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Brooklyn, New York-based Antibalas is a collective of up to 17 musicians whose origins were in celebrating Afrobeat music, made famous by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti in Nigeria in the 1970s. Since their origins in 1998, the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra has changed their name to simply Antibalas, but continues to infuse Afrobeat, funk, jazz, Latin, soul, and classical elements into their music to keep it growing in new directions.

Continue reading "Episode 036: Antibalas" »

Posted by Charlie at 09:44 PM | Permalink

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I first got intrigued about Guy Mendilow from an article in the JP Gazette. I was familiar with his work, but didn't realize that he was a neighbor in my hometown of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. As I began digging deeper into his music, I got more fascinated: a mixture of folk, jazz, rock, overtone singing, and infused with elements of music from around the world, it really did sound like something completely unique.

Truth is, Mendilow is something of an indication of how small our world really has become. A citizen of the Great Britain, Israel, and the United States, he has lived all over the world (due to his father, a musician-turned-professor who was invited to a succession of teaching posts), including South Africa, Israel, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. Mendilow's language skills are also telling: he sings in six tongues and is fluent in four: Hebrew, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Continue reading "Episode 029 : Guy Mendilow" »

Posted by Charlie at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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This is the kind of story that reminds you why it's important not to give up on your dreams.

I first heard Hector Cuevas and The Boston Latin Band by way of Calabash Music after I had found myself listening to a number of Afro Cuban records, including Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez, Compay Segundo, Manuel Galban, and a bunch of compilation CDs tracing the roots and history of Cuban music, including The Music of Cuba: 1909-1951, Cuba Si!, the three Hecho en Cuba discs, and Cuba: The Essential Album.

Hunting around on Calabash Music, I discovered Hector Cuevas and was somewhat surprised to discover that they were based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Continue reading "Episode 026 : Hector Cuevas and The Boston Latin Band" »

Posted by Charlie at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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I first learned about Brad Powell and Calabash Music from a friend of my friend, Marion Seymour, ironically, both of whom live in Seattle, Washington--a city where Powell and I both once lived before both returning east and now living in Boston.

Hearing about what Powell was doing, I checked out the Calabash Music site and found many a treasure from around the world. I then asked Powell to record a Well-Rounded Rave for a previous episode of Well-Rounded Radio where he talks about Oswin Chin Behilia from Curacao.

Since 2001, Powell has been the shopkeep for what he describes as a "carefully curated boutique" of music from all over the world. As he describes in the Well-Rounded Radio interview, Calabash Music now features several thousand artists and about 20,000 individual tracks. He's now attracting musicians from around the world who want to be included in their catalogue.

Continue reading "Episode 021 : Brad Powell of Calabash Music" »

Posted by Charlie at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Born in Mali, West Africa in 1972, Balla Tounkara is a griot or djeli, an ethnic group dating back to ancient times whose people functioned as musicians, storytellers, singers, and peacemakers. Attracted to music at an early age, Tounkara received his first kora, a 21-string harp, from his grandfather, Batouroue Sekou Kouyate, one of the most respected kora players in the world. Tounkara is also a nephew to Djelimady Tounkara, famous for his Super Rail Band from Mali.

I discovered Tounkara's music as I was searching for some calming music for a cranky two month old--my son, Declan--and with a bit of help from calabashmusic.com, found how truly soothing the sound of Tounkara's kora could be (both for me and for Declan!).

Continue reading "Episode 014 : Balla Tounkara" »

Posted by Charlie at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Although they are now usually known as Ellen Christenson and Irene Saletan, back in 1956 the identical twins were best known in New York's folk scene as The Kossoy Sisters--where they released "Bowling Green," their first LP of traditional music, at the ripe age of 17.

As a founding member of Bright, Mark Dwinell released four CDs before attempting a solo disc, but delivers his first on BaDaBing Records, where he's woven together his musical experimentations on piano and guitars with raw and honest lyrics.

Jacques Pardo and Boujema Razgui are two of the multi-instrumentalists that make up Atlas Soul, a band that infuses so many ethnic musics together that it defies categorization...and that seems to suit them just fine.

Continue reading "Episode 004 : Kossoy Sisters, Mark Dwinell + Atlas Soul" »

Posted by Charlie at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)