either too hastily dismissed as local pop stars who have no international appeal or as authentic saviours in a misplaced quest for authenticity. Now, proudly ramping up the volume and fearlessly taking Malian music into rock overdrive is Anansy Cissé – a pioneer of new music that champions ancient tradition and uncharted modernity at once. 

Anansy Cissé: Fati Ka (taken from the album Mali Overdrive)

India's classical music is deeply bound to the country's ancient mystical traditions. This unique Rough Guide brings together the greatest names in Indian Classical music, performing some of the most beautiful ragas of India’s classical legacy. Enjoy the musical artistry of legendary performers such as Shivkumar Sharma, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Zakir Hussain and Ravi Shankar.

For more information, visit www.worldmusic.net/indianclassical

THE ROUGH GUIDE TO INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

India's classical music is deeply bound to the country's mystical ancient traditions. Stretching back  through time to the Vedic period musical historians encounter the Rigveda, an ancient collection of Sanskrit hymns, and the Sama Veda, a text which begins to discuss the origin of seven shruti (notes) from the sounds of nature. The practice of combining tones in certain sequences and the notation system that was developed during this era is connected to the development of the Indian classical raga form. 'Raga' literally translates as a 'hue' of colour and is a musical method of constructing melody through prescribed conventions. Ragas are linked to different moods and times of the day. Amjad Ali Khan's ‘Raga Chhaya Nat’ is in the Hindustani (North Indian) chhayanat mode and illuminates his crystalline prowess on the sarod, a stringed lute that is played with a plectrum. Uppalapu Srinivas' song 'Sankari Sankuru' is played on his mandolin in saveri raga, which is said to bring about the mood of pity and was originally composed by one of Carnatic (South Indian) music’s greatest figures Syama Sastri (1762-1827). 

Indian Classical Legends Shivkumar Sharma, Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Brij Bhushan Kabra are heard delicately delivering a Hindustani bhairav raga on ‘Ahir Bhairav’. This raga is related to Sikh tradition from northern India and appears in the Guru Granth Sahib (the central religious text of Sikhism). Ravi Shankar’s radiant sitar shines bright on the fast-paced track ‘Devgiri Bilawal Dhun’. Shankar’s name and ascendant international career is now synonymous with Indian classical music. Widely regarded as a musical sage or pandit, his definition of raga touched upon its vast and complex nature, describing it as a ‘scientific, precise, subtle and aesthetic melodic form’. Another sitar scholar, Vilayat Khan is heard on ‘Dhun Punjabi Ang’. The Khan musical lineage traces all the way back to the court musicians of the Mughal Empire.

Father and son duo Allah Rakha and Zakir Hussain enter into percussive playoff on the live track ‘Ek Taal’. Tabla virtuouso Zakir Hussain remains grounded by the musical discipline and natural flair he inherited from his father who he regarded as ‘a spirit who was created to work for music by God’. Carnatic vocalist Dr M. Balamuralikrishna’s marvellously melodic instrument sparkles on ‘Sadhathava Pada’. His formidable range and versatile tone mark him out as a legendary singer. He is also credited with popularising the jugulbandi concept in Indian classical music – when two soloists of equal skill perform together. Riverboat Records artist Jyotsna Srikanth contributes ‘Annapoorne’, a work crafted by the famous Carnatic composer, Muttuswami Dikshitar. The subject matter concerns Annapoorne, the Hindu goddess of nourishment. The raga used is sama, one that denotes peace.

Uncover the mystery and beauty of India’s verdant classical tradition on this excellent introduction to one of the world’s most valuable musical repertoires. 

Jyotsna Srikanth: Annapoorne (taken from The Rough Guide To Indian Classical Music)

Jazz improvisation, syncopated beats and counter-culture attitudes have been swinging in the Arab world since the early twentieth century. This Rough Guide explores today’s thriving scene, revealing how blending jazz and Arabic music has created the most beautiful of musical concoctions.

For more information, visit www.worldmusic.net/arabicjazz

The Rough Guide To Arabic Jazz
This Rough Guide travels the Arab world exploring the depth and range of jazz interpretations heard across the region’s many nations and cultures. 

Lebanon’s rich musical melting pot is to thank for many of the tracks on this album. Haunting track ‘Harrama el-Nawma’ is by Rima Khcheich, a singer from Khiam in the south of the country. Lebanese trumpeter and composer Ibrahim Malouf’s ‘Nomade Slang’ is anchored by an undulating double-time drum pattern with sharp stinging horn lines and inquisitive rising bass figures. Another Beirut-born musician, Rabi Abou-Khalil, contributes the track ‘A Better Tomorrow’ with his masterful oud bringing out a slinky, seductive flavour with brushed drums and a languorous wind solo. ‘Masâr’ by Le Trio Jourban also spotlights the iridescent delicacy of the stringed oud. 

Ahmad Kaabour is also from Lebanon and a prominent cultural figure in the Middle East: his 1975 hit ‘Oundaikom’ became the anthem of the Palestinian struggle. ‘Abou Afif’ was released in 2012 and is a peppy, almost saccharine number that encapsulates the feel of modernist 1970s jazz. 

Daramad count in the proceedings with the track ‘Tigris Eye’. The band’s line-up features a mix of Persian and Australian musicians allowing them to create a delicate musical dialogue. 

Karim Ziad is an Algerian jazz percussionist, guitarist and gumbri (Moroccan bass lute) player. Omar Faruk Tekbilek was born of Turkish and Egyptian parents and currently resides in America. ‘Dark Eyes’ is inspired by Sufi devotional music and ambient electronica. Maurice El Medioni stirs a potent punch with Cuban percussionist Roberto Rodriguez on closing track ‘Ana Ouna’.

Jazz is still pulsing through the veins of Arabic homelands and this Rough Guide offers up an insight in to the scene. 


Hijaz: Chemsi (taken from the album The Rough Guide To Arabic Jazz)

Fast and furious, fingers flying with a fiery panache, Söndörgő are one of the most exciting bands in Europe. With their signature instrument, the tambura, the band brilliantly combines respect for tradition with a desire to innovate and a fizzing virtuosity. 

For further information, visit www.worldmusic.net/sondorgo

Listening to the band play, you soon hear it’s nothing like traditional violin-led Hungarian music. Söndörgő’s sound is light, springy and delicately plucked. Their signature instrument is the tambura, a mandolin-like instrument, probably of Turkish origin, used by the South Slav (Serbian and Croatian) communities in Hungary.  

The band is made up of three brothers, Áron, Benjamin and Salamon Eredics, plus cousin Dávid Eredics and Attila Buzás, the only non-family member, on bass tambura. Áron Eredics is also part of the band Vujicsics, winners of Hungary’s most prestigious state-sponsored cultural award, the Kossuth Prize, in 2014.
Tamburocket is Söndörgő’s second international release and features revived tunes drawn from the rich Hungarian archives and annals of the countries esteemed song-collectors and musicologists of yore. 

Tracks featured here that were first collected by national hero Béla Bartók include the dance tune ‘Drago Kolo’, played as a duet by Áron and Salamon; ‘Srpski Madjarik’, arranged for the basszprímtambura (alto tambura) and cello tambura and ‘Majka Kceru’, a rather sedate wedding song in its original version but reworked by Söndörgő in a more ferocious rhythm. 

The two melodies from ethnographer Tihamér Vujicsics were both collected by the Drava river, a tributary of the Danube, which marks much of the border between Hungary and Croatia. The opening ‘Jozo’ is a nonsensical love song, with the original Croatian bagpipe part transferred onto the samica, a small, home-made tambura. The closing ‘Kolovoda’ is a dance song for a kolo ring dance, the most popular folkdance of the South Slavs. 
‘Marice’ is a popular Croatian song named after a girl that all the guys lust after, but can’t get. ‘Evo Srcu’ features two slower Serbian melodies from Vojvodina, the northern region of Serbia. ‘Hulusination’ is based on a Macedonian čoček dance tune, but Söndörgő have brought in a sort of Chinese snake-charmer’s pipe called the hulusi (hence the punning title), plus other wind and percussion to create a powerful trance-like track.  

What Söndörgő combine brilliantly is a respect for the traditions, a desire to innovate and a fizzing unstoppable virtuosity. 


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Söndörgő: Jozo (taken from the album Tamburocket Hungarian Fireworks)

Almost as big as the USA, the vast Sahara spans Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.  Despite being the hottest desert on earth, it is home to millions of people whose diverse cultures and traditions create a vivid cultural landscape.  This Rough Guide features the region’s best-loved artists as well as exploring beyond the arid sandscapes to reveal hidden Saharan sounds. 

For more information, visit www.worldmusic.net/sahara

The Sahara spans a humungous 3,600,000 square miles across North Africa, from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Its photogenic undulating sandscapes have seduced travellers, artists and storytellers for centuries. 
Since the ancient empires of Nubia, the Great Desert has been inhabited consistently: Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Berbers, Ottoman Turks and European colonialists are among the tribes that have lived in its realms. Among the Sahara’s present-day inhabitants are nomad Fulani, Tubu and Tuareg peoples who recall stories of ancient battles forcing their ancestors to seek refuge deep in the desert where they carved out a way of life, constantly moving onwards, respecting the moods and winds of the desert herself. Religion is largely Islamic in the region with cultural remnants of Christian, Pagan and Jewish traditions audible in local dialects and traditions. 
Today religious and traditional factions across the Sahara jostle against each other making for a vivid political landscape, not without conflict. Of course political passions inform musical expressions, many of which are portentously highlighted on this insightful album. Etran Finawata from Niger strive to promote unity - their band members are from both the Wodaabe and Touareg ethnicities which have historically been rivals. Mariem Hassan is a Saharawi singer whose music pays tribute to old poems written by Ali Bachir and Lamin Allal, artists from her oppressed nation who were forced to live in exile. The title of her 2012 album El Aaiún Egdat (El Aaiún on Fire) casts a striking comment on the largest city in the Western Sahara, which is under Moroccan occupation. Toureg de Fewet are from Libya and are inspired by their homeland’s traditional song  repertoire.
Other artists bend expectations, re-working familiar pop genres into new, surprising formations. Anansy Cissé sucks up all the brilliant things about well-trodden West African ‘Desert Blues’ trope and spits them out with a new agitated attitude. Moudou Ould Mattala hails from Mauritania, his guitar style has Pink Floyd-ian inspirations. AGS & EJ represent the North-Eastern reaches of the Sahara on track ‘Ya Salam’. Salamat, headed up by Percussion Mahmoud Fadl, explore Nubian elements of Egyptian music, as does Ali Hassan Kuban. Malian rising star Djama Djigui speaks a new language with his tamani (talking drum).

Mariem Hassan: Legneiba (taken from The Rough Guide To The Sahara)

Grounded in gypsy traditions, flamenco guitar has evolved to become a high art form and a potent symbol of Spanish culture. Arguably the most beautiful and technically demanding of all guitar styles, today’s greatest masters weave complex rhythms with breathtaking technical skill.

For more information, visit http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/RGNET1326

Moraito: Sor Bulería (taken from The Rough Guide To Flamenco Guitar)

Seamlessly infusing his Berber origins with deep gnawa grooves, Simo Lagnawi’s trance-inducing music is an unstoppable expression of freedom and liberation.

For further information, visit www.worldmusic.net/simolagnawi

Simo Lagnawi: Bolami (taken from the album GNAWA BERBER)

Unrepresented and stateless peoples produce some of the world’s greatest music – music without frontiers.  Produced in association with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), this Rough Guide celebrates the remarkable and diverse music of the indigenous peoples and minorities living in unrecognised or occupied territories around the world.

For more information, visit www.worldmusic.net/musicwithoutfrontiers

Parno Graszt: Koro Kino (taken from The Rough Guide To Music Without Frontiers)

This Rough Guide explores the heady influence of psychedelia on salsa, from the fuzzy tropical guitars of the sixties and seventies to today’s cutting edge bands experimenting with weird & wonderful psychedelic sounds.

For sound samples, videos and further information, visit: www.worldmusic.net/psychedelic-salsa

Psychedelic rock and salsa came of age together in the mid to late 1960s under parallel socio-cultural circumstances of upheaval, unrest and experimentation within the respective youth cultures of their core audiences. 
Historically there are direct connections between the world of the hippie counter-culture and Latin music (from Fania’s Jerry Masucci being friends with Woodstock’s Michael Lang to ‘mambonik’ Bill Graham urging Santana to cover Tito Puente. In places like Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and especially Peru, non-Latin global youth culture – or at least some of the music, dress, art, and social attitude – was quite influential as well, producing tropical music with fuzzed out guitars, echo effects, and electric keyboards
In the late 1970s through to the 1990s, discotheque remix dance culture spawned the psychedelic extended salsa mixes of studio wizards like Baron Lopez and the wild playing of Cuban violinist Alfredo de la Fé (featured here with Orchestra Rytmo Africa-Cubana), both of which factored in trippy dub effects borrowed from another Caribbean music with psychedelic leanings, namely reggae.
This collection explores not only those early connections and cross-pollinating influences but also the resurgence of interest in the subject of the psychedelic sound today, from a revival of the experimental vibe that made the early years of salsa so varied and interesting to the equally intriguing phenomenon of retro analogue aesthetics that seems to be on the rise. 
Current Latin artists like Bio Ritmo, La Mecánica Popular, Bacalao Men, Quantic, Fantasma and San Lázaro have found themselves looking back to the days of progressive, open attitudes when the emphasis was on message and music, not on singer as star or producing bland pop for mass consumption. This is, perhaps, a reaction to the fallout of the over-commercialisation and dilution of salsa in the 1980s and the concurrent ascendance of merengue, bachata and (later) reggaeton. The influence of rare groove collecting, DJ-driven investigations into the golden era, and a spill-over from the success of retro funk and soul acts like Sharon Jones have shaped current ‘indie’ salsa production as well.

Nelson Y Sus Estrellas: Londres (taken from The Rough Guide To Psychedelic Salsa)

Lovingly mastered from old tapes found in a friend’s attic, this is a vintage collection of previously unreleased rarities and early works by one of the guitar's truly great innovators.

**A vintage collection of previously unreleased recordings**

www.worldmusic.net/johnrenbourn

John Renbourn: Anji (taken from The Attic Tapes)

Keeping an ear to the ground for today’s Malian sounds, these tunes were specially recorded for this release and feature inspirational new artists yet to be heard outside their homeland.

For more visit www.worldmusic.net/lostinmali

Nainy Koné: Ne Sabou

John Lee Hooker was a true original, a musical colossus whose compelling and mysterious sound towered over the blues and echoed the very soul of African-American experience. Remastered for unparalleled audio clarity, this collection contains the dynamic early career of a truly unique blues legend.

John Lee Hooker: Dimples

Gypsy Lover chronicles the meeting of cultures in music and in marriage; Serbian gypsy violin maestro Branko and English circus performer and accordionist Faith present a beautiful collection of songs combining traditional Balkan sounds with edgy and witty vocals.

For more information, visit www.worldmusic.net/faithibranko

Faith i Branko: Bumbar (taken from the album 'Gypsy Lover')

Original source of the blues and fabled land of musical giants, West Africa is a powerhouse like no other. From the first African artist to sell a million singles, Mory Kanté, to new torch bearers Samba Touré, Nuru Kane and the driving desert blues of Etran Finatawa; this is a collection of timeless and inspirational recordings.

More information at http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/RGNET1351

Rough Guide To The Music Of West Africa

Rough Guide To the Music Of West Africa

Afrika

Downtown Beijing might seem a strange place for a Mongolian folk revival. Yet Hanggai are at the forefront of a musical movement in China that is finding inspiration in native folk traditions, drawing on a repertoire of magical songs that have all but disappeared during China's recent turbulent past. 

http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/INTRO111
http://www.worldmusic.net/sync-world/beijing-folk-revival-hanggai/

Hanggai is made up of young musicians from Beijing and from the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia. The need of these young musicians to rediscover and express their roots and native language is causing quite a stir in China and seems to indicate some kind of change within their generation. Their interpretations of traditional songs from the grasslands are attracting an ever-increasing following and a cult status as a kind of antidote to Chinese Pop and Western boy bands.

The word 'hanggai' is ancient Mongolian, describing an idealised grassland landscape of mountains, trees, rivers and blue skies. 

The group’s leader, Ilchi, was fronting a punk band until he experienced a conversion after hearing traditional overtone singing. He travelled to his father’s homeland of Inner Mongolia and started to learn the technique – rediscovering the music and repertoire of songs that had faded but not disappeared during China’s turbulent past. There he met Hugejiltu and Bagen, both music students, who joined the group. Hugejiltu plays lead fiddle and Bagen sings deep bass using a technique of overtone singing, producing a note one octave below the note he is singing.

Since the release of their first album, Introducing Hanggai by the World Music Network in 2008, which garnered glowing praise internationally, Hanggai have played some of the best international festivals in the world, including Roskilde, Lowlands, Lotus Festival, the Chicago World Music Festival, Sziget, Wacken open air (Europe’s largest metal festival), FMM festival, Sydney festival, Zwarte Cross and WOMAD festivals in Abu Dhabi, UK, Gran Canarias, Australia and New Zealand. 

The songs on the album are adaptations of traditional songs from the grasslands, sung in Mongolian, many using hoomei, a throat-singing technique that has been handed down over hundreds of years. At the heart of the music are two traditional instruments – the morin khuur – the horse-hair fiddle and the tobshuur – a strummed two-stringed lute.

Some of the arrangements sound very simply traditional and others are more complex. ‘Five Heroes’, a song of vigilantes stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, includes jangly electric guitar, conjuring up cowboy movies – creating a connection between east and west. ‘Wuji’ is predominantly throatsinging, with the strong repetitive sound of the horsehair fiddle pushing the song forward. ‘Lullaby’ (Borulai) is a gorgeous mix of vocal harmonies – the familiar feel of a gentle lullaby with a strong atmosphere of the grasslands.


Hanggai Drinking Song

'Miss Shanghai' is the opening track to the 2xCD The Rough Guide to the music of China

This Rough Guide, like China itself, is hugely diverse and enthralling. Explore the sounds of over a billion people - from the ancient tones of the erhu and pipa and the Inner Mongolian folk revival to original Shanghai jazz, Chinese Pop and the latest underground beats.



Zhang Yi Wen: Shanghai Xiao Jie (Miss Shanghai)

Undoubtedly the most versatile of all instruments, the guitar’s unrivalled cross-cultural popularity has made it synonymous with musical genres far and wide. From Congolese soukous to Calcutta slide guitar, this collection features kindred creative spirits who have harnessed its limitless expressive potential.

Rough Guide To A World Of Guitar

Samba Touré: White Crocodile Blues (A song for M)

Give Me Wine marks the twentieth anniversary of the legendary guardians of Olah gipsy music, Romano Drom. A national treasure in their Hungarian homeland, this sublime new chapter sees the five-piece band continue to revive the musical traditions of their forebears in new and unexpected ways.

https://worldmusic.net/collections/riverboat-records/products/romano-drom-give-me-wine

Give Me Wine

Romano Drom: Hajdi Phrala

From infectious African rhythms and Latin grooves to far flung gems from Indian and Chinese cultures, this is an album guaranteed to broaden a child’s musical horizons.

http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/RGNET1387

Rough Guide To World Music For Children

Nuru Kane - Afrika

Saxophonist John Coltrane was one of the most seminal saxophonists to emerge in the post-war years, and is still one of the central figures in history of jazz. More than forty years after his death his playing and composing continues to resonate throughout contemporary music. This collection concentrates on the excellent music he recorded as leader during the 1950’s, and has been carefully re-mastered, allowing you to hear Coltrane’s work in new and un-paralleled sound quality.

John Coltrane - Blue Train (From The Rough Guide To John Coltrane)

Colombian cumbia is the beloved tropical dance music characterized by rolling drums, maracas and the royally raspy guacharaca scraper. This Rough Guide highlights the best from cumbia’s coastal Afro-Caribbean roots through to its entirely modern incarnations. Explore the vintage works of Lucho Bermúdez, Los Corraleros de Majagual through to the urban stylings of El Hijo De La Cumbia and Los Chapillacs.

http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/RGNET1293

****

Cumbia, originally from the coastal regions of Colombia, is an internationally beloved genre of tropical music (and dance) with a syncopated 4/4 rhythm characterized by call-and-response vocals, a rolling drumbeat and a simple, repetitive timekeeping percussion laid out on the maracas (gourd shakers) or the raspy guacharaca scraper.

This Rough Guide transverses a wide range of cumbia styles and sounds. The album opens with ‘La Guacharaca’ by Medardo Padilla Y Su Conjunto an example of the cumbia as played by traditional folkloric groups from the coast of Colombia. Essential to any guide to cumbia is clarinettist Lucho Bermúdez (1912–1994), one of the founding fathers of the modern coastal sound of tropical music. ‘Gaita De Los Flores’ pays tribute to the indigenous and humble gaita, but updates the instrument with the European clarinet, changing the feel from Indian flute to mambo/swing big band in the mould of Pérez Prado or Glenn Miller. Other gems included ‘Luz De Cumbia’, Aníbal Velásquez’s infectious tropical jam that describes the romantic night-time dancing in a traditional candle-lit cumbiamba (‘cumbia party’).  Another killer track ‘Noche De Cumbia’ was a big hit in 1977 for Barranquilla-born singer and composer Adolfo Ernesto Echeverría Comas. The lively track demonstrates his unique sound which combines the folkloric music of his Atlantic coastal region with muscular New York-style salsa arrangements.

Cumbia has enjoyed a revival in recent years and is filling up dance floors again. Heading up the modern contingent is the closing track from El Hijo De Cumbia. The Argentinan DJ has become famous for his own brand of modern cumbia (sometimes referred to as cumbia villera) that combines elements of hip-hop, reggae and digital dancehall.

Explore the roots and reverberations of cumbia on this comprehensive Rough Guide. 

Los Corraleros De Majagual: Cumbia Campesina (taken from The Rough Guide To Cumbia)

Hailing from the Yunnan province in Southwest China, Manhu are guardians of an ancient but living musical tradition. From raucous drinking songs to haunting ballads, Voices Of The Sani gives a unique insight into the music of the little-understood Sani culture.

Voices Of The Sani

Banquet Dance

This Rough Guide takes the listener on a criss-crossing journey across the African continent, sponging up the most evocative unplugged music emanating from the great continent along the way. Enjoy the rich desert blues of Etran Finatawa, the Baye Fall Gnawa of Nuru Kane, the masakanda magic of Shiyani Ncgobo, and the Mozambican melodies of Mabulu.

http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/RGNET1297

The Rough Guide To Acoustic Africa

So ubiquitous is the sound of slapping strings and strumming chords across the vast African continent that acoustic music curls into practically every corner of life and culture there. Charting the different acoustic styles included here takes the listener on a criss-crossing journey across Africa: we begin in Niger, before visiting Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, Sudan, Senegal and the Republic of Guinea. Not a bad round trip for just over seventy minutes’ worth of time, and without the cost of the air fare! 

Heading up a healthy West African contingent, we have Baye Fall Gnawa musician Nuru Kane and singer-songwriter Amadou Diagne both from Senegal. Also hailing from this region is the Guinean kora maestro Mory Kanté, Malian guitarist Samba Touré, Ghanaian palm-wine veteran Koo Nimo and Touareg troubadours Etran Finatawa. Swooping down to west Central Africa, Sally Nyolo fom Cameroon provides the upbeat and carefree track ‘Obili Éba’. Congolese guitarist Syran Mbenza celebrates the legacy of the great Congolese musician Franco with a new approach. Abdel Gadir Salim from Northern Sudan provides a sensitive oud-based composition on ‘Lemon Bara’. The unbelievable sounds of Zulu maskanda guitarist Shiyani Ngcobo are heard on this collection too. As are Sotho Sounds who hail from Lesotho and bring their brand of junk funk to the party.

The bonus album is an exclusive debut release by kora player Noumoucounda Cissoko. He weaves together his griot heritage with mbalax, blues, jazz, hip-hop and rock-inspired inspirations. Faling is his debut solo album and features Cissoko accompanied by Swiss musicians, Phat 4.

Samba Toure: White Crocodile Blues (taken from The Rough Guide To Acoustic Africa)

During the 1960s and 1970s in Latin America, revolution was in the air – youth subculture was breaking its bonds, minds were expanding and music was turning inside out. This Rough Guide features a lovingly re-mastered selection of classic cuts by Joe Cuba and Johnny Rivera alongside contemporary psychedelic pioneers Brownout and Ocote Soul Sounds.

For more information: http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/RGNET1291/

The Rough Guide To Latin Psychedelia

The 1960s and 1970s were eras of activist rebellion and trippy experimentation encapsulated by the sound of reverberating guitars and whirling shimmering percussion. The psychedelic influence in the Latin world ran deep and musicians across the region put their own spin on the sound.

Joe Cuba opens the album with ‘Psychedelic Baby’, a song combining topical humour with an infectious groove. Next up Bronx-born Puerto Rican vocalist and timbale player Johnny Rivera is heard on ‘Cloud Nine’, taken from his 1976 album Up, Up and Away. ‘Todos’ is contributed by Los Nombres, a band once described as ‘one part War, two parts Santana, a dash of Motown, immersed in a rich Puerto Rican stock’.

Other vintage cuts include a track from self-proclaimed ‘Indian rock’ band, Conjunto El Opio. Hailing from Peru their song ‘Piratas En El Titicaca’ is a slab of fuzz-funk and features a sax playing a traditional Andean huyano huancaíno melody. Wild Wind formed in the mid-1970s and combine acid funk-rock with more traditional Cuban music like the bolero and son montuno. Afrosound was a nod by Fuentes studio executives to the psychedelic guitar-based sounds coming out of Peru at the time. ‘Baila Mi Rumbita’ is a cover of Barcelona’s gypsy rumba sensation Los Amaya, done in the lysergically enhanced Afrosound style.

Psychedelia is still a creative force on many contemporary bands like Ocote Soul Sounds, a project begun by members of the trailblazing Afrobeat revival orchestra Antibalas and Chicano salsa/indie rockers Grupo Fantasma. ‘En El Temblor’ describes an earthquake and appeals to Afro-Cuban orisha deities for salvation. Another modern outfit, Brownout encapsulate the revolutionary hippie-era in a modern Mexican-American context.

Los Destellos, the foremost Peruvian tropical band of the 1960s-1970s provide a full-length bonus album. 

Los Destellos: Onsta La Yerbita (taken from the album The Rough Guide To Latin Psychedelia)

The Sahara Sessions was recorded deep in the desert. Sheltered only by an animal-skin tent and the vast canopy of midnight stars, Etran Finatawa played their guitars and sang straight from the heart. Each poignant song and every slap of the calabash drum articulating the deep-set divisions in the Sahel region that are threatening their Nomad way of life.

Read More/Buy Album: www.worldmusic.net/saharasessions

Simmering political troubles and excruciating economic hardship pose a dangerous threat to the nomadic way of life and the rich cultures of Niger. Divining their solution to these issues, Etran Finatawa celebrate their diverse heritage and call for its preservation to be a priority for Nigeriens and listeners the world over.

The Sahara Sessions opens with ‘Matinfa’, a gently rippling introduction peppered with traditional percussion; tendé, calabash and azakalabó (a calabash drum that floats in water) drums are all heard. The song title translates as ‘What Is This For?’ and is the first signifier of the album’s intent to comment on the tumultuous status of the Sahel region today. Although Niger has displayed a firm opposition to separatism that plagued neighbouring country Mali in 2012, the troubles have inevitably caused insecurity in the Sahel region and the threat to the countries rich and varied cultures is a very real concern. Etran Finatawa’s members are of Tuareg and Wodaabe heritages – neighboring tribes that both live as nomads. Water shortages and land disputes have led to deep-set economic issues that cause conflict and misunderstanding across communities. The work Etran Finatawa do to promote unity and understanding is invaluable. 

The album presents a collection of tracks: some fixed compositions developed and created by the band and others spontaneous improvisations that capture the spirit of the tent recordings.  Songs such as ‘An Mataf Germanawen’ (Union) and ‘Issuad’ (Let’s Come Together) patiently call for attention to be paid to the political situation.

Various guests also join then band on the album – arrangements that occurred organically and were spontaneously initiated. One of these, a Tuareg percussionist by the name of Ayouba arrived at the camp one night, revving out of the darkness on his motorbike. Before long Ayouba had set up his calabash drum and was spreading his contagious high-energy vibe like wildfire. His articulations can be heard on the three tracks ‘Matinfa’,  ‘Icheraid Azaman’ and ‘Toumast’. ‘Wa Oyan A Wa Imouss I Bastila’ is an excerpt from an improvisation with Abdourahaman Ag Ibrahim, a well-known local griot (praise-singer and oral historian), who came to visit the tent where Etran Finatawa were recording.

Etran Finatawa are as captivating as the horizon-stretching desert where the pitched their tent to record. Like the desert their music stretches out across the sands of time and culture.


Etran Finatawa: Icheraid Azaman

Performing devotional song, the Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawwali Group explore their precious sacred repertoire on this unique release. The ensemble hail from Afghanistan, and for those able to look beyond the crossfire and conflict for which the country has become known, their music is a treasure chest preserving and promoting their rich and beautiful culture.

For more information: http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/INTRO118/

Introducing Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawwali Group

The Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawwali Group has been performing for more than thirty years and is one of the most highly regarded qawwali groups in Afghanistan. Featuring an array of instruments rarely heard outside their homeland, the Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawwali Group are part of a vibrant musical tradition that stretches back more than 700 years. Banned from performing under the Taliban reign, these musicians now publicly reunite to present the healing and spiritual power of qawwali music to Afghanistan and the world.

The singer and harmonium player Ahmad Sham leads the group of musicians who play at the khanaqa (Sufi meeting place) in Kabul where they use the qawwali style of music popularized by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. For them music and religious belief are inseparable. 

Afghanistan is one of the centres of Sufism where music is used in praise of God. Several of the most celebrated Sufi saints came from what is now Afghanistan – Rumi foremost amongst them, who was born in 1207 in the city of Balkh. The central themes of qawwali, as heard being intoned by Ahmad Sham on this release, are traditionally love, devotion and longing (of man for the Divine).

Pause for a moment to meditate in the mist of Ahmad’s melismatic vocal underpinned by undulating drone, propulsive percussion and a chorus of devotional voices. Ahmad Sham’s music is at once drenched in a rich resonant culture of old and a symbol of hope for a brighter future. 

Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawwali Group: Rae Maykhana O Masjid (The Way To The Mosque And The Winehouse)

WMN is one of the leading forces on the world music scene & consists of 4 labels – Music Rough Guides, Think Global, Riverboat Records & Introducing.

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