One week after the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, Groove Collective hosted a benefit concert for the continuing relief efforts within the country, proving that "l'union fait la force".
Congratulations, New York Gypsy Festival! This year marks the festival's fifth anniversary, and AIR's Jeannie Hopper talks with festival organizer Mehmet Dede about the growing popularity of the genre.
AIR's Jeannie Hopper with Scott Kettner of the Brooklyn-based Nation Beat whose music is inspired by the Afro-Brazilian rhythms of maracatu, Chico Science & the Mangue Beat movement of Recife, Brazil as well as New Orleans second-line funk and jazz.
AIR's Jeannie Hopper speaks with Mehmet Dede, co-producer of Istanbulive:The Sounds & Colors of Turkey, and musicians Sertab Erener and Demir Demirkan, whose project Painted on Water is featured in the festival.
Charles Hutagalung was an illustrious Indonesian singer/song writer and member of the legendary Indonesian 70s pop band The Mercy's. The following selections are from his album Flower Sound, a collection of Malayan songs dating back to the 60s.
Keroncong is a genre of Indonesian music with a great deal of influence by the Portuguese, who dominated Southeast Asia in the late 1500s, and introduced to the local culture their indigenous styles and western elements Mariati is one of the masters.
A national hero to the Garifuna people of Belize, Andy Palacio preserved the roots of their rhythm and language through his musical creations. Listen here for a tribute to this influential artist who passed away in January 2008.
For the 2007 Venice Biennale, as part of a virutal pavilion/broadcast project, producer Lucy Simanjuntak created a compilation that features traditional and contemporary songs from the islands of Indonesia.
From the Indonesian island of Roti, Sasandu creates sounds using only instruments constructed of bamboo and coconut leaves. The recording is from the collection of the long-lost Tokyo-based King Record Company and is no longer findable except here.
Besides presenting music by master timbalero Jimmy Delgado and by the Spanish Harlem orchestra, Latin music expert Ned Sublette also makes sure you hear El Gran Combo, Chamaco Ramírez singing with Tommy Olivencia, and the young Gilberto Santa Rosa.
