Tag Archives: world beat

 

World Beat Playlist – For me ‘World Beat’ music  has always been an odd definition of what outside of the Western World is just simply called music. There are literally hundreds of tempos, genres etc. to the point where trying to lump them into one category seems almost pretentious, and incorrect cataloging at the very least! Anyways the, ahem,  ‘World Beat’  music on here ranges in tempo from slow folk to high energy dance beats, and covers many different styles, much of it Middle Eastern, African, Indian, or Asian. If you want to hear just the faster, dance friendly tracks on here check out my World Dance playlist.

World Beat,

Jawhar has created his own signature style of world-folk music that one could probably describe as midway between arab chaâbi and Nick Drake’s dreamy folk lullabies. The Tunisian singer-songwriter re-explores his roots and his mother tongue to let them sing once again with his newly released album Qibla Wa Qobla- Jawhar

And here is a side project of his. RAS KALB is a collective inspired by Jawhar Basti’s music of Macbeth – Leila & Ben, a play co-written by Lotfi Achour, Anissa Daoud and Jawhar Basti, directed by Lotfi Achour.

World Beat,

Nicola Cruz’s music invokes the landscapes and rituals of his homeland, Ecuador, a country that is home both to the Andes mountains and the Amazon jungle. His music is an exploration of ancient mythologies and folkloric traditions in a modern setting. Nicola was born in Limoges, France, to Ecuadorian parents. His upbringing was surrounded by a rich musical education in both indigenous traditions and Western theories and from a young age he took to percussion.

From this musical connection between past and present, traditional and modern, an ongoing South American movement has arisen, exploring the local indigenous and Afro-cosmologies through a carefully crafted analogue sound.

https://soundcloud.com/nicolacruz/sets/prender-el-alma

House, World Beat,

The Alma Negra collective consists with four Swiss based friends and musical kindred spirits. Crossing many musical traditions their eclectic sound is perhaps a result of their varied and cross cultural backgrounds. The Figuiera Brothers Dersu & Diego who have their roots in Cape Verde, Dario is half Italian, half Portuguese and finally Mario who has has Spanish roots. Collectively the foursome’s influences and skills are wide ranging, bringing of course DJing and production prowess and pooling a vast musical knowledge from jazz to African and Latin-music, Donald Byrd to Fela Kuti to Theo Parrish to name a few respected musicians.

World Beat, ,

A musical meeting between musicians from Morocco, France, Algeria and England. This is about the traditional music of the Gnawa brotherhood of Morocco.

Mogador is the ancient name given to Essaouira. This mythical town of south Morocco was compared to the Tombouctou harbour. That is why most of the Gnawa people are living in this town. The Gnawa people come from the Guinea empire (today Senegal, Guinea, Mali). In the 16th century, they have been deported in North Africa as slaves of rich sultans and integrated this new culture and religion into their own. Just like the Haitian voodoo or the Brazilian candomblé, they use to express themselves playing music, singing, dancing, and by rituals of possession which induce the trance.

At the origin of the group Mogador was the meeting between Ali (addicted to the Moroccan band Nass el Ghriwane) and Julian (strongly influenced by Hendrix) in a bus to Essaouira. In this town, they learned Gnawa music with Hassan a member of the Gnawa brotherhood. He introduces them to the traditional instrument of the Gnawa called sintir : three strings stretched over a camel skin that produces an infra-bass sound which leads the dancers into the trance.

Back to France, they create the group Mogador with Sihem and Yves. After a serie of gigs in the North of France, they start a collaboration with Peter and Ben from London to create a cross cultural music where the traditional music of the Gnawa meets jazz, groove and world music.

Julien Raout – Sintir, djembe, electric guitar, backing vocals
Abdul Mohamed – Lead vocals, qarqabu, sintir
Sihem Merad – Lead vocals, backing vocals
Peter Dry – Drums, keyboards, bass
Benoit Viellefon – Electric, acoustic & classical guitars, derbouka
Luc Viellefon – Soprano saxophone
Yves Leguilcher – Derbouka