Zoë Street Howe attends Iceland’s You Are In Control digital / music conference and Rettir music festival for a blast of clean air, bright sparks and fresh thinking
Archive for the Features Category
In 2001, Argentinian songwriter and producer Gaby Kerpel released his d?©but album Carnabailito; a fusion of Argentine folklore and electronica. Some eight years later, he returns under the neo-cumbia pseudonym of King Coya
Idir, a musical superstar hailing from Algeria is credited as being one of forces behind the surge of urban ra?Ø music. Moroccan Chaabi singer Najat Aatabou has changed the face of Moroccan music with her powerful lyrics and compositions in both French and English. We caught up with both artists recently to speak about their trip to America
Continue reading A Night in the Maghreb – Idir and Najat Aatabou at Lincoln Center
Veteran German pianist Joachim K?ºhn is not the first free-jazz artist to look to North Africa for inspiration — sax legend Archie Shepp recorded with Algerian and Tuareg musicians at the Pan African Festival — but to find such an electric collaboration between two such distinct musical worlds is exciting
Continue reading Joachim Kuhn/Majid Bekkas/Ramon Lopez – Out of the Desert
The tragic loss of Edwin Dyer’s life has shone a wholly unwanted light on the northern, desert region of Mali. It’s an area known to music fans for great bands like Tinariwen and amazing festivals like the Festival au Desert. We asked Tinariwen’s manager and regular visitor to the region to respond to the dreadful news of British tourist Edwin Dyer’s execution
Mauricio Pacheco’s passion for Angolan music has flowered into a wonderful album of reinterpretations of classic Angolan tunes by the cutting edge of Brazil’s underground scene
Continue reading Comfusoes – from Angola to Brasil with Producer Mauricio Pacheco
Like Manu Chao, who they recently supported, Peyoti for President is a political act expressed through globe hopping musical adventures. Named after a drug-induced dream for a better society, Peyoti for President is the brainchild of Pietro Dimascio
Louise Gray, the music correspondent for the New Internationalist, has written the most thought-provoking and enjoyable exploration of this whole ‘world music’ thing. She tells Fly what led her to write a book unlike any other on this subject
Continue reading Louise Gray – The No-Nonsense Guide to World Music
Hidden down an alley in the old Inca capital of Cusco, there lies a small, unpretentious museum lined with strange, forgotten instruments. It is the modest front of a unique foundation working to preserve the traditional music of Per??.
“When I improvise I am playing notes and rhythms, but it is what is behind the notes and rhythms where the music is found.” Rebirthing the cool in the 21st century, Jesse Lewis is flipping the script on jazz for a whole new generation.
The recent passing of Cuban bassist Orlando “Cachaíto” Lopez reminds us how he paved the way for the future of the island’s sounds
