Group Bombino Guitars from Agadez (Music of Niger), Vol. 2 (Sublime Frequencies, 2009) Hisham Mayet, the man who compiled and edited the tracks of Guitars…
Rebellious Guitars
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena's Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena's Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
Magnificent Silk Road
The Silk Road Ensemble Off the Map (World Village, 2009) With a worldwide network of master musicians spanning cultures and genres, an innovative musical outreach…
Bombay Dub Orchestra’s 3 Cities Takes on a New Personality
Bombay Dub Orchestra 3 Cities in Dub (Six Degrees, 2009) Several months back I reviewed Bombay Dub Orchestra’s 3 Cities. Now Bombay Dub Orchestra’s composers…
Garifuna Music Icon Aurelio Martinez Makes UK Debut at Rolex Mentors and Protégés
Aurelio Martinez from Honduras, the brightest star of the region’s celebrated garifuna musical tradition, will make his London debut at the Union Chapel, Islington on…
Dazzling Fula Musical Ride
Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba I Speak Fula (Sub Pop/Next Ambiance, 2010) Riding high on the success of 2007’s Segu Blue and his upcoming U.S.…
2009 World Music Central Gift Guide
Thinking of rewrapping that purple and green striped sweater, the one with the arms in two different sizes, that Aunt Martha knitted and gave you…
Tuareg Footsteps
Various Artists Footsteps in Africa: A Nomadic Journey (Kiahkeya, 2009) Footsteps in Africa: A Nomadic Journey is the soundtrack to a documentary film by director…
Rich and Warm as the Finest Liqueur
Cesaria Evora Nha Sentimento (Lusafrica, 2009) With thousands of adoring fans, six Grammy Award winning recordings to her name and a voice as rich and…
Extravagantly Lush Rupa
Rupa and the April Fishes Este Mundo (Cumbancha, 2009) Back in 2008, I waxed poetic about the Bay Area musical group Rupa and the April…
African Music Icon Baaba Maal Talks About his New Album Television
World Music Central’s TJ Nelson interviewed Senegalese music star Baaba Maal about his multi-lingual album titled “Television.” About the release of your latest CD Television,…