The Hen, northern Nü Caledonia. Free range heaven on a tiny beach.

On the north tip of the sleeping continent Zealandia, there is a land of super crows and bubblegum reggae that rises out of the deep Pacific.  New Caledonia (increasingly known as Kanaky by locals) is still a “special collectivity” of France.  But 40% of the overall population are native Melanesians, and there is an ongoing push for independence from their far-off administrators.

But regardless of who they call président, the Kanak are a strong and proud people, keeping their culture alive and infusing traditional vocal and percussion music with reggae and reggae-related vibes.  Yes, this is as far from the Caribbean as it is from France, but in the South Pacific, reggae rules supreme.

Hear skanking of many forms, ancient chants, janglin’ oldies, french hip hop and more on the Kanaky special…  {STREAM HERE}

(As a side note, there is very little information available about these artists.. the song titles are often missing.  Hey, if I lived on a tropical island I wouldn’t spend much time on the computer either.. but O the wealth of music from a mere quarter million people!)

((we got the good wood vibrations))

Also, the first hour’s Global Mix {HERE}