On July 14th I had the chance to meet the American-Ethiopian Debo Band. The drove to our VOA studios in Washington, DC, directly from New York to squeeze in an interview before their next concert in the District at the U Street Music Hall. The two pieces that the bare-boned quartet performed in the studio, […]
Sipho’s Newest Big Hit
Posted August 6th, 2012 at 6:34 pm (UTC-5)
A few days ago I caught wind of some music news in South Africa. The legendary musician Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse just “dropped” a new hit; but the “hit” wasn’t music, and the verb wasn’t “drop”–it was “pass”. At age 61, Sipho had just passed the matric, the equivalent to the US high school diploma. Sipho […]
In Pursuit of African Music CDs & Vinyl
Posted July 26th, 2012 at 5:02 pm (UTC-5)
The music business is really different today than a decade ago. CDs and cassettes and vinyl discs are all but relics of the past. Downloads from iTunes, amazon.com, cdbaby.com, reverbnation.com, and a host of other music sites are the natural way that American youth and young adults acquire their music. Most statistics on illegal downloading […]
Dance in Ghana and Mali
Posted July 9th, 2012 at 5:57 pm (UTC-5)
My mind has been on dance lately. The late A.M. Ipoku, Director of the Ghana Dance Ensemble, once said that dance and music should be so closely connected that one “can see the music and hear the dance” (Barbara Hampton, 1984, “Music and Ritual Symbolism in the Ga Funeral.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 14:75-105). I […]
Today’s Beat in Burkina Faso
Posted June 28th, 2012 at 2:45 pm (UTC-5)
Since June 10th, I’ve been exploring contemporary music from Burkina Faso. Vocalist/lyricist Mai Lingani is a dynamite artist and performer and I’ve been following her since 2005 when we performed together at Floyd Fest, an annual world music festival that takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Central Virginia. We performed together again in […]
Tinariwen Rocks Washington D.C.
Posted June 21st, 2012 at 4:12 pm (UTC-5)
Thursday night, the group from northern Mali delivered a beautiful performance in Washington D.C. The opening band — an amateur, quirky singer/songwriter American duo from New York City — did little to set the musical mood for the Tuareg headliners. When the heavy, velvet curtains finally did open, it revealed a row of musicians holding guitars. […]
Northern Mali Comes to Washington, D.C.
Posted June 14th, 2012 at 5:12 pm (UTC-5)
Tinariwen, the phenomenal guitar-based Tuareg group, will play for us here at the Howard Theater in downtown DC. The group won a Grammy Award in February 2012 for Best World Music Album. Get ready for an exciting report on the show coming up early next week. In the meantime, here is a video segment of […]
Welcome to the New African Music Treasures
Posted June 11th, 2012 at 4:08 pm (UTC-5)
In case you haven’t noticed, the VOA radio show, Music Time in Africa, and this companion blog has a new face; and it’s me! So let me begin this new chapter in the history of VOA’s longest running show to introduce myself. I’m Heather Maxwell and am delighted to be taking up the reigns from […]
