Bra damfo, it’s time to visit the West African nation that gave birth to one of the most danceable, funk-tastic styles of the 20th century.

The guitar-driven bounce of Highlife music quickly spread from Ghana throughout Africa, the Carribean, and eventually morphed into the Afrobeat monster that now shimmers and shakes the global booty.

This week’s program features, among other Ghanian delights, the sounds of the golden era of Highlife, the thunderous percussive music that came before it, and that far-out groovy sound that all the kids are talking about: Hiplife.  Did I just make that up: Nope.

Also on the show: Electro-Cumbia from Argentina.  Combining Andean folk music with computers and cumbia works amazingly well… This song in particular is sure to sound like something you’ve never heard before:

Groove Sinister, dear friend.

We are exploring the sweet sounds of Fiji on this week’s program.  A beautiful mix of Indian and Polynesian influences break upon the shores of these islands.  And then this kava drinkin’ rebel shows up to crash the party:

To boot, the first hour of the program features a segment on Afro-American punk.. a oft’ under-appreciated movement, even during Black History Month.

After a hundred years of hard work and countless facelifts, the oldest of modern technologies is finally getting its day in the sun.  Today, February 13th 2012, is the first annual World Radio Day.  It is a celebration as well as a chance to raise awareness about the role that radio continues to play in the modern world.  As a universal-access, community-oriented medium, radio is still relied upon to fill in the cracks that newer technologies fail to fill.  Read more at the Official Website of World Radio Day.

To commemorate World Radio Day, this week’s program will feature an hour of radio-themed and inspired music, while the second hour will present interviews with radio luminaries from around the planet.  Bless the low frequencies.

An action-packed episode of Wandering Rhythms will be manifesting itself today.  For the first hour, we will be joined in-studio for a live musical performance by long-running Vancouver folk figures the Tree Shepherds.  Their tunes will soothe and move effortlessly through you.

For the second hour, we will be teleported to Austria to discover what alpine punk music can do to your brain…  Mozart would be proud of his modern-day brethren.

Listen in this week for a chance to win a trip for 2 ears to visit the beautiful sonic shores of Pakistan.  Bathe in the radio waves and let the new sounds surround you.  Sample sweet Qawwali music, pulse-pounding Punjabi rap, lightning-fast progressive metal… and, well, you try and come up with a way of describing this song: