Leave a comment Posted on Africa, Music, North Africa

Warping Giant Afro-Beats

MiamideviceA full episode exploring sublime sounds inspired by and emanating from the African continent!  During the first hour, we are joined by sonic alchemist Brandon “Blocktreat” Hoffman, who guides us through the world of his darling Afrobeat monsters Miami Device.  Brandon discusses their upcoming show, trading cards, and debuts tracks from the as-yet-unreleased Miami Device remix album (stirring up their joyous 2012 LP Monopoly).

Stream part 1 of Wandering Rhythms HERE

For the second half of the show, our musical safari takes us to a land of many wonderful surprises, as we visit the North African sands of Algeria.  On Wandering Rhythms, we love when traditions diverge in unexpected new directions, and to this end Algeria offers a fascinating mix of regional styles that effortlessly blend with rock, hip hop, and blues that have found their way into the Algerian music scene mainly because of the close ties the country has had with France over the past two hundred years.

Kabyle rock, experimental Raï, Gnawa, classic hip hop, desert blues, folktronica, and more as we explore the spectrum of contemporary Algerian music..  Truly some of the most beautiful sounds on the planet.

Stream part 2, the Algerian Odyssey HERE

Algiers-Algeria

Leave a comment Posted on Carribean, South America

Mengen in de Netherworlds

On the northern edge of the Amazon rainforest lies a small nation of Dutch-speaking Asian and African voyagers who make swingin’ Indo-Caribbean music.  Nope, you can’t make this stuff up..

90% jungled since 20,000 BC

90% jungled since 50,000 BC

Welcome to Suriname, the land of alien toads and human experimentation.  With only half a million people in this former Dutch colony, the Surinamese have slipped under the international radar to become the most ethnically and religiously diverse nation in the Americas.

More than half the population is of Asian ancestry, coming mainly from North India and the Indonesian island of Java as contract workers over a hundred years ago.  The rest of the inhabitants are of mixed West-African descent, with a small minority of indigenous peoples (3.7%) still watching over the rainforest.  The Dutch seem to have disappeared almost completely, leaving behind their language and wooden shoes.

The greatest sonic blend of traditions is revealed in a wonderfully rhythmic style called Kaseko – a hybrid of early jazz music, calypso, and Creole drumming/chanting.  In other words, a pan-Caribbean groove monster!

Many influential Surinamese musicians (including Lieve Hugo — the undisputed king of Kaseko) went on to live and perform in Holland, spreading African rhythms further around the planet.  Truly mind-bending, the musical influence that Africans have had on other cultures over the past hundred years…

There is also very authentic Indian Classical music and Javanese Gamelan music being played in Suriname.  Yet the different ethnic groups remain relatively segregated in this country, and we are still waiting for Afro-Indian Gamelan funk-hop to emerge from the ether of Paramaribo.  But for now, some vintage Surinamese disco-funk:


Check out a great Surinamese music blog here.
Our weekly Global Mix here.
And our Suriname Special here.  –including classic Kaseko, 70’s rock, classic Indian folk, hip-hop, reggae, soul, and so on..

1 Comment Posted on Eastern Europe

The Slept-on Beauty of the Balkans

Her roommates get all the attention:  Serbia is known for its brass bands, Turkey, for its psych guitar-rockers, Romania, its gypsy folk music.. But Bulgaria (yes, she’s a lady– her middle name is Sofia) plays all of these styles with dignified grace.

Bulgarian history is amongst the richest in all of Europe

Bulgarian history is amongst the richest and most ancient in all of Europe

Oddly enough, the only internationally-known group from Bulgaria is a women’s choir (daringly named the Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir) whose album The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices was discovered by indie UK record label 4AD in 1986 (11 years after its original release) and unleashed into the global ear.  More albums and heroine addictions followed.  An unlikely story, but once you hear the sublime juxtaposition of angelic voices and dissonant harmonies, you’ll understand why Bulgarians are considered some of the best vocal-chordists of the human band:

Our sampling of Bulgarian sounds also features some blazing punk, classic rock ‘n roll, old school hip hop, new wave rumba, and the world’s most frenetic wedding band… they’ll have you puking on the dance floor in no time.

The Ivo Papasov Wedding Band. DO NOT touch his clarinet.

The Ivo Papasov Wedding Band. DO NOT touch his clarinet.

HEAR PART 1- THE GLOBAL MIX HERE

HEAR PART 2- THE BULGARIAN MIX HERE

Leave a comment Posted on Asia, Micronesia, Oceania

The Big World Band, and Kiribati: Aqualand

Bigworldband

Presenting ancient music of the future!  This week we are joined in the studio by musical mastermind John Oliver, composer and guitarist in Vancouver’s magically sublime Big World Band.  We discuss the inception of this renegade project, the balance between tradition and innovation, and the spectral journey into cultural cross-pollination.  John also presents live recordings from recent performances, describing how the songs were carved into existence.

Hear the interview here.

CATCH BIG WORLD BAND LIVE AT THE MASSEY THEATRE THIS SATURDAY!

Next, we take a trip to the Micronesian nation of Kiribati, a lovely scatter-shot of islands (atolls, to be precise) in the west central Pacific Ocean.  Kiribati’s days are numbered, as it will be one of the first countries to be swallowed up by rising sea levels.  I suppose Kevin Costner may be a prophet after all..

Kiribatiimage

But the music and people of Kiribati will live on (possibly in Fiji).  Unexplored by Europeans until 1892, Kiribati’s music is uniquely unaffected by external influence.  As far as we can tell, the i-Kiribati (strangest demonym ever – seemingly sponsored by Apple) have no traditional musical instruments.  But they discovered long ago that the bare body makes a thumpin’ percussion sound when combined with high-octane group chanting!  Hear this and some (slightly) more modern sounds in our musical ode to a Commonwealth brother.  On behalf of all Canadians, we would like to invite the displaced people of Kiribati to our polar opposite paradise.

Hear our feature on Kiribati here.