Once you get to know or think you know a certain type of music, you can’t help but consider what makes it what it…
Pulverizing the Parameters
Author: Tom Orr
Tom Orr is a California-based writer whose talent and mental stability are of an equally questionable nature. His hobbies include ignoring trends, striking dramatic poses in front of his ever-tolerant wife and watching helplessly as his kids surpass him in all desirable traits.
Fusions Without Confusion
Music that’s a mix of genres can be a good thing. Or not. And more and more it seems like artists who choose to…
So Many Ways to Get Your African Groove On
A jazz musician friend of mine once told me that he didn’t like African music because he found it unsophisticated. From that statement, I could…
Latest Latin Loves
I’m a Latin Lover. No, that doesn’t mean I go about charming women with Antonio Banderas-like charisma (that’ll be the day); it’s my recurring…
Roughness and Riverboat
I’ve sung the praises of World Music Network’s Rough Guide series in the past and will continue to do so as long as they keep…
What’s That Thing You’re Playing?
One joy of being a world music head is discovering the many and varied instruments that are used to make music around the globe. Yes,…
Bossa and Beyond
It’s a vast country where a lot of music is made, so the laws of probability dictate that a healthy portion of CDs coming into…
Iberian Jamaican
Ska, rocksteady and reggae are known the world over and most certainly going strong in Spain. That country’s premiere label when it comes to such…
Refrigerated Reggae
Alific – Echoes From the Soul (Rootfire Records, 2013) Gaudi – In Between Times (Six Degrees Records, 2013) Combining reggae and its spacey subgenre dub…
Fabulous Fusions
The musical application of the word “fusion” handily predates the phrase “world music” and was as much a stepping stone toward the latter term as…