Vietnamese musicians don’t get enough credit for their role in the modern sonic soundscape…

They developed the original vocoder (k’ni):

They rocked the theremin (đàn bầu) long before the days of electrical current.  Warning, the following video will melt your face off:

And as the Vietnamese War continued to escalate in the early 70s, groups like the CBC Band set a new standard for political protest music, eventually leading to exile from their homeland.

This and more as we explore; Viet Nam on our weekly Program.

You’ve heard of the British Invasion.. but the Uruguayan Invasion?!  During the late 60s, the best rock bands from Uruguay took the Argentine music scene by storm, cutting record deals and leaving millions of latina mods with goosepimples.  Yes, this really happened!  The most popular of these bands were Los Shakers (considered the South American Beatles) and Los Mockers (the Rolling Stones).  I’ll take Los Shakers any day, but that’s just me…

Seriously amigos, Uruguay has an amazing rock music scene.  Absolumente Psico Loco!

But that ain’t all.. there’s also progressive tango:

And a style of percussive music called Candombe, introduced by African slaves over 200 years ago, now entrenched in many modern styles, shaking the streets of Montevideo to a constant beat.  For their dedication to the ancient craft, this father/son duo takes the cake:

The Japanese music market is the second largest in the world (after Romania, of course).  While the Japanese listen almost exclusively to their own artists, we on these shores are left unaware of the immense sound spectrum that colour the 6,852 islands of the rising sun.  It’s time to go exploring, and this time we guarantee an hour-long escape of countless musical tangents.

The ancient art of Shamisen shredding!

Synchronized thunderclaps!

The beautiful surge of Japanese Postrock!

Complete 酷いing madness!

…and many more surprises on this week’s soundblast.

wander in rhythm

Been to Mozambique lately?  We haven’t either, but we shant be afraid of dropping in headfirst to hear what stirs .  As a former Portuguese colony and current African swinger, the music from Mozambique (Mozic) packs the potential for serious booty-quakin’ groovosity.

The Mozic industry came of age in the slick ’70s, when the country gained independence and were freed from their need to mimic European styles – which the Conjunto Night Stars do very skillfully in this occupation-era relic:

Mozic began borrowing more heavily from the folk styles of neighboring Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia to fashion sonic landscapes they could call their own.  Marrabenta dance music was born:

And then there’s Timbila, an ancient style of music played by an orchestra  of 5 to 30 wooden xylophones (called mbilas), and considered (composition-ally speaking) to be the most intricate sounds found among preliterate people:

The straight facts:

Maybe it’s just me, but this man’s wild performance generates more chills than a stadium-explosion guitar solo ever could:

This and many more far flung sonic sculptures on this week’s program, including subtle shades of Breggae and Japa-Jazz.

Holy daze or not, we have a great show for you this Easter Monday.  At long last, we will be exploring the molten music emanating from the Czech Republic (they tried, but Czechia didn’t stick).  These are special humans.

a giant metronome looms over downtown Prague
keeping the people of Czech in lockstep

Bohemian rock is ridiculously rich in complexity.. It somehow achieves the delicate balance between raw creative energy and focused intent.  No band straddles this line more skillfully than Plastic People of the Universe, who battled the repressive Communist regime for nearly two decades with a relentless assault of sonic fury, eventually triumphing over monotony and becoming the leaders of Prague’s underground culture.

Už Jsme Doma are just as wildly inventive, and even more punk:

..and introducing the next generation of super freaks: