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:
Global Hit
Vietnamese-French Guitarist Nguyên Lê
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Tom Schnabel tells us about a new recording from Vietnamese-French guitarist Nguyên Lê. Download MP3
Irish Singer Julie Feeney
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Irish singer and performance artist Julie Feeney talks about her new CD “pages.” Download MP3
John Leguizamo’s ‘Ghetto Klown’ Music
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Actor John Leguizamo talks with anchor Marco Werman about a compilation of music he put together for the Fania label. He uses this music in his one-man Broadway show “Ghetto Klown”. Download MP3
How Rock and Roll Brought the Soviet Union Down
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Sergei Zhuk, an author and rock fan, says Rock and Roll helped bring down the Soviet Union. He writes how this forbidden music slipped into his hometown in Ukraine. His book is called “Rock and Roll in the Rocket City: The West, Identity, and Ideology in Soviet Dniepropetrovsk, l960-l985.” Brigid McCarthy spoke to Zhuk and brings us this report. Download MP3
David Peisner uncovers Tunisia’s revolutionary rap
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Anchor Marco Werman talks to Spin magazine contributing editor David Peisner about the local rap tunes that have provided the soundtrack for the start of the revolution in Tunisia. Download MP3
Senegalese Musician Cheikh Lô
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Marco Werman tells us about the latest release from Senegalese musician Cheikh Lô. The new album is called “Jamm.” It features Lô’s usual acoustic blend of Afrobeat, flamenco and funk. Download MP3
Boston Band Club d’Elf
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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with musicians Michael Rivard, Brahim Fribgane and Hassan Hakmoun about their work with ensemble Club d’Elf. It is a Boston-based group that performs variations on the ancient Moroccan style of gnawa. Download MP3
Danger Mouse’s ‘Rome’ Spaghetti Western
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Marco Werman talks to Italian composer Daniele Luppi and producer Danger Mouse about their project “Rome.” The musicians share a love for spaghetti western soundtracks from the 1950s and 60s. “Rome” is a soundtrack they wrote to an imaginary film of their own. Download MP3Video: Behind the scenes of “Rome”
Russian boy band “Diskoteka Avariya”
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Thursday’s Global Hit features the Russian boy band Diskoteka Avariya or Disaster Disco. Download MP3
Video: Diskoteka Avariya’s Disco Crash – “If you want to stay”
Indian Origins of the American “Acid House”
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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with freelance writer Stuart Aitken about a nearly 30-year-old song out of India, “Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat,” that seems to be the precursor to the very American sound “Acid House.” Download MP3
Tiempo Libre’s “My Secret Radio”
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Tiempo Libre is a seven piece group based in Miami. The band’s leader Jorge Gomez tells Marco Werman about his teenage years in Havana when he and his friends would try to listen to banned American music from radio stations in Miami by putting up makeshift antennas on the roof. These experiences are remembered in the group’s new CD “My Secret Radio.” Download MP3
Guitarist Erik Paliani’s ‘Chitukutuku’
The World’s DJ pick Monday comes from monthly contributor Mannasseh Phiri who tells us about the latest release from Malawian guitarist Erik Paliani.
Scottish-Irish harpist Meave Gilchrist
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In Friday’s global hit we feature Scottish-Irish harpist and singer Maeve Gilchrist. Anchor Lisa Mullins has more. Download MP3
A song for Cinco de Mayo
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Thursday marks the anniversary of the defeat of the French army in Puebla, Mexico back in 1862. The anniversary is marked each year as “Cinco de Mayo.” Reporter Betto Arcos tells us about “La Paloma,” a political song that was popular at the time of the French occupation of Mexico and is still performed today. Download MP3
Ghanaian rapper Blitz the Ambassador
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The World’s Alex Gallafent profiles New York-based Ghanaian rapper Blitz the Ambassador. Blitz raps in several languages and his subject matter is out of the ordinary too. One some is about the IMF. Download MP3
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