PRI’s The World presents the Global Hit, a daily spotlight on international musical artists or trends. Created by The World’s Marco Werman, the Global Hit features interviews with musicians, critics and deejays around the globe. He is also one of the curators of the South By Southwest Musical Festival (SXSW) – “All Music Is World Music.” Subscribe and follow:
For the Geo Quiz, Global Hit combo, we are looking for a city in New Zealand where the funk-reggae band The Black Seeds is based.
Irish rock music in the heart of Serbia is what the Belgrade-based band, Orthodox Celts plays. All members of the group are from Serbia and fill the clubs in Eastern Europe with their take on Irish standards and original music with their own Irish twist. Reporter Nate Tabak checked out one of their recent raucous shows in Serbia.
Ed Sheeran, at just 21-years-old, is already a household name in the his native England. He’s had a number one album in the UK. And a top 5 hit song. Now, he’s in the US to introduce his flavor of folky pop to American listeners. Anchor Marco Werman is joined in the studio by singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran.
La Sarita loves American rock and roll, but they also love the richness of traditional music from Peru. So the Lima-based bands brings the two sounds together. Mitra Taj brings us this profile.
In Manhattan’s East Village, once a month, a crowd gathers in a low-ceiling, dimly-lit, hard-to-find club to pay homage to a music with deep New York City roots. The 11-member group is part of a group of people reviving interest in a Latin-soul musical hybrid called “boogaloo.”
The band’s recent CD “The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons” was recorded in an intimate and unconventional setting – the Union Chapel in London.
Pasatono Orquesta is a musical group from Mexico that plays traditional music from the Mixtec region of Oaxaca.
Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Rich Maloof, who wrote a biography of Marshall called “The Father of Loud.”
The Canadian band Elliott Brood likes to tackle big themes. In their latest release, Days Into Years, the subject is survival and the idea of making it through difficult times. In particular, they were inspired by stories of soldiers who survived the first world war.
The hugely popular Nairobi-based band Sauti Sol has created its own version of Afro Pop and now is aiming to make it big in the US.
Maal traveled the region with aid group Oxfam to witness first hand, the drought and food crisis there.
Three African musicians hailing from Mali and Zimbabwe got together for a short-tour now documented in the CD.
Anchor Marco Werman speaks to musician Béla Fleck about Earl Scruggs and about a trip he made to Africa in search of the banjo’s roots.
Iranian-born musicians Khosro Ansari and Loga Ramin Torkian collaborated to push boundaries in Persian classical music.
For today’s combo Geo Quiz/Global Hit, we’re heading for the capital of Mongolia. It’s the home of Mongolia’s growing alternative music scene. Lauren Knapp profiles the grunge band that pioneered new music after the fall of communism: Nisvanis.
