good to hear – Page 2 – gaiamedia english

goodnews march 2025 – good to hear

Nathy Peluso
Tiny Desk Concert
Natalia Beatriz Dora “Nathy” Peluso (born 1995) is an Argentine, Spanish and Italian singer and songwriter who mostly grew up in Spain. Known for her extravagant stage presence and genre-bending music, a mix of soul, world music and hip-hop, she began performing at an early age. Having become a well-known presence in Spain, she worked on her international career and won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music in 2021.She currently resides in Barcelona.
NPR Music

Danny Ocean x Kapo
Imagínate
Daniel Aejandro Morales Reyes (born 1992), known by his stage name Danny Ocean, is a Venezuelan singer, songwriter and record producer. He began his professional music career in 2009 with the creation of his YouTube channel. He’s actually a global phenomenon, reaching an important milestone in his musical career with 1 billion streams on Spotify of his hit “Me Rehúso”, the most listened song of the last decade in Latin America while Its music video surpasses 1.4 billion views. His is mostly feel-good music between salsa, hip-hop and trap.
Dead Oceans

Netón Vega x Luis R Conriquez
El Plumas
Luis Ernesto Vega Carvajal, known professionally as Netón Vega, is a Mexican singer-songwriter from La Paz, Baja California Sur. He is known for his songwriting on “Rubicon” and “La People”, taken from Peso Pluma’s album Génesis (2023), and for collaborating with Luis R. Conriquez on the 2024 single “Si No Quieres No”. Luis Roberto Conriquez was born in Caborca, Sonora, Mexico.
Kartel Music

Sierra Ferrell
American Dreaming
“Sierra Ferrell is the May Queen of American roots music — no matter what month it is.” (Ann Powers) Born in West Virginia in 1988, her music combines elements from Bluegrass, Gypsy Grass, Folk, Tango and Calypso. Afteng outdoors. She played the clarinet and sang in the school choir, finally also learning to play the guitar. As a street musician, she struggled with addiciton until she decided to change her life for the better. She’s known for her many collorations.r her parent’s divorce, she spent a large part of her childhood in a trailer camp, meani
Runa Music

Kelela
In the Blue Light
Kelela (Mizanekristos), born 1983, is a second-generation Ethiopian American who makes alternative R&B, electronic and R&G music. She has released two albums, Cut 4 Me and Take Me Apart, and collaborated with artists like Solange, Gorillaz and Bok Bok. She made her debut in the music industry in 2013. She grew up in Mryland and learned to play the violin in fourth grade and sang in her school’s choir. In 2015, she announced the release of her first EP, Halluicinogen. In the Blue Light was released on 11 February 2025.
Warp

february 25 – good to hear

Ziska von Crayen & PURA
Stiimmenfeuer (Vocal Fire)
The music of Swiss vocalist and performer Ziska von Crayen and her groups PURA reveals itself as international, spiritual and vibrant. With imaginative rhythms and invented languages, the reinterpretation of traditional melodies is the strength of the all female band. Ziska and her sister musicians Annie Mumford (percussion and drums), Stefanie Hess (contrabass, Moog & voice) and Sara Käser (cello & voice) are bound to appear at many more festivals. All their albums are available on the Stimmenfeuer website (and through the usual channels).
Ziska Music

Japanese Breakfast
‘Orlando in Love’ from the album For Melancholy Brunettes (and sad women)
Author, composer, songwriter, musician and singer Michelle Zauner is the lead vocalist of the indie-band from Philapdelphia, which she started in 2013. She moved back to Eugene, Oregon, where she ws born, the following year, to take care of her mother, whose death led to a first album, Psychopomp. Her memoir, Crying in the H Mart spent 60 weeks on The New York Times’ hardcover non-fiction bestseller list. This is her 5th album. Zauner and her fellow musicians have won a number of awards.
Dead Oceans

Thandiswa Mazwai
Tiny Desk x globalFEST
Thandiswa has been one of the most influential post-Aprtheid singer in South Africa. She began her career in 1996 msuic group Jack Knife and Bongo Maffin, one of the pioneering bands in South Africa in the dance music genre Kwaito. Her latest album Sankifa (2024) inlcudes songs produced by Meshell Ndegeocello and Tandai Shoko. Recorded in Johannesburg, Dakar and New York, it combines archival Xhosa music field recordings, jazz and west African music.
NPR

Deva Runa & Bird Tribe
Dreamdancer
Deva Runa presents as an Earth Guardian, Ceremonialist, Wisdom Keeper, Song Carrier, Multi-Instrumentalist, as well as the co-founder of Birdtribe Music.Crafted through the lens of sacred plant medicine journeys, this album “offers a profound ‘sonic voyage’ that fosters deeper alignment with the Divine and one’s Higher Self. It’s a spiritual odyssey, intended to bring people closer to their truest potential, fostering healing, authenticity, and service aligned with the cosmic blueprint.” (Reality Sandwich)
Runa Music

Bad Bunny
Debi tirar más fotos
Bad Bunny has had a big impact on the music scene by being incredibly cool and authentic, all the while playing with different looks, styles and ways of being. Known as the “King of Latin Trap”, Bad Bunny (born 1994 in Veja Baja, Puerto Rico is credited with helping Spanish-language rap music achieve mainstream popularity in the worldwide market. Although primarily considered to be a Latin trap and reggaeton artist, his music also incorporates various other elements from other genres such as pop, hip-hop, rock, electronic, dancehall, reggae, Latin, soul and R&B.
Rimas

january 25 – good to hear

Leny Andrade
Cantor da noite
Leny de Andrade Lima (1943-2013) can hold her own with any jazz great. She was recently praised in the New York Times as an exceptional singer who is not well enough known here. And her music makes you happy. So here is something for your soul right at the beginning of the year. Leny was born in Rio (where else?) and often had hits in the Brazilian charts. She sang in clubs, also abroad, with stops in Mexico, the United States and Europe. Toniy Bennett called her “the Ella Fitzgerald of Brazil”.
Albatroz

São Paulo Underground
Olhaluai, from their 5th album Cantos Invisívels
The multi-national, multi-ethnic, multi.musical São Paulo Underground are a great example of the new vanguard in music. Rob Mazurek leads in contemporary jazz and forward-looking rock, and Guilherme Granado, Mauricio Takara and Thomas Rohrer in updating and modernizing Brazilian musical forms. In a fascinating mixture of Sun Ra-esque cosmic noise and rhythms and phrasing we also find elements from samba, maracatu, rock and free jazz traditions.
Cuneiform Records

Elis Regina
At the Montreux Jazz Festival
There are few more accomplished vocalists than Brazil’s Elis Regina Carvalho Costa (1945-1982), whose warm and sonorous voice conveyed a wide range of musical content. Here we see her with the famous keyboardist Hermeto Pascoal. She made her appearance at the 13th Jazz Festival in 1979 legendary in the twinkling of an eye by virtuously singing three songs by Carlos Jobim in three different keys. Elis Regina was born in Porto Alegre and started performing as a child. Her death at the age of 36 from a combination of alcohol and cocaine shocked the nation.
Studio Luna Azul

Liniker e os Caramelos
Tiny Desk Concert
Here we segue into the present with Liniker (de Barros Ferreira Campos), born in 1995 and also from São Paul, two generations later, but with the same kind of voice, capable of anything. Liniker identifies as they/them and gives a sublime soft jazz performance here with their Brasilian as well as international friends. Liniker’s way of being smooth, laid-back and sincere is both professional, in the sense of well-practiced, and heart-felt.
NPR

Billie Eilish
Tiny Desk Concert
Billie Eilish, no doubt one of the great singer-songwriters of her generation, shows us an intimate side of herself. Her voice is beautifully clear and pure; and she always works in collaboration with her brother Finneas O’Connor who mostly doesn’t use, or need, his last last. For those of you who don’t know that she’s a mega star, Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell, born 2001 in Los Angeles, broke out at age fourteen with the original song “Ocean Eyes”. A steep international career followed.
NPR

december 2024 – good to hear

Hozier
Unreal Unearth
Hozier’s extraordinary voice infuses his new album with an etherial sound, all the way down to deeper and earthier tones. That may be what the title wants to tell us. I have introduced him here before. Suffice to say that Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (born 1990) hails from Ireland. His music ows much to blues, folk and soul. Hozier began writing songs at the age of 15, taught himself guitar and sang in his school choir before studying music and becoming a professional musician. (SGS)
Universal

Rosé
Number One Girl
Is she the new Mariah Carey? 35 million fans seem to think so. That’s how many people listened to the New Zealand and South Korean singer’s new song of the on the day it way released. Roseanne Park, born 1997 in Auckland and raised in Sydney, began singing and learned to play guitar and piano as a child. Rosé is a Member of the British Empire (MBE) and had stood out with charitable work and as an advocate for those who struggle emotionally, for her a side effect of her fame. (SGS)
Atlantic Records

Rei Narita
Shoot for The Moon
“Rei Narita is often called Asia’s foremost pioneer of Smooth Jazz… The wildly prolific artist, who has released an astounding 20-plus singles over the past three years, may remind you of adventurous genre greats like David Benoit and Brian Culbertson. The sparkle, fire, groove and dynamic improvisations on his latest ambitious, well-titled single ‘Shoot for the Moon’ expresses the artist’s intention to create a new type of music that has evolved from Smooth Jazz.” (Jetstream Jazzblast)
Studio Luna Azul

Matilda Lloyd & The London Symphony Orchestra
Trumpet Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 94: II. Episodes
Matilda Lloyd writes: “Resonance is a multi-faceted word with many different meanings, all of which are explored in this album of music for trumpet and orchestra. It stems from the Latin word resonantia, meaning ‘echo’, and both concertos on this album echo music of the past… Resonance’ can also be used to describe the powerful images, feelings, or memories that are conjured up in the mind upon listening to music.”
Naxos Digital Services

Lucienne Renaudin Vary & L’orchestre de chambre de Paris
Rodgers: Edelweiss (Arr. Lehn for Trumpet and Orchestra)
French star trumpet player Lucienne Renaudin Vary celebrates the winter season with music by de Falla, Bach, Rossini, and Dvořák. Winner in the ‘Révélation’ category of the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2016, French trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary was described as a “trumpet sensation” by the Classical KDFC radio. As well as playing the classical repertoire, Lucienne is an avid jazz performer.
Warner Classics

october 2024 – good to hear

Nduduzo Makhathini
“Libations: Omnyama”, from the album uNomkhubulwane
The South African painist, composer and singer 11th overall effort but third masterwork for Blue Note is radiant and revelatory. “Emerging from a mother song gifted to Makhathini during his initiation process to become a healer, (the pianist was immersed in water in order to encounter the Zulu goddess uNomkhubulwane) the elegant crafter opener “Libations: Omnyama,” relies on a gracefully hypnotic repeated figure to establish its beautiful trance. Makhathini’s resonant, storytelling spoken word enchants as well as heals. It is a marvelous six minutes of utter transportation.” (Mike Jurkovic for All About Jazz)
Blue Note

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few
The World is on Fire
Saxophonist Isaiah Collier, age 25, has shared the stage with Chance the Rapper as well as appeared at many jazz festivals around the globe. Collier has a deep history in Chicago’s jazz scene. Collier’s first introduction to jazz was a flyer for a camp in Chicago landing in his face less than a decade ago, giving him his first chance at the saxophone. His father, a keyboardist, and singer, would often bring Collier, 12, to perform at gigs, and Collier recalled thinking, “Wait! I can actually make money doing this?” After a few years at Stockton’s Brubeck Institute, Collier recently returned to Chicago. His new, fierce “cold bop” album protests against the violence targeting black people.
Division 81 Records

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Ya Allah Ya Rehman, from the album Chain of Light
Four traditional qawwalis by the exceptional Pakistani singer recorded in 1990 at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in England have resurfaced! “The record’s title comes from a refrain about spiritual bonds that traverse generations: “Every breath of mine, is related to his chain of light.” It was written by the Pakistani scholar Naseeruddin Naseer Gilani as a tribute to the 11th-century Sufi mystic Abdul Qadir Gilani.” (The New York Times) Nusrat’s voice is like no other, and we are lucky to have him back, at least for the length of this new album.
Real World Music

Manu Chao
Sao Paulo Motoboy from the album Viva Tu
Another revenant! Manu Chao has a new album out, offering stories of community and refelxion. “Viva Tu continues to explore Chao’s deep connection to the world around him, reflecting his musical evolution, global travels and his commitment to social justice. The album’s reggae-rooted final track, “Tantas Tierras,” sums up the uncertainties of our current planet-wide state while still holding onto hope. Chao remains true to his signature style, drawing from genres like pop, rumba flamenca, chanson, cumbia, and reggae.” (World Music Central)
Radio Bemba

Caribou
Honey
“Honey is Canadian electronic musician Dan Snaith’s first album as Caribou in more than four years. In the time since his previous album, Suddenly, was released in 2020, Smith has focused on recording as his more dance-focused music alter-ego, Daphni. Now, he’s switched back to Caribou.. The sound is bigger and more universal than any other Caribou record, but it feels like a natural evolution rather than the two projects bleeding into one another.” (A.V. Club) Snaith (born 29 March 1978) ihas released 10 studio albums since 2000 and has recorded and performed under the stage names Caribou, Manitoba, and Daphni.
Written, produced and recorded by Dan Snaith

september 2024 – good to hear

Meshell Ndegeocello
Love – from her new album No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin
Meshell Ndegeocello, born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968, is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist. She “happens to be much more than merely a good musician. She’s been playing professionally since the early 1990s and, at 55, is about to release her 14th album, a collection of songs that excites her. The past — the repertoire, the old stuff, the hits — can start to feel like ‘karaoke of myself,’ she said, even if that’s never what it’s been like for us folks in the audience.” (Wesley Morris, here in The New York Times)
UMG Recordings

Hannah Kendall
Verdala
Known for her attentive arrangements and immersive world-building, British composer Hannah Kendall’s music looks beyond the boundaries of composition. Her work bridges gaps between different musical cultures, both honouring and questioning the contemporary tradition while telling new stories through it. Contrasting fine detail with limitless abandon, she has become renowned both as a composer and a storyteller, confronting our collective history with narratively-driven pieces centred on bold mission statements.
Ricordi

The Cucaracha’s Band
Akira
The Cucarach’ss Band hails from Ontiñena, in he Spanish province Huesca, in Aragon, known for the foklore association “Raíces de Ontiñena”. Three of its members decided to give a “baturro” touch to the most popular songs. In September of 2008 they launched their band adventure with a parade through Ontiñena, attracting the attention of their countrymen. After the incorporation of two new members, “The Cucaracha’s Band”, has improved a lot, as their rehearsals and their many performances show.
Babylon Music

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Wild Gold
The Australian rock band around Nick Cave is releasing a new album on 30 August. Cave hopes the album has the “effect on listeners” that it had on him. He describes it as a “complicated record” but simultaneously “deeply and joyously infectious”. As their records reflect the band’s “emotional state”, Cave shared the impression that they are “happy” this time around. Cage, who lost two sons within seven years seems to have recuperated after this dark period in his life.
PIAS

Johnny Irion
Sleeping Soldiers of Love
This is the first single off of Johnny Irion’s upcoming album, Sleeping Soldiers of Love, out on August 9th. The album was mixed by Patrick Sansone and features an all-star cast of players including Jeff Bridges, Mike Mills of REM, and many others. Johnny Irion has solidified his reputation as one of the most spirited artists in the folk-rock genre. His career is steeped in authentic American punk & roots music, a heritage he embraced wholeheartedly.
Blackwing Music

goodnews july 2024 – good to hear

Laurie Anderson
O Superman
A hymn to the earth. “Homeland is not only a place where we were born or live; it is where our soul takes refuge and finds its own peace!” Suor Snow Raven was born in one of the most remote and cold inhabited places in the world – the Republic of Sakha – Yakutia (arctic Siberia). She was three years old when she started to learn the language of birds and animals. Her archaic music strikes a chord deep within us and reminds us what it means to be a dedicated spiritual warrior for the earth. (SGS)
Majestic Sounds

Saint Levant
On This Land
Marwan Abdelhamid, AKA Saint Levant, was born in Jerusalem to a French-Algerian mother and Serbian-Palestinian father. He spent 10 years growing up in Gaza, to which he would dedicate his first EP From Gaza with Love. In 2007, Marwan and his family were forced to flee to Jordan, later moving to Santa Barbara, California. Drawing inspiration from his origins with influences that combine traditional Arabic music, R&B and hip-hop, the young artist embraces the plurality of his own cultural heritage, the Arab community worldwide and the Palestinian struggle abroad.
MDLBEAST Records

Bayou
Haika Wehbe
Another example iof so-called Arabizi Music, a form of Arabic pop, shows that Hip Hop has found a new home in the Middle East, with guys leerings after girls they wish to dominate to snappy sounds. Bayou was a big act at Coachella this year and his just released another single. He has moe than one ace up his slieve and is worth following, on a musicl career between Los Angeles, CA, and Amman in Jordania,
MDLBEAST Records

Carin Léon
Bolela – Aviso importante
If you enjoy a bit of romantic summer mjusic of the old kind, this is the sound for you. If you like the south, and especially Mexico, or Italy, Carin turns back time for you to when this sound abounded. Love it! Óscar Armando Díaz de León Huez, known professionally as Carín León, (born 26 July 1989) is a Mexican singer-songwriter who specializes in regional Mexican music. León was born in Hermosillo, and won the Ltin Grammy in 2022 als best regional Mexican act.
Icarls Music

Hermeto Pascoal
Música da Lagoa (Sinfonia do Alto Ribeira, 1985)
Música da Lagoa (Sinfonia do Alto Ribeira, 1985)
Hermeto Pascoal (born June 22, 1936) is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil. Pascoal is best known in Brazilian music for his orchestration and improvisation, as well as for being a record producer and contributor to many Brazilian and international albums.His career began in 1964 with appearances on several Brazilian recordings alongside relatively unknown groups. These albums and the musicians involved established widely influential new directions in post-bossa nova Brazilian jazz.
Rede Manchete

goodnews june 2024 – good to hear

Suor (Snow Raven) & Misha Mishenko
Homeland
A hymn to the earth. “Homeland is not only a place where we were born or live; it is where our soul takes refuge and finds its own peace!” Suor Snow Raven was born in one of the most remote and cold inhabited places in the world – the Republic of Sakha – Yakutia (arctic Siberia). She was three years old when she started to learn the language of birds and animals. Her archaic music strikes a chord deep within us and reminds us what it means to be a dedicated spiritual warrior for the earth. (SGS)
Sony Music

I never took my ritaline
On my knees
These guys are too good to pass up. If you don’t like (t) rap, electro or hiphop: drop it like it’s hot! For everybody else: “I Never Took My Ritalin (CH) is like a speed date between Lamborghini Tarot – the alter ego of Swiss rapper, actress and clown Martina Momo Kunz – and Belinda, the alter ego of French sousaphonist, rapper and producer Victor Hege. Their unusual abilities merge to create a crazy, hyperactive, theatrical, long-term musical experience.” Very funny too. (Rapid Open Air)
No label yet?

Tems
Love Me Je Je
Temilade Openiyi (born 11 June 1995), known professionally as Tems, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and record producer. She is known to a larger audience for having covered Bob Marly for the movie Wakanda Forever and has shattered many ceilings. In 2024, Tems announced that her upcoming debut studio album Born in the Wild will be released on 7th June and will be supported by the Born in the Wild World Tour. Brought up in a Christian environment, Tems is influenced by R&B and hip-hop; she cites a variety of artists as influences, including Nigerian and African artists. (SGS)
Sony Music

Omah Lay
Soso
Stanley Omah Didia (born 19 May 1997), known professionally as Omah Lay, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He grew up in Port Harcourt and comes from a musical family. Starting out as a rapper, Lay soon began to write his own music and produced several local hits until a collaboration with Justin Bieber led to international fame. A second collaboration supported his debut album Boy Alone, with which he went on tour, soon reaching record numbers of fans.
Keyquad

Arooj Aftab
Night Reign
Arooj Aftab (born March 11, 1985) is a Pakistani American singer, composer, and producer. A Grammy Award-winning artist, she has worked in various musical styles and idioms, including jazz and minimalism. Arooj is blessed with a mesmerizing voice, sweet as honey, Born in Saudi Ariabia, she and his parents moved to Lahore when she was ten. She taught herself the guitar and styled herself: after Billie Hoiliday, Mariah Carey as wel as local singers such as Begum Akhtar and Hairprasad Chaurasia. The scale of Aftab’s musical inheritances are on display in her two most recent albums, of which Love in Exile was the first and Night Reign is the second. Extraordinary.
Verve

goodnews 2024 – good to hear

William Brittelle
Producer and Grammy-winning composer William Brittelle, a creator of hyper-text and multimedia, is an avid collaborator. He has worked with a number of artists across multiple disciplines, including Roomful of Teeth, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Bryce Dessner (The National), Son Lux, Oneohtrix Point Never, A Far Cry, Lower Dens, Duran Duran, Wye Oak, Dirty Projectors, Kanye West, and the Seattle, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Alabama, Grand Rapids and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras, the Basel Sinfonietta, the Nu Deco Ensemble, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
New Amsterdam Records

Faye Webster
Born June 25, 1997, Faye Webster is an American singer-songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. Underdressed at the Symphony is her fifth studio album. It "builds upon the frameworks she’s established and pushes them to their limits.” (Exclaim!) She evolves a familiar intimacy within her songwriting skills on the album, blending catharsis and humor over a sonic palette of multiple genres like "indie rock, country, and R&B. The album has been well-received by music critics.
Secretly Canadian

RAYE
Rachel Agatha Keen (born 24 October1997), known professionally as RAYE, is an English singer-songwriter. Her debut studio album, My 21st Century Blues (2023) was released independently to critical and commercial success, and won Album of the Year at the 2024 BRIT Awards. The South London-bred singer-songwriter had finally made her way to NPR headquarters, her signature cherry-hued pin curls full of bounce and a radiant smile spread across her face. RAYE exudes the confidence and abilities of a veteran vocal powerhouse.
NPR Music

Kamasi Washington
Armed with a tenor saxophone and endless ambition, musician and bandleader Kamasi Washington returns with what he calls his 'dance album'. Since the release of the triple album The Epic in 2015, Kamasi Washington has become a
acclaimed talent of modern jazz. His latest LP, Fearless Movement, is a self-produced odyssey and manages to maintain a blistering accessibility despite its length of almost 90 minutes. A whole host of other artists support him in this feat..." (Liam Casci for The Skinny)

goodnews april 2024 – good to hear

Cosmo Sheldrake
I Did and I Do and I Don’t
Cosmo Sheldrake is an English musician, composer, and producer. He is the son of biologist Rupert Sheldrake and voice teacher Jill Purce, and the brother of biologist Merlin Sheldrake. He released his first single, “The Moss”/”Solar”, in 2014 and followed it up with the Pelicans We EP in 2015. This is a gentle little love sung by one of today’s most original musicians. Cosmo’s music is rife with nature citations, representing the leading edge in what music can become. Also, he’s begun to sing and has a very relatable voice. This man is on the way to becoming a star! .
Transgressive

Nduduzo Makhatini
Izibingelelo (Greetings) live at the Centre for Jazz Studies at UKZN
“The art of the South African jazz pianist Nduduzo Makhathini transcends borders. In his music, he not only combines the sound of South Africa with that of the global North. For him, improvising is a way of accessing spirituality, both for the musician and for the audience. For more than ten years, the charismatic pianist has been impressing audiences on all continents and at many a performance.” (Moods, Zurich)
Blue Note

Aya Nakamura
Hypé
Aya Danioko (born 10 May 1995) in Bamako, Mali, known professionally as Aya Nakamura, is a French singer. She comes from a family of griot, West African storytellers, praise singers, and poets of oral traditions. Throughout her career, Nakamura accumulated five number-one songs and a number-one album in France. We may look forward to enjoying her art at the opening of the Olympics In Pais this summer. “Right-wing critics say Ms. Nakamura’s music does not represent France, and the prospect of her performing has led to a barrage of racist insults online against her. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.” (Wikipedia and The New York Times)
Warner Brothers

Mdou Moctar
Imouhar
Mahamadou Souleymane (born around 16 August 1984), known professionally as Mdou Moctar (also M.dou Mouktar), is a Tuareg songwriter and musician based in Agadez, Niger, who performs modern rock music inspired by Tuareg guitar music. (Wikipedia) He is known for his political activism. Mdou Moctar is its current iteration is first and foremost a band. It started out peforming at traditional weddings. Of the recent political coup in Niger Mdou says: I never liked France I my country. I don’t hate France or the French people, I don’t hate American people either, but I don’t supprt their manipulative politics, what they do in Africa. In 2024, we want to be free, we need to smile, you understand?” I do and love the raw power of his music. (SGS)
Matador

Cami Layé Okún
Afro Cuban Funky Grooves
“Since the release of her 2015 debut album Nueva Era, Cuban singer Daymé Arocena has established herself as one of her country’s most expressive voices. Encompassing everything from nimble jazz scatting to luscious orchestrations and breathy phrases that soar over bata drums and Santería folk rhythms, Arocena’s four albums have explored the joyous range of Afro Cuban music.” (Ammar Kahlia, The Guardian) She grew up Havana, with a family immersed in rumba folklore. She entered the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory at age 10.
NTS Radio. La Habana, Cuba

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Category: good to hear