A Fullblown Gugak and Yangak Sonic Attack!

All hands and ears are back at the control board this week.  As South Korea is busy launching rockets into space, we have been given the heroic mission of exploring the many peaks and valleys of the South Korean soundscape..  The old (the Gugak), the new (the Yangak), the psychodilly 70s, the drum n bass music of 1672, , the hiphop, the trot, and nary a K-pop song in the lot (we respect you).  Yes, South Korea, in all its world-friendliness, has grown into the sophisticated polar-opposite of its twin (the Korea we don’t talk about).  But for all the modern dilemmas of open and closed minds, the twin Koreas will always share the same Gugak.  History is something you can’t take back.  Ditto for disco funk.

Alright I admit it, we couldn’t fit any Trot into the program.. but it’s an important piece of the Korean puzzle – the first global style to be adapted by Korean musicians, back when the nation was one.  So here’s some good ol’ Japa-merican inspired Foxtrot for you swingers out there:

Sénégal, the Wild West

Found on the farthest western tip of the African continent, this small country packs just as big of a punch as its neighbors.  Mbalax music, also native to Gambia, is the popular form of dance music and Kiara (who is unfortunately alone again!) will be playing some of the most popular Mbalax musicians including Youssou N’Dour, Thione Seck and Baaba Maal (who is more popular globally for his adventures in other styles of music).

A Global Garage Party

This week is a turn away from the second-hour-country-focus we usually do. Yes, this week we’re focusing on garage rock instead.
Garage rock has a home where ever it may lay its pretty head. Although the garage rock sound was popularized in the United States, throughout the 1960s one can clearly hear how other nations and cultures appropriated the fuzzy-wuzzy rockin’ sound and really made it their own. Kiara often picks punk music as one of her favourite types of globally translatable forms; therefore, it is only appropriate that we introduce how the rest of the world first got introduced to western angst and noisy teens before punk hit the nail on the head. As an added bonus, bands will be played from far away who are fuzzin’ hard in the present time. Kiara’s friend Alex Brown, who used to have a show on CKXU in Lethbridge AB, will be joining today also.
From last week’s country of focus, enjoy os Vigilantes from Puerto Rico.

2013!!

What’s Shakin? It’s Kiara. I am alone on the show for the next few weeks; however, there have not been any major changes to the show this year… Nic is going to come back! Yay! Happy 2013!

This week we travel to Puerto Rico. I believe they just voted themselves into the US to become the 51st state of the Union.
Check out this video from my favourite Puerto Rican underground group (Well… actually not so much… they’re about as underground in Puerto Rico as Radiohead is in the UK) Calle 13: