| Spin the Globe's
Best World Music of 2003 |
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Ojos de Brujo
- Bari
Flamenco meets hiphop, with wonderous results. Read Spin the
Globe's CD review. |
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Salif
Keita - Moffou
The latest CD from the "golden voice of Mali"
- one I've played far too little this year. If you like the acoustic
flavor of Djelimady Tounkara's Sigui, check Moffou
out too. |
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Bobi Cespedes - Rezos
A wonderful debut solo CD incorporating Yoruba
chants and songs with light touches of electronica. |
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Super
Rail Band - Kongo Sigui
"The first soundtrack to summer 2003 just
arrived" says Ian Anderson. |
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Salsa
Celtica - El Agua de la Vida
The crazy, talented bunch from Scotland turn out
another Latin dancefloor-burner. Just try to keep your hips from
moving... |
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Vusi
Mahlasela - The Voice
During the first listening, this CD reminded me
of Paul Simon's Graceland. Now, however, I just hear the voice
of truth, singing songs that cut to the heart. Highly recommended. |
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Virginia
Rodrigues - Mares Profundos
Virginia's velvety voice makes this stand out
among a flurry of recordings of the Afro-Sambas by Baden Powell
and Vinicius de Moraes, some of the most important compositions
in samba. |
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Garikayi
Trikoti - Maidei
Garikayi Tirikoti is an mbira revolutionary, intensifying
the experience and sound of mbira music. Fill your sails with
Mbira music, the gentle mbira force, Garikayi Tirikoti. |
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Susheela
Raman - Love Trap
Weaving the sounds and cultures of the UK and
India, Raman's haunting new CD is a great listen. |
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Besh
O droM - Can't Make Me
Here's a group whose following takes to the dance
floor at the first notes of each concert and just cannot stop
dancing. Besh o droM's music is a highly original alloy of East
European folk music vernaculars such as Hungarian, Rumanian, Bulgarian,
Southern Slav, Greek musical dialects, not to speak of the marked
Gypsy, Turkish and Mid-East leanings. |
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Mahwash
- Radio Kaboul
Exiled from a nation torn by 23 years of war -
with music officially banned much of that time - Mahwash and Ensemble
Kaboul keep Afghani traditions alive in this important new recording.
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Various
Artists - Festival in the Desert
An amazing recording from an amazing event in
January 2003. Take one desert, add musicians, armed Tauregs on
camels, lots of sand, plaintive guitars, some Navajo punk, bands
from Mali and Europe, and a pinch of Robert Plant. Mix well. Enjoy. |
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Baikouba Badji & Modibo
Traore - Babu Casamance!
Modibo Traore has a mission. It involves great
music, preventing leprosy, and this field-recorded CD of bougarabou
drumming. |
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Barun
Pal & Ray Spiegel - Ragas on Slide Guitar
Raga Malkauns is a complex raga that evokes the
feelings of devotion, heroism, and pathos. Raga Piloo expresses
the emotions of love, and romance. And they sound great on that
most ancient of Indian instruments, the slide guitar. |
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Bembeya
Jazz - Bembeya
These guys haven't lost a bit of their fire since
they filled the dance halls of Conakry, Guinea, in the 1970s.
Sekou "Diamond Fingers" Diabate's crisp guitar leads
the way on this timeless, wonderful music. |
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Coco
Mbassi - Sepia
Coco Mbassi sings a love letter to God. Her smooth,
dynamic voice gives life to songs about family, Bible stories,
love, and faith. Uplifting even if you don't speak the language.
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Solomon and Socalled - Hiphopkhasene
In blending traditional Jewish wedding music,
historic-sounding audio samples, and hiphop beats, it treads an
ambitious - and fine - line between campy and brilliant. Hiphopkhasene
is a vow-sealer unlike anything you've heard before. |
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Various Artists - Cafe Music
of Liberia and Ghana
In the 1940s, Arthur S. and Lois Alberts drove
around remote West Africa with a Jeep-powered tape recorder. "I
wanted," he wrote in an August 1951 National Geographic article
chronicling the trip, "to show that so-called Darkest Africa
has more to offer than the tom-toms and jungle chants usually
associated with it by the Western World." Listen for a calypso-flavored
African music you've never heard before. |
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Oi
Va Voi - Laughter Through Tears
Though all six members have Jewish roots, the
sound is not so much klezmer, or even distinctly Jewish, but rather
that of a confident group of musicians in a worldly city making
sense of culture, sound, past, future. |
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Various Artists - Drop the
Debt
This is a great CD that just happens to champion
a great cause as well. All the tracks are exclusive to this release,
and with a variety of styles and consistently high energy it's
bound to have wide musical appeal. Get it as a wide-ranging survey
of contemporary world music or as a political statement. But get
it. |
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King
Sunny Ade - The
Best of the Classic Years and Synchro
Series (reissues)
In the early 1970s, nighttime Lagos was awash
with the sounds of juju music - the sound of traditional Nigerian
music meeting electric guitars and other new instruments. Bands
tried to trump their rivals by innovating new grooves and adding
new instruments (accordion, slide guitar), and each innovation
became known as a "system." Featuring some tracks previously
available only on Nigerian vinyl, these two CDs include two versions
of "Synchro System" recorded a decade apart, allowing
a fascinating glimpse into the musical changes taking place. |
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Honorable Mentions (and
great albums, all):
I apologize to the artists I've undoubtedly overlooked
in compiling this list. Looking at a year of music from the whole
world is a formidable task, and this reflects my personal tastes
and biases. If you think something should be on this list, feel
free to email me and let me know. If you're convincing, I might
add it. Finally, a year-end thanks to all the artists and labels
who provide this great music. You're an inspiration and you truly
provide a vibrant soundtrack for many lives around the world.
Without you the planet and the radio would be sad, lonely places.
Happy New Year!
--Scott |
