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The cliché about a catchy song: "It's got a good beat, you can dance to it." But things get more complicated when the beat is all there is to it. Two recent albums put the percussion front and center: Batterie, from Loop 2.4.3, and Global Drum Project, with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and tabla master Zakir Hussain.
Tose Proeski sang pop ballads in many different languages, helping bridge political divides.
Hear the reggae legends perform a concert from WXPN and World Café Live in Philadelphia.
October 11, 2007 · The Parrots are the Japanese version of The Beatles, and almost everything about them references the band, including their clothes, the venue they play, and their accents.
October 22, 2007 · The sounds of Eastern European music is spreading abroad. The group Man Man, from the eastern U.S. city of Philadelphia, is one band getting its influence from the countries of the former communist bloc.
October 8, 2007 · The Spam Allstars are generating a buzz in the music business for their rhythmic mixtures of electronica, Latin, funk, hip-hop and dub. And the band members are just as diverse as the music they groove to. The Spam Allstars share their music as well as their inspiration. Web Extra: Hear Songs by the Spam Allstars
September 29, 2007 · At the University of Pennsylvania, a cappella singing can be as serious as the academics. The 15-man group Penn Masala has been a campus standout, spreading its a cappella fusion of Eastern and Western music well beyond campus borders.
October 18, 2007 · Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru is the first album of Chicha music released outside of Peru. The unique music style grew out of the booming cities of the Peruvian Amazon in 1970 and incorporates surf guitars, synthesizers and distinctive melodies.
October 17, 2007 · Tose Proeski, one of the most popular musicians in the Balkans, has died, and people all over the former Yugoslavia are mourning him. Born in Macedonia in 1981, Proeski represented his country in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.
October 21, 2007 · On The New Bossa Nova, Brazilian singer Luciana Souza makes a daring move, infusing pop classics by the likes of Joni Mitchell and The Beach Boys with the sultry, shifting rhythms of bossa nova. Web Extra: Hear songs from the new CD
September 6, 2007 · Opera star Luciano Pavarotti is dead, but he leaves behind a legacy of beautiful music. He was the most famous opera singer in the world, but he also enjoyed collaborating with rock and R&B; stars such as Bono, James Brown and Sting.
August 27, 2007 · On Lumiere, Bob Brozman is the orchestra. He plays the National Tricone, charango, ukulele, baritone guitar and, well, everything else. Brozman has spent decades traveling and collaborating with musicians all over, which he synthesizes into his own music. Web Extra: Hear the Music
August 26, 2007 · South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, but he spent much of his life in exile. With inspiration from Duke Ellington and others, Ibrahim's sound became more deeply rooted in Africa. Today, few living composers can match his melodic inventiveness.
August 21, 2007 · Spain has a great, deep history, but much of its music is largely unknown globally. There's flamenco, of course, but that's only one facet in a more complex picture — a picture that's slowly changing.
September 4, 2007 · Modiba Records is a small record company that raises and distributes funds to the areas their recording artists are from. Their first album, ASAP: The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project, has raised over $140,000 to fund humanitarian groups working on the ground in Darfur. Members of the company talk about their approach to fundraising, and about their latest album by Vieux Farka Toure.
Hear an eclectic mix of ten concert specials recorded live at Disney Hall in Los Angeles.
From member station WXPN, host David Dye welcomes acts from the worlds of blues, rock, folk and alternative country.
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