Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino Pizzica Indiavolata

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS) can be rightly considered a cultural institution in Italy, and particularly in southern Italy. Formed in 1975 by the writer Rina Durante, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino has released seventeen albums of traditional music from the Salento: the region of Italy instantly recognizable as the 'heel' of the Italian 'boot...' What the new generation of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino bring to the pizzica tradition is its profound melancholy, even when the music is at its whirling peak. Lee Blackstone listens to their 2012 release, Pizzica Indiavolata

RootsWorld Radio

The week of February 9th: On RootsWorld Radio #46, we'll listen to three challenging renaissance men from Cameroun and NY, explore a new recording of the classic Brazilian jazz of Black Orpheus, hear new roots from Guinea and Mali, and visit Denmark, Italy and Turkey along the way. Artists will include Francis Bebey, Barana Quintet, Helene Blum, Criolo, Vinicio Caposella, Sekouba Bambino, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Alexander Berne, Njacko Backo & Kalimba! Kalimba!, Nilson Matta, and Senem Diyici Mavi Yol Quartet On WAMU's Bluegrass Country in Washington D.C, CFUV in Victoria, B.C., RCFM in Spain and taintradio.org All broadcast times, links and more info at www.RootsWorld.org

Duo Lajunen & Oskala, Pelios, and Suvi Oskala

Finnish fiddler Suvi Oskala was busy last year, putting out three records on her own label. They are tied together by Oskala's artistic prowess even as they cross a number of musical boundaries. With fiddler Emilia Lajunen, she has made an album of duets called Tyttörinki. With Swedes Josefin Peters and Anna Lindblad, they have created the trio Pelios. Finally, as a soloist, Oskala offers some full-on experimentation on Soolo. Greg Harness goes from the ancient to the future with Suvi Oskala.

Sory Kandia Kouyaté La Voix de la Révolution

Was Sory Kandia Kouyaté the Bob Marley of Guinea? There certainly are some striking parallels between the lives and careers of the African singer and the reggae star. Both men were regarded in their home countries as more than popular musicians; to their admirers, they were inspiring figures who articulated a collective cultural consciousness that transcended, or at least aimed to transcend, societal and political divisions... Kouyaté and Marley, after becoming renowned and revered in their native lands, toured internationally, connecting with and thrilling diverse audiences who at least initially knew little about Mandinka traditions or Rastafarianism. And both men died young, Kouyaté at 44, Marley at 36. George de Stefano explores the music of La Voix de la Révolution, Sory Kandia Kouyaté.

Other recent reviews: Alexander Berne, US Juju: Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara, UK/Gambia Hedningarna, Sweden Sofrito, global Zani Diabate, Mali Admir Shkurtaj, Albania/Italy Bratsch, France/Gypsy Fanga and Maalem Abdullah Guinea, France/Morocco Royal Band De Thiès, Senegal Vusa Mkhaya, Zimbabwe Elina Duni Quartet Annbjørg Lien, Norway I Have My Liberty: Gospel Sounds From Accra, Ghana Iļģi, Latvia Aurelia, Belgium

Fanga and Maalem Abdullah Guinea Fangnawa Experience

There are at least a few reasons why Nigerian Afro-beat, arguably invented by the late Fela Kuti, and the trance music of Morocco’s Gnawa Brotherhood make for such a natural crossbreed: both styles have had festivals devoted to them in their respective home countries; they’ve also both had a certain degree of popularity away from home, so much so that they threaten to supersede their countries’ rich array of folk and popular musical styles; and the two forms are based in long, deep grooves, with an emphasis on call and response vocals. No doubt, the fact that Gnawa and Afro-beat are easy for a westerner to get with musically has cemented their popularity far outside of Africa’s borders. Yet, while Gnawa belongs to continuing generations of Afro-Moroccans whose roots go back to the days when the North African nation brought them up from Mali as slaves, Afro-beat, which had its heyday in the 1970s, found itself all but finished as a popular style until the likes of non-Nigerian ensembles, such as Antibalas, started rooting their grooves in its determined, baritone sax-based threat. In fact, Fanga is from France, which, thanks to ideas hatched at Montpellier’s Detours de Monde festival, is how Maalem Abdullah Guinea, who is descended from a long line of Gnawa musicians, and his band found themselves in the company of a musical style originally founded and popularized south and east of them some 40 years ago. And quite frankly it fits like a well loved, cowrie shell-covered robe... Bruce Miller experiences Fangnawa

Frigg Polka V

You can roughly divide Scandinavian folk music in two categories: acoustic and electric; but the Finnish instrumental group Frigg blurs the line, melding the two, adding its own electricity to acoustic-based music. Frigg might be considered a second-generation group, following the path blazed by of the big fiddle band JPP – itself a step removed from the rustic folk musicians of old. The band was incubated in today’s folk music departments at universities; they were not the product of wedding dancefloors. The four-fiddle-fronted band plays with fire, speed and passion, but the members’ collective playing is precise even at hyperspeed. Marty Lipp finds a recording of brilliance, contagious energy and a real sense of fun.

Vinicio Capossela Rebetiko Gymnastas

"After the sea, comes the port." That's how the brilliant, and brilliantly idiosyncratic Italian singer and songwriter Vincio Capossela describes the relationship of his latest album, Rebetiko Gymnastas, to its predecessor, Marinai, Profeti e Baleni (Sailors, Prophets and Whales). The earlier recording, released in 2011, was a dazzling fantasia about seafaring and exploration (both nautical and spiritual) that filled two disks. Its successor is a deceptively more modest work, thirteen tracks (and one "ghost" the listener has to wait for) arranged and performed as rebetiko, the hybrid genre of Greek and Ottoman folk styles that emerged in the 1930s in Hellenic port cities and their working class taverns, hashish dens, and prisons... George de Stefano listens again to the work of this modern genius of Italy.

World Music Charts Europe

The WMCE is a once-a-month chart compiled from the reports of world music radio specialists from twenty four European countries.   This month's top artists include Staff Benda Bilili, Frigg, Warsaw Village Band and the The Toure-Raichel Collective. See who is on the air, over there.

MORE ARTICLES AND REVIEWS

Review archive Markku Ounaskari, Samuli Mikkonen, Per Jørgensen Amina Alaoui, Albania Sory Kandia Kouyaté, Guinea Radio Jarocho, US Chicha Libre, US/Peru Francis Bebey, Cameroun Orchester Super Borgou De Parakou Ensemble Polaris, Canada Deux Accords Diront, Belgium Radio Jarocho, US Chicha Libre, US/Peru Accordion Samurai / Tref, Belgium Ry Cooder, US New tango on three new CDs, Argentina Staff Benda Bilili, D.R. Congo Amina Alaoui, Morocco/global Hekla Stålstrenga, Norway Hoven Droven / Triakel, Sweden Sarah Aroeste, US

Interview archive Sauti Sol, Kenya (audio interview) Mauro Durante Attwenger Svøbsk Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino Just a Band Geoff Berner Juan de Marcos González Steve Riley Väsen Makana Ellis Deolinda Frode Haltli and Trygve Seim Tab Benoit Caroline Herring, Claire Holley and Kate Campbell Annbjørg Lien

Audio Specials AcquAria Sacha Silva Ian Blake, Tigran Aleksanyan, Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Andrew Cronshaw Three Metre Day Habbadám