October 22, 2024
Fabric of Life Listening Post 383. In the same way that many people chant and pray in ancient languages they don’t fully understand, so are connoisseurs of world music often inspired by secular songs in languages they have never studied. With Dobet Gnahoré’s seventh...
June 8, 2023
Shining Star Listening Post 372. Many of West Africa’s leading musicians are from griot families, the celebrated hereditary caste of poet-musician-storytellers that has been a fixture of the region’s culture for centuries. But behind the griot mystique are the...
October 13, 2021
Into the Rainbow Listening Post 322. The magic in The Wizard of Oz begins when a tornado wrenches Dorothy from her home in sepia-toned Kansas and drops her into a Technicolor universe. Something similar happens with Couleur (Color), Dobet Gnahoré’s sixth album, an...
April 21, 2020
Home Away from Home Listening Post 249. Iko Iko is a much-covered song about the collision of two Mardi Gras Indian tribes. On their second album, the Haitian ensemble Lakou Mizik reworks it as Iko Kreyòl, leaving the cryptic chorus intact but applying new verses...
April 2, 2019
Song of Songs Listening Post 195. Idan Raichel reshaped Israel’s music landscape, integrating Middle Eastern, Ethiopian and Latin sounds and taking his band, The Idan Raichel Project, onto the world stage. He has notably performed at a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in...
