Monday, November 29
The final Monday of every month, it’s Global Village at the Savannah Music Festival, a monthly concert series showcasing top world music artists and groups who have appeared at the prestigious annual event that takes place each spring in Savannah, Georgia.
This time, in conjunction with the November Saxophone Month feature, it’s the popular Romanian Roma brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia. The band’s first major tour and debut album in the late ‘90s paved the way for Balkan brass bands on the international stage. They remain among the most successful of the brass ensembles, topping the world music charts, touring internationally, and appearing in several films. The band celebrated its 25th anniversary with the release of the new album, It Wasn’t Hard to Love You.
Tuesday, November 30
It’s Giving Tuesday and Global Village devotes the entire show to songs in the spirit of the day. We’ll hear selections from the Playing for Change series, The Same Heart soundtrack, Bob Marley, Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band, and more. Started in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation, Giving Tuesday hopes to encourage charitable donations in the spirit of the holiday season.
Wednesday, December 1
Global Village marks World AIDS Day in a special show devoted to the world music side of the “Red Hot” releases, a series of some two dozen recordings in a variety of styles that benefit the Red Hot Foundation. Since it began in 1989, the Red Hot series has involved some 400 hundred international artists and raised millions of dollars for AIDS education and prevention programs around the world. Among the artists featured on the show are João Gilberto, Tony Allen, Los Lobos, David Byrne, and Salif Keita.
Thursday, December 2
Global Village devotes this special show to the first inductees into the Transglobal World Music Chart Music Hall of Fame. TWMC is a group of music critics and radio hosts from around the world who collaborate each month on a world music new releases chart and share information and resources to bring the best of world music to their audiences. Global Village was among the judges for this first annual event, honoring significant living artists, industry and media excellence, and major figures who have passed through the In Memoriam category. This special edition of Global Village features selections from all the musicians honored this time. For the full list and more about the TWMC, visit http://www.transglobalwmc.com/
Friday, December 3
It’s New Month/New Music time in the Global Village. Each month, Global Village devotes the entire show to the best of recently released and forthcoming world music albums. Among the highlights this time:
- Two impressive compilations from the ‘70s – one featuring pioneering Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi and the other with classic unreleased Ghanaian highlife from the Essiebons label
- The return of Swedish folk-rock band Hoven Droven
- Quirky Estonian nu-folk from Puuluup
- New Mediterranean music from Molo Sayat
- The lively horns and percussion sounds of A Espetacular Charanga do França
- And two new holiday releases – Los Asesinos’ inventive Latin jazz take on holiday classics and contemporary Hannukah songs from Sarah Aroeste
