Yalla Boom!

Cape Town, RSA – Building on the idea that "niche doesn't necessarily mean small", entrepreneur Catherine Lückhoff is currently in the midst of creating a niche oriented music streaming service to cater to the more particular musical demands of like-minded individuals across the globe. While streaming juggernauts the likes of Spotify, Pandora or more recently Apple Music fail to take full advantage of such often overlooked, yet equally important segments of [...]

Earlier this year, Israeli multi-instrumentalist and genuine jack of all trades Ophir Kutiel, better known under his alias Kutiman, joined forces with the British Council and digital arts platform The Space to literally mix the city, by creating a highly entertaining, interactive composition, inviting users to re-arrange the sounds of Tel Aviv. In the spirit of his ThruYOU YouTube mix series Kutiman gathers 12 musicians from Tel Aviv's vibrant musical [...]

World Music pathfinder Gilles Peterson recently presented a new short film, documenting the recording of London-based and part-Kenyan Owiny Sigoma Band's upcoming third album project "Nyanza", to be released on Brownswood Recordings the end of August.

Five years in, London brothers Louis (bass) and Jesse Hackett (vox/keys) along with their school friend Tom Skinner (drums) originally got together with the two elderly, masterful Luo musicians Joseph Nyamungu [...]

These ‘crazy souls’ can definitely hold their drink. Watching their latest video, it’s almost like we’ve all been there before and can relate to some extent. After a booze-tinged night on the town, a raucous band of friends meets back at their neighbourhood bar in the wee morning hours to keep the spirits high and see their buddy off in worthy, celebratory fashion. “Kenavo Narvalo”, or ‘goodbye crazy one’, is the latest track by this [...]

Straight from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s vibrant capitol Kinshasa, comes this new supergroup made up of street legends ‘Coco’ Ngambali and ‘Theo’ Nsituvuidi, formerly of Staff Benda Bilili, who teamed up with Irish producer Liam Farrell (i.e. Tony Allen “Black Voices”), alias Doctor L, to form Mbongwana Star and release their debut album “From Kinshasa” via World Circuit Records (i.e. Buena Vista Social Club, Fatoumata Diawara). [...]

Two years ago, in the summer of 2013, the American Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, TV on the Radio) and his Italian wife Marilena Delli, a documentarian and photographer herself, embarked on an impressive journey to the southeast African country of Malawi to realise a musical human rights project in the local Zomba prison. The two had previously travelled to other countries including Rwanda, South Sudan, Palestine, Nairobi and Algeria in search [...]