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Around the World

Pakistani Surf Rock? A New Archives Compilation Catches That Surprising Wave

Radiodiffusion Surf's up, Islamabad! Hang 10, Lahore! Catch a wave, Karachi! Uh.... ... Read More »

Sway Machinery and Khaira Arby Bridge West Africa and West Side of Manhattan

Jeremiah Lockwood had to keep reminding himself where he was one night last fall. He and his bandmates in the group the Sway Machinery were mingling with Malian singer Khaira Arby and her band. ... Read More »

Kodo at 30: Still Beating the Big Drum for Japanese Culture -- Even Sans Big Drum

The o-daiko – a giant drum weighing in at nearly 900 pounds – is what everyone comes for at a Kodo performance, as inevitable as it is thunderous. ... Read More »

An Irishman in Tokyo: Johnsons Motorcar's Celtic Rock Shines in the Rising Sun

If you're looking for a big St. Patrick's Day celebration this year, head to that magic, mythic isle: Honshu. ... Read More »

Ladysmith Black Mambazo's New Album Revives Childhood 'Zulu Farm' Memories

One key one is of the song 'Uthekwane,' telling the story of a narcissistic bird. It's one of the songs featured on 'Live From a Zulu Farm,' the new album by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. ... Read More »

2011's First Trend? It May Be Indie Labels Going Global on a World Music Trek

Sarah Weeden Is Bamako the new Brooklyn? Garifuna the new grunge? Front-porch sessions in Rwanda ... Read More »

Jake Shimabukuro, an Un-Hawaiian Ukulele Virtuoso, Is Finding His Hawaiian Side

Jake Shimabukuro may be the most acclaimed musician to come from the state of Hawaii since, well, it's been a state. So where's Hawaii in his music? ... Read More »

Best World Music Albums of 2010

A project 14 years in the making, an artist who gathered force at home for two decades before finally getting international exposure ... ... Read More »

Indian Team EarthSync Re-Landscapes Sufi Devotional Singers for 'Nagore Sessions'

EarthSync Not long after the 2004 tsunami devastated much of India's Tamil Nadu along the Bay of ... Read More »

'The Sound of Siam' Takes a Wild Trip to Thailand's Musical Leftfield

Soundway Recordings Even the most dedicated, knowledgeable, global-minded music nut every now and ... Read More »

Los Van Van Revisit US From Cuba With Hopes for No Protest Sideshows

Something very exciting is expected to happen when Los Van Van kick off their first US tour in nine years with shows at Los Angeles' Conga Room on Dec. 2 and 3: ... Read More »

Marc Ribot Makes Classical Musician Case for Haitian Guitarist Frantz Casseus

Marc Ribot, a musician with a voracious appetite for Caribbean sounds, would strike up conversations with Haitian-born cab drivers about such things as he navigated around his hometown of New York. ... Read More »

Gigi Sings Hope Songs for Ethiopia -- With Hopes for a Homecoming

The singer known as Gigi is trying to make plans to return to her native Ethiopia for the first time since 1997, hoping to play a concert on Jan. 7 – the Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas. ... Read More »

Ranjit Barot Lights His Indian Fusion Fuse With John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain

Ranjit Barot had been born in England but moved to his family's native India in the late 1960s when he was 10. By any standards, it was a time of rich experience, at least musically. ... Read More »

Ian Brennan's Rwanda Music Search Literally Finds the Good Ones

Ian Brennan was sitting outside a house in Kigali, Rwanda one July night in 2009. Out of the shadows appeared two young men, holding something between them. ... Read More »

'AfroCubism' Circles Back to Complete Buena Vista's Cuba-Mali Connection

Christina Jaspars There wasn't a lot of talking in Madrid's Studio Sonoland on a day near the end ... Read More »