Son Palenque

Yes, dear friends. Playing the World Music Stage at Sziget Festival two weeks ago was an absolute blast. Take this Facebook video for instance of the Jewish Monkeys engaging their crowd in some intense physical activity. Talk about authority.

In any case the band has just announced new Germany shows coming up in late September, early October. The Jewish Monkeys will be playing a string of shows in Wiesbaden, Konstanz, Mannheim, Viechtach, Frankfurt (am Main) [...]

Let's set things straight: We love the increased attention African artists have been receiving in recent years, especially on the global club circuit. Many a newish afrofusion genre is currently being concocted in studios across the world, by combining traditional African elements with dancefloor styles originating mainly in the Western hemisphere. While some may be quick to emphasise that this is just another modern-day form of cultural appropriation and thus [...]

Thou shalt not judge a book by its cover. With records it's different though and so in this case we did, we trusted our gut feeling on this one and were rewarded with a once-in-a-lifetime album. Recently reissued via Marseille-based label Sudiphone in a limited edition of 500, this highly sought-after album by the three Moroccan brothers Mahmoud, Hassan and Younès Mégri, known as Les Frères Mégri, was first released in 1974. The band originally formed in [...]

Browsing through the world wide web, we chanced upon a downright hypnotic track by Tanzania's vocalist Msafiri Zawose, "one of the biggest slept-on musical forces from the region". A descendant of the Wagogo people, a Bantu-speaking, traditionally nomadic tribe inhabiting central Tanzania, "known for their musicality and made famous by Hukwe Zawose - Msafiri’s father, who toured the world as a part of Peter Gabriel’s Real World roster in the 80s and 90s", [...]

Once again, it is festival time in good ol' fortress Europe, as Hungary's well-established Sziget Festival takes center stage and our very own Jewish Monkeys perform on the jam-packed World Music Stage. After an already busy summer, including a raucous show at the Düsseldorf-based Asphalt Festival in July, the JMs are set to play their hearts out, alongside a well-nourished lineup of acclaimed as well as up-and-coming global players the likes of the Goran [...]

While this may not come as news to some of you, we just stumbled upon the amazing sound archive of The British Library, home to some "90,000 selected recordings of music, spoken word and human and natural environments" to be explored/streamed at will, if time permits. Among this vast collection is a segment dedicated to world and traditional music, "available for non-commercial research, study and private enjoyment".

Moving deeper into the proverbial thicket, [...]

It is a wild dream, unlike any other, textures of sound, part organic, part machine, layers upon layers of intricate audioscapes, evolving into a 20-minute soundtrack out of space and time, a journey to distant lands of sonic temptation. By now you may have realised that we are absolutely overwhelmed by the latest 8-track offering from internationally acclaimed producer and performer Cristiano Crisci, aka Clap! Clap!, "one of Italy's brightest new talents, [...]

Prolific Grammy-winning US record producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Zomba Prison Project, ZMEI3) is back at it again. For his latest Six Degrees Records-released project Brennan travelled to the remote Tanzanian inland island Ukerewe, accessible only by ferry and known as a refuge for people suffering from Albinism (a genetic condition marked by the complete or partial absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes).

"It is a sad and tragic fact that [...]

This is not the first time we have shared content via Latin American music and culture webzine/publisher Sounds and Colours. And, if you remember their Peruvian Folklore compilation, it is also not the first time we revisit Peru. On the occasion of today's Peruvian Independence Day, French 'musicologist' and DJ Boebis unveiled a new mixtape. Digging deep into Afro-Peruvian history Boebis' selection features tracks by artists, who consistently fought for the [...]

Spasibo is Russian for 'thank you' and it is thus befitting that we show our gratitude and appreciation to Saint Petersburg label Spasibo Records, who have taken it upon themselves to unearth and reissue a string of 45s hailing from the former Soviet Union.

Earlier this year, the Spasibo team released a limited 7" vinyl by the late "soviet rock composer, multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer (for former record label Melodiya)" Yuriy Morozov (1948-2006), [...]

Just recently we shared a post with you, covering the infamous Cut Chemist's exploration of record crates found in Cali, Colombia. Today, we return with another musical venture that also has its roots in Cali. Enter The Bongo Hop, a swingin' afro-caribbean project by Bordeaux-born/Lyon-based trumpetist, journalist, film maker, university teacher, DJ, and digger Etienne Sevet. Sevet spent eight years in Colombia as a Cali resident, where in 2003 he chanced [...]

Kicking off in Cologne on Monday (July 17, 2017) is part two of this year's LusAfro festival, curated by the likes of Daniel Haaksman, Francis Gay and José da Silva. The festival, promoting the musical and cultural exchange between artists from Portuguese-speaking 'lusophone' Africa (Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe) and Germany, enters stage two, as part of the Cologne-based Cosmo Radio's (formerly Funkhaus Europa) [...]