randomWalks

'world music' = apartheid in record shops
Sod it, I was going to put some of these links in flux, but got carried away. Here's some music which you may or may not be intersted in, or, alternately, which won't or can't reach the States: Gotan Project (Franco-Argentinian tango/dub hybrid), Kimmo Pohjonen (f*@%ed-up accordion performance art from Finland), Yat-Kha (Tuvan throat-singing meets punk), Leningrad (Russian chaos), Uz Jsme Doma (indescribable Czech avant-garde free jazz punk), DuOud (North African lute plus samples), Cesaria Evora (the grande dame of Cape Verde), Amadou et Mariam (quote: "The amusing paradox carried by the songs of this blind couple from Mali is that they also have the power to return sight to those who think they can already see"), Orchestra Baobab (Senegal's finest), and Lee 'Scratch' Perry's Meltdown (the grand-daddy of them all curates this year's Meltdown festival in London. In his own words, "Hello folks, lovely peoples of 2003. I am looking far-word to this festivity. We will celebrate with the music-makers from all over the world. Melting down sweet songs and evil beats. Love from the Open Door.") Linton Kwesi Johnson, amongst others, will perform at the Meltdown. And I haven't been able to find anything on them on the net, but Canada's Iraqi hip-hop outfit Euphrates must be the sound of the future. You should still be able to hear about them here (scroll down to 25 March programme).