Kuduro is the most popular genre in Angola today. It has already made waves outside of Africa, most notably in Portugal, where it's been a club staple for over 15 years, but also in France and Europe, and more recently in North America with the 2009 tour of Portuguese group Buraka Som Sistema.

Akwaaba Music is now globally releasing the very first Angolan kuduro compilation, Akwaaba Sem Transporte. iTunes exclusive pre-release started August 4, then all other major digital music stores will follow September 8, 2009.

On the 15th of June, Cacique´97 will release their debut album - The first Afrobeat Band from Mozambique and Portugal. The Portuguese capital, Lisbon has always been a stage for the meeting of several cultures, mostly due to the past of the city as the capital of a colonial empire in Africa and Latin America.
 
 Nowadays it is a huge pot of creativity which attracts artists from all over the world and it is a privileged space where musicians find each other, share ideas and mix rhythms. It is from this mixture that, in 2005, afro beat collective Cacique..97 was born. With musicians with Mozambican and Portuguese origins, this collective incorporates members from groups such as Cool Hipnoise, Philharmonic Weed and The Most Wanted, well known projects in the areas of funk, reggae and the Afro sound.

Mamou Sidibé has a new recording titled Djougouya. Mamou Sidibé was born in the Ganadugu region of southwestern Mali. The region is close geographically but also in its traditions to the Wasulu region, made famous around the world most notably by Oumou Sangaré. Mamou also collaborated with Oumou, backup singing for her for a few years in the 1990s. But this was only after years of rigorous daily training as a child: following her family tradition, Mamou sang ancient songs to encourage laborers in the fields. After this thorough musical upbringing, she moved to Bamako, the vibrant and cosmopolitan capital of Mali, where she joined Oumou Sangaré and soon recorded her own music.

Akwaaba Wo Africa - welcome to Africa in twi, the language of the Ashanti people of Ghana. With this first release, Akwaaba Music welcomes the world to its eclectic catalog of African music by locally established, yet globally unknown artists.

Akwaaba traveled to West Africa to meet with scores of artists who have existing releases, but who have never had the opportunity to take their music outside of their native land. They signed fair deals: Akwaaba splits its net revenue 50-50 with all licensees, and works directly with the artist whenever possible.

 

Since 2002, J.M. Baule has released "A Experience with Dylan I," "A Experience with Dylan II," "A experience with Dylan III" and "Between Dylan and yo" (experience 4). These four CDS include 43 adaptations to Spanish of Bob Dylan classics.

 

The artist distributes his music through:

www.myspace.com/jmbaule

briann@wanadoo.es

Czech band Cankisou, which is one of the most distinctive Czech bands due to not only an impressive singer Karel Herman, released its fourth CD called Lé La. Cankisou music makes everybody dance and thanks to universal language of the Canki people is accepted anywhere in the world without any problems. Cankisou mixes influences from various ethnics with rock roots and with its rich collection of exotic instruments travels the world from Réunion island in an Indian ocean to Pakistan.
 
 Lé La (Indies Scope Records) is influenced mainly by many long journeys the band made in the last two years. Drummer Jan Kluka says: “I think Lé La CD is the most colorful and varied one. You can find there influences from Pakistan, Réunion and Ukraine where we have performed. Concerning our sound we used an electric guitar so much for the first time so some of our songs are harder a bit.” Lé La is the most energetic from all the Cankisou CD's.
 

Guitar and oud player Amos Hoffman =, who has been performing and recording as a member of Avishai Cohen’s band for more than two decades, will release Evolution, his debut CD on Cohen’s Razdaz Recordz, on June 23.

Since relocating to his native Israel in 1999 after years on the New York jazz scene, Hoffman has spent the time since the release of his last CD (2006’s Na’ama, on the Israeli label Magda) further pursuing his passion for combining jazz with Middle Eastern music. The result of this multi-cultural fusion is  Evolution, a ten-track exploration of melodies and rhythms that incorporates compositional and improvisational elements common to both musical genres. “I tried to achieve a unique sound that combined some African rhythmic influence played by percussion and contrabass, with Middle Eastern melodies played by the oud and flute,” explains Hoffman.

New York (New York), USA - One of Spain's most popular Flamenco hybrid groups, Chambao, has a new recording, Con Otro Aire.  The fourth studio album  explores musical cross-breeding with new landscapes resulting in an album that does not accept or understand limits. It is open to the east and west, north and south, all while maintaining solid Mediterranean roots. The album, initially released in Spain, contains 12 new songs and will receive national distribution in the United States on June 10th.
 
 Chambao, already well-known for their Flamenco-Chill sound, explore Middle Eastern, African and Latin American influences on Con Otro Aire. The group is led by the charismatic vocals of the charming Maria del Mar del Rodriguez (La Mari) and the warm guitar and backing vocals of El edi.