Monday August 7
SPECIAL: In conjunction with the August Mali feature, Global Village marks the birthday of acclaimed ngoni player Bassekou Kouyate. We’ll hear him as a leader, and as a special guest with Ali Farka Toure, Roswell Rudd, Oumou Sangare, Leni Stern, Taj Mahal, Regina Carter, and more. Kouyate is also the featured artist in this month’s Global Village at the Savannah Music Festival show later this month.
Tuesday August 8
SPECIAL: Global Village marks the birthday of English folk guitar great John Renbourn, with solo and group music he did under his own name, with Pentangle, and with his bandmate in Pentangle, Bert Jansch.
Wednesday August 9
SPECIAL: Global Village marks South Africa’s National Women’s Day. Now a public holiday in that country, it commemorates the anniversary of an event that took place on August 9, 1956, when 20,000 women of all races took to the streets to protest the country’s pass laws. Global Village highlights music from a number of female South African performers including Miriam Makeba, Bhusi Mhlongo, the Mahotella Queens, the Afrika Mamas, and Brenda Fassie.
Thursday August 10
SPECIAL: Global Village marks World Lion Day, an effort to support conservation and other efforts to help the world’s dwindling wild lion population, with a show devoted to lion songs from around the world. We’ll hear selections from reggae greats Burning Speak and Bob Marley & the Wailers, taiko drum group KODO, South African artists Miriam Makeba, the ‘Lion of Soweto’ Mahlathini with the Mahotella Queens, and Solomon Linda’s ‘30s song that became an international hit.
Friday August 11
This time in the Global Village, we feature music from the Silkroad Ensemble which brought together musicians from across Asia, the Middle East and Europe and combined a variety of musical styles around the world with western classical music and more. We’ll hear a popular song, a traditional Chinese piece, and a composition featuring Persian music master Kayhan Kalhor. Also on tap some reggae-flavored sounds from multi-instrumentalist Curt Ramm, Balkan music from Bucharest’s Balkan Taksim, and contemporary afrobeat from Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band and the Warsaw Afrobeat Orchestra.
