Coming Soon Archives

March 2010: Women in World Music: A Celebration for Women’s History Month

In honor of Women’s History Month, Global Village will focus on women in world music. While women are still only slowly making their way into musical careers in many parts of the world, they have become important ambassadors for their homes and musical cultures in others. Miriam Makeba was a pioneer and one of South Africa’s most revered artists. Cesaria Evora almost single-handedly brought the sounds of Cape Verde to audiences around the world. Oumou Sangare is widely recognized not only as one of Mali’s most important artists, but an key voice for the concerns of women in her country and around the world. Gal Costa and Maria Bethania were important figures in Brazilian tropicalia, while artists like Marisa Monte and Bebel Gilberto head up a new generation of singers from that country. And the fame of Portuguese fado has spread around the world thanks largely to electrifying performers like Mariza. Global Village highlights both the great and the emerging female artists in world music throughout the entire month of March.

February 2010: Music of Haiti

The recent tragic events in Haiti have focused new attention on the conditions, history, and politics of this devastated country. But while Haiti is poor economically, it has long been rich culturally and nowhere is this more evident than in its music. Like every culture in the world, Haiti’s is a reflection of the different peoples who found themselves thrown together, sharing, influencing and combining traditions to create unique new forms specific to the place and time. To the traces of the original indigenous culture of the island were added the influences of the European colonizers and the African slaves they brought to work on the sugar, tobacco and coffee plantations that made the French-controlled western side of Hispaniola ‘the pearl of the Antilles’ - the most prosperous revenue-producing colony in the Caribbean until a revolt made Haiti instead the first independent black nation in the world.

These influences played out over time in music as well, creating a unique blend of African rhythms and European society dances - particularly a slower Haitian form of meringue, related to the music of the same name across the island in the Dominican Republic. A further Latin influence came from nearby Cuba with its rich, well-traveled and popular sounds. A final ingredient in modern Haitian music arrived with the U.S. occupation from 1915 to 1934 which brought with it American big band jazz.

These coalesced in a driving new mix of jazz, Haitian and Cuban music called kompa, a popular urban style pioneered in the ‘50s by two major Haitian artists, Nemours Jean-Baptiste and his rival Webert Sicot. In the ‘60s, the popular British invasion and rock sounds of the day helped spawn a new fusion called mini-jazz.

The ‘80s and ‘90s saw further developments, including the ‘new generation’ bands who added Brazilian, Congolese and other influences - roots music groups who combined the rhythms of voodoo and the Lenten rara music with the sounds and politics of Bob Marley and modern rock musicians - and Haitian rap and ragga performers. It was music that not only drew on many different styles and sources - but often came from many different places, as the repressive Duvalier regime forced people into exile in New York, Montreal, Paris and Miami, where new Haitian communities - and new Haitian bands - took root.

Strangely - or perhaps not, given the country’s history and meaning in the world - all this remarkable, complex, and diverse music has made very little impression outside the Haitian community. Even world music circles have paid little attention to Haitian sounds and artists and it is possible to count on one hand the number of international releases featuring any of this work. Perhaps the current crisis will change many things about Haiti, including awareness of its culture. We invite you to discover some of it as we feature the music of Haiti throughout February on Global Village.

January 2010: The Best of 2009

We kick off the New Year with a look back at the old one, highlighting the best world and roots titles of 2009. For the first two weeks of the month, we’ll feature rebroadcasts of the Global Village Top 30 Shows of 2009, which focus on the best new releases from February through November of the year. For the rest of the month, we continue to highlight our picks for Best of the Year while beginning to explore some of the new releases of 2010 - including some that may just wind up on the Best of the Year list twelve months down the road.

December 2009:  New Release House Cleaning and Holiday Sounds

Global Village wraps up the year by catching up on the best new releases of the last quarter of 2009. Then as the month closes out, Global Village will “deck the halls” with seasonal sounds from all around the world, from traditional tunes done world music style to seasonal songs from around the world. For information about our picks for best new holiday releases of the year, check out the Global Village playlist for 12.4.09 or the 12.16 Music Roundup.