Niger is quickly becoming a new hotbed (up to 40ºC) for innovative African music. Explore fresh Nigerien sounds on this sandstream:
Among the many grooves, a song from the soundtrack to the first ever feature film in the Tuareg language – an improbable remake of Prince’s Purple Rain (and not only because there is no word for purple in Tuareg):
Stream the first hour’s global mix here:
Tis the season of growing darkness ’round these parts, so let’s celebrate with strange and sinister sounds that go bump and bloop in the night. Scary music is also strangely danceable, so feel free to move (or remove) your limbs as you get down to the sounds of Italian disco, doom cumbia, Kenyan vampiric dancehall, and vibrations of indescribable terror!
La Gallera Social Club @ Vancouver Folk Festival. Twin brother attack!
La Gallera Social Club are one of the freshest bands to hit my ears and eyes in quite some time. Incorporating many deep Afro-Latin rhythms from the Caribbean coast of Venezuela with the aesthetic of ’60s psych meets time-warped EDM. Más bueno que comer con los dedos!!
Hear an exclusive interview with Alexis Romero, guitarist/vocalist of La Gallera Social Club, RIGHT HERE, por favor.
Palagan Village, Iran/Kurdistan
National boundaries can be messy, temporary creatures. Towards the north of the Middle East, there is an ethnic group numbering over 25 million that spill over the borders of four nations, estranged by all of their governments. The fall of the Ottoman Empire nearly 100 years ago and subsequent divisions left the Kurdish people without a land to call their own – but the dream of a free and independent Kurdistan has never faded.
The current conflict between ISIS (or ISIL, or now often called Daesh – which is more derogatory) and the ruling regimes of Syria and Iraq holds lasting implications for the future of Kurdistan, and the Kurdish people (equipped with their own army) have thus far been very successful in driving the extremists from their land. The borders may yet shift again.
Swingin’ in the ’70s, Iraqi Kurdistan
Music has been the glue that held Kurdistan together through a century of struggle. It’s high time to acknowledge the sublime sounds of hope that the Kurdish have conjured over this dark era. (Heck, Kurdistan even has a pop star). Let music light the way!
Dear far out friends,
Even though posts on this site have been infrequent, the Wandering Rhythms weekly radio show has never missed a beat. Recent trips through the soundscapes of North Korea, North Ireland, Dominican Republic, and the Cook Islands have kept me inspired in this weekly journey of ever-changing musicians.
But this is something personal, the project that has been my other musical obsession for the past two years. This band is the embodiment of the music I like to play most on this show; a wild multicultural mashup of styles that never settle into a single rhythm. We are nine musicians from Mexico, Russia, and Canada that play progressive latin music, jumping from dub to rock, funk to reggaeton, but always settling back into cumbia. We are Mngwa, and we call our music Vancumbia.
Here is our first music video, shot entirely on Kingsway, home to many immigrant communities and also the oldest strip in Vancouver:
And here is our debut record, the first ever Wandering Rhythms production.
WANDERING RHYTHMS RADIO 