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:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Jolly Boys were playing dance music in Jamaica when Bob Marley was just a child. They’re still performing, and gaining a whole new audience for the music known as ‘mento.’ Madeleine Bair has the Global Hit from Kingston. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The World’s Marco Werman takes us back to 1969 in London, where Brazilian musicians Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were soaking up a music scene that would influence their music for the rest of their careers. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Marcus Samuelsson is one of America’s top chefs. Indeed, he recently won the TV cooking competition, Top Chef Masters. Add that to accolades including 3 star-reviews from the New York Times and awards from the James Beard Foundation. Samuelsson was born in Ethiopia. But after his birth mother died, he was adopted by a couple from Sweden, where he grew up. Samuelsson’s food takes in influences from, among other places, Sweden, Ethiopia and New York City, where he lives. The World’s Alex Gallafent spoke to Samuelsson and asked the chef to share some of his musical influences too. (Photo: Alex Gallafent) Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
In the Global Hit, Marco Werman tells us about news from South Africa that pop band Freshlyground has had their work visas for neighboring Zimbabwe revoked. The band was supposed to perform in Zimbabwe, but the release of a song and video called “Chicken to Change,” skewering Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s 30 years in power, seems to have angered officials there. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
For our Global Hit Monday, we’re playing a fusion of sorts, a mix of the pounding, hip-swaying drums of Afro-Cuban jazz and lilting New York Jewish tunes, from the mid-1900s. Lonny Shavelson went to a concert in San Francisco featuring just that musical mashup. (Photo: Lonny Shavelson) Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Today we give you the smoking sounds of The Sweet Talks, one of Ghana’s most successful and innovative groups from the 1960s and 70s. One of their seminal recordings, The Kusum Beat, has recently become available on CD. Good thing, the original edition on vinyl could put you in triple digit dollars on eBay. Plus, The Kusum Beat is just a super-groovy recording. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
For the Global Hit, we visit Polish composer Frederick Chopin’s piano maker. Not an actual person — but a company, one that still makes pianos today. It’s called Pleyel. The World’s Gerry Hadden visited the company’s workshop in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. (Photo: Gerry Hadden) Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Our Global Hit is about a Chinese band that stands out to both Chinese and foreign audiences. The band is called ‘P.K. 14′, and its music has been called post-punk. But its lead singer says he’s been influenced by everything from Bob Dylan and Motown to the Beat Generation and French existentialism. Mary Kay Magistad reports from Beijing. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The World’s Gerry Hadden reports on a Romanian rapper named Connect R. He’s a member of the Roma, or gypsy, minority group. And he’s started his own Roma pride campaign.Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
For Mhairi Hall, the music on her new album is about three things: It’s about traditional Scottish melodies, it’s about the piano and it’s about a place. The World’s Carol Zall has more. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Every now and then we check in on how folks somewhere around the world decide to spend their Friday night. Today we visit the English countryside town of Burford, where guitar virtuoso Kit Hawes fills the local pub with music and fans.Download MP3
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download MP3
For today’s Global Hit, the story behind a song. Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes’ celebrates the connection he feels between Cuba and New Orleans with his composition ‘New Orleans’, one of the tracks on his new recording ‘Chucho’s Steps’.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
For our Geo Quiz we were looking for a northern African country that’s home to a number nomadic tribes. The answer is Niger. The band Etran Finatawa is from Niger. Its members come from two of the nomadic groups in the region, the Wodaabe and Touareg tribes. The band’s new album is called “Tarkat Tajje” or “Let’s Go!” Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Israeli Jews are now flocking to an unexpected place: Berlin, once the capital of the Nazi regime that murdered millions of European Jews. Many Holocaust survivors settled in Israel and vowed never to set foot in Germany again. Their grandchildren are different: today about 3,000 Israelis, mostly young artists, have moved to Berlin. Reporter Daniel Estrin profiles one Israeli musician whose career is blossoming in Berlin. (Photo:Lisa Zappe) Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Today’s Global Hit features Syrian freestyle rapper Omar Souleyman. Download MP3
