CD Pick of the Week: Vieux Farka Toure

Check out The Secret. Ali Farka Toure’s son stands on his own as a singer/songwriter/guitarist with a great African rock/blues style. Some great guest stars including dad, Dave Matthews, and John Scofield add extra interest. Powerful and stylish from start to finish. If you like blues, check out what our African brothers are doing with the genre. This is delicious and sophisticated stuff.

CD Pick of the Week: De Temps Antan


Totally loving this wonderful new CD from Quebecois band De Temps Antan. Les Habits de Papier features fun and happy folk music based on les pieds (a form of seated clogging unique to Quebec). Hot fiddles, sweet accordion and warm male vocals. Mostly upbeat and so cool. From members of Quebecois supergroup La Bouttine Souriante. Every track is delicious. It's joyous, infectious, and so much fun.

CD Pick of the Week: Salif Keita

Salif Keita's new release is a must-have for fans of Afro-pop. This Malian superstar has struggled his whole life against intolerance shown towards his albinism. In this release he sings about his life experiences as “a white man with black blood.” Featuring rhythmic guitar riffs and stylish kora groove plus his gorgeous voice set against a female chorus, this is all delicious.

Even better? All proceeds from the sale of this CD benefit his charity Salif Keita Pour Les Albinos which helps to combat the stigma that albinism has in Africa.

CD Pick of the week: Amira

Check out this week's CD Pick. Zumra by singer Amira Medunjanian and accordionist Merima Klujuco playing gorgeous Bosnian folk music. Amira has an angelic voice – rich, soaring, and passionate. The music is full of emotion and tradition yet is never boring or predictable. This duo can make you cry. Wonderful stuff, every track. Wildly evocative & dramatic. Holy cats!

CD Pick of the Week: The Chieftans and Ry Cooder


Multi-grammy winners (and elder statesmen of Irish music) the Chieftans team up with world music's favorite chameleon, Ry Cooder on San Patricio. As if that weren't enough, they include guests like Lila Downs and Linda Rondstadt, plus Liam Neeson doing the narration on one track. This release combines the music of Ireland and Mexico in a tribute to the little-known San Patricio Battalion, a group of Irish immigrants who deserted from the US Army to fight for Mexico in the Mexican-American War. This outstanding CD includes mariachi music backed by bagpipes, and Irish seafaring ballads with a touch of cancion guitar.

It's releases like this that make me so happy to be a world music DJ.

CD Pick of the Week: Christopher Tin

Calling All Dawns is a song-cycle in three parts (life, death, and rebirth) featuring some shiver-inducing music with guest stars like the Soweto Gospel Choir, opera star Frederica von Stade and Anonymous 4. 12 songs in 12 languages, united by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Knock-your-socks-off good. Seriously powerful.

CD Pick of the week: Rumel Fuents

As the world music director for KZSU, it's my job to listen to all the new world music CDs we get at the station. And because I listen to so much music, it's easy to get blase about it as an art form. It's not until something bops you over the head that you remember how much power music can have.

Rumel Fuentes Corridos of the Chicano Movement is a perfect example of how music can help change the world. Recorded during the late 1960s and early '70s, the 13 tracks on this release are all wonderful examples of the Tex-Mex style, featuring rancheras and waltzes backed by guitar. Fuentes has a warm, though obviously untrained voice, but it's full of passion and persuasion. The songs range from odes to heroes of the revolution (such as "Corrido de Cesar Chavez") to stories about people taking action ("Walk-Out En Crystal City") and songs that relate the history of Anglo domination (El Corrido de Reies Lopez Tierina). It's a powerful release that captures the anger and the determination of a race fighting for equality. Wonderful music.

CD PIck of the Week: Jazz Around the World

For any lover of world music, a new Putumayo compilation is always cause for a happy dance. This latest release does not disappoint. From established megastars such as Hugh Masekela to relative unknowns such as Chantal Chamberland (who does a dishy French version of the old Bobby Darren classic "The Sea") it's a CD that hits with every track. The most unexpected track is The Kora Jazz Trio doing the Latin jazz standard "Chan Chan" on African instruments. Wicked cool!

CD Pick of the Week: Warsaw Village Band, Infinity
Polish folk music played by mind-bendingly good musicians and infused with modern sensibilities and world influences. Wicked good throughout. Excellent strings and percussion plus vocals by what sounds like a group of sirens from hell (in a good way). Often dark and mysterious, always surprising and compelling. One of the best world discs of the year so far.

CD Pick of the Week: Chiwoniso
Check out Rebel Woman by Chiwoniso. This Zimbabwean/American artist is a delicious female vocalist & songwriter who is backed by mbira, guitars, percussion, horns and other wonderful sounds. Her voice is soulful, soaring, warm, lyrical and powerful and the music is fresh and captivating. Everything is so good. This one is delicious!

CD Pick of the Week: Acquaragia Drom
People, get this one. Rom Kaffe by the Italian band Acquaragia Drom. This is feisty Italian gypsy music featuring vocals, strings, horns, clarinet, accordion, and more. It’s crazy and fun, like the weirdest circus to ever come to town. You’ll peek through the shutters of your window as they pass through the streets, playing their music. And before you know it, you’ll be part of the parade. I liked every track, each one leads to some sort of surprise. These guys must be fabulous in concert.

CD Pick of the Week: Ayombe!
Ayombe! The Heart of Colombia's Musica Vallenata. Totally fresh and fabulous. Four types of music: puya (feat. lots of accordion), Merengue (upbeat & catchy), son (slower) and paseo (light & lively). Great performances throughout, you can’t go wrong with any track. Everything is SO good! Great notes too.

CD Pick of the Week: Gaelic Storm
You just gotta love What's the Rumpus?it's crazy-good wild Celtic music with energy and talent for days. Acoustic instruments, great vocals, and serious fun. Contagiously catchy, delicious lyrics (with a surreal sense of humor) and a slice of everything from African drums to Irish bagpipes. Every track is so good!

CD Pick of the Week: Tango Negro Trio
Cool and feisty Latin jazz and tangos from noted Argentinian singer/pianist/composer Juan Carlos Caceres. It’s sharp and sophisticated, extremely well played and with some delicious vocals as well with a husky, lived-in male voice.

CD Pick of the Week: Ba Cissoko
Electric Griot Land by Ba Cissoko, a Guinean singer/kora player backed by some cousins (equally talented) on percussion, balafon, bass, guitars, programming. Plus some sterling non-family guest stars. Wonderful music. Every track is worth at least one star. A fabulous blend of the Griot tradition and modern musical influences with lots of unexpected twists.

CD Pick of the Week: Johnny Whitehorse
Totemic Flute Chants was the 2008 Grammy Award-winner for Best Native American Music Album. Whitehorse is the alter-ego of Robert Mirabal, an extremely talented singer/songwriter/guitarist/flutist and one of my top two favorite Native American performers. This blend of flute, keyboard, tribal drums and vocals celebrates our animal spirit guides. Beautiful music, ranging from meditative to quietly powerful.
(For the record, I'm an owl. Husband is definitely coyote.)

CD Pick of the Week: Kat Parra
Stylish, sexy Latin jazz from a local vocalist with an all-star band that includes percussionist John Santos, Ray Vega on trumpet, and Wayne Wallace on trombone. Her new release Azucar de Amor showcases her warm, delicious voice, effortless style, and engaging way of phrasing things. Several tracks are non-Latin tunes given a fresh (and colorful) coat of paint. Great stuff, one star each track. Lyrics in Spanish and English.

CD Pick of the Week: Kitka
Kitka, 9-member female choral ensemble from the San Francisco Bay Area turn to Slavic folksangs in the Rusalka Cycle; based on “restless spirts, thought to be women who had died unjust or untimely deaths.” As you’d expect it’s dark, disturbing, and haunting. Amazingly beautiful vocal harmonies combine with unpredictable rhythms and dissonant counterpoints to produce gorgeous sounds; lightly backed by cellos & percussion. It is powerful, mystical and truly scary at times with an other-worldly evocation of ghosts. Wonderful and chill-inducing. One of my favorite CDs of the year.

CD Pick of the week: Trio Mediaeval
Glorious vocal harmonies mark "Folk Songs," a wonderful collection of hymns, lullabies, and ballads. It’s the 10th anniversary for this Norwegian - Swedish female trio. Joined by percussion but it’s the solo voices that carry it all. You can’t go wrong with any track, they’re all beautiful, mostly down/midtempo. In keeping w/their name, all tracks have a medieval/Renaissance air & are all too short.

CD Pick of the Week" Youssou N'Dour
A new release from this man is always cause for joy in the world music community. Rokku mi Rokka (Give and Take) is yet another delicious gift. Joyous, Senegalese mbalaz-inflused rhythms w/hints of the desert and touches of blues, reggae, even Cuba. Joined by his longtime band Super Etoile, it’s a total lovefest featuring his warm, engaging voice. Every track is a delight.

This week also check out Bamisphere by Gino Sitson:
Wonderfully versatile vocals from a Cameroon-born jazz singer. African rhythms pervade with touches of everything from bop to straight-up Afro-jazz. Fabulous musicians include bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. Vocal gymnastics reminiscent of Bobby McFerrin but with a stronger African flavor. The tracks that are just layers of his voice(s) are gorgeous.