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
Ghanaian rapper Blitz the Ambassador
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 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
Hey Rosetta! taps into Canadian ethos
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.
In case you missed it, Canada held parliamentary elections yesterday and Prime Minister Stephen Harper won his long-coveted majority. The World’s Marco Werman has been listening to the music of Hey Rosetta! from Newfoundland, a band that seems to have tapped into a national Canadian ethos. Download MP3
Folk-punk musician Frank Turner
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.
Folk-punk British musician Frank Turner talks to anchor Marco Werman about Friday’s royal wedding, God and how rock-n-roll can save everybody. His new album “England Keep My Bones” comes out in June. Download MP3
Haitian musician Wanito tours US
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 World’s Lisa Mullins speaks to the winner of an American Idol-style song contest held in Haiti last October. Musician Wanito took top prize and is now on a trip to the US to perform and record his first album, We also hear from the organizer of the “Haiti Sings” contest – Ruha Devanesan.Download MP3
South African poet Lesego Rampolokeng
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.
Lesego Rampolokeng is a South African writer and poet who came out of the ‘Black Consciousness’ movement of the 1980s. A tough upbringing in Soweto informed his angry poetic voice during the final years of apartheid. More than 20 years later, he is still angry, and his written voice is still appealing to South African musicians who use his poems – and his own voice – on their tracks. The World’s Carol Hills has the story. Download MP3
Fadista António Zambujo
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.
Fado is a musical style traditionally performed by women. But The World’s Marco Werman introduces us to one an who embraces his role as “male fadisao” somewhat reluctantly and Portugal’s António Zambujo has reasons for that. Download MP3
French band “The Bewitched Hands”
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 French indi-pop bank, “The Bewitched Hands on Top of Our Heads” has changed its name. The band is now called “The Bewitched Hands.” Anchor Lisa Mullins tells us about the name change and we hear music from the band’s US debut CD. Download MP3
Delhi 2 Dublin’s “Planet Electric”
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.
A mash-up of Bhangra and Celtic dance beats is what the group Delhi 2 Dublin is all about. We hear music from the band’s new album “Planet Electric.” Download MP3
A tribute to Tito Puente
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.
Ken Bader tells us about a tribute album to the late Tito Puente from Bobby Sanabria and the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. Download MP3
Video: El Lider by Bobby Sanabria Big Band at Lincoln Center
Kesang Marstrand’s version of Tunisian anthem
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.
Kesang Marstrand is an American folk singer living in Tunisia. Lisa talks to Kesang about how and why Kesang’s version of the Tunisian national anthem became a hit in that country. Download MP3
Video: Kesang Marstrand sings the National Anthem of Tunisia
Sa Dingding’s ‘Harmony’
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.
In today’s global hit Tom Schnabel of KCRW brings us the latest CD from Chinese singer Sa Dingding. Download MP3
Los Angeles band La Santa Cecilia
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.
Reporter Betto Arcos profiles the Los Angeles-based, La Santa Cecilia. Download MP3
International Record Store Day
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.
It’s International Record Store Day on Saturday, and anchor Marco Werman guides us on a tour of three brick and mortar record shops in London, the Belgian city of Ghent, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Download MP3Niger’s songwriter Bombino
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.
We veer into the desert for the Geo Quiz. We’re headed to a West African city: the capital of Niger. The capital is pretty arid but it’s even dryer in towns like Agadez in the north. The climate is pretty inhospitable but the Touareg nomads who live there are warm and welcoming. One of them is musician Bombino. Download MP3Clay Ross and Brazilian Bluegrass
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 World’s Alex Gallafent profiles South Carolina guitarist Clay Ross who fuses Brazilian rhythms with American Jazz beats. Download MP3
Additional funding for PRI's The World is provided by:
