World Music Matters

RFI English

0.0 (0)
MUSIC

Paris is a hub for musicians from all over the world. Our weekly show is a forum for sharing that music, and exploring its emotional impact. World Music Matters is hosted by RFI's Alison Hird.

18/09/2020

Electric Vocuhila: the French quartet with taste, and talent, for African rhythms

Electric Vocuhila combine the spirit of free-jazz legend Ornette Coleman with driving urban guitar rhythms like tsapiky from Madagascar or Congolese sebene. They masterfully sew them together on their pulse-raising third album, Palaces.

12 min
08/09/2020

Cult 1984 album 'Sons of Ethiopia' enchants new audiences in 2020

Admas, a quartet of young Ethiopian musicians living in exile in Washington DC, had a ball recording an album of synth-heavy, funked up versions of Ethiopian classics. 'Sons of Ethiopia ' was soon forgotten but became cult among fans of ethiojazz. Now reissued by Frederiksberg Records, it reflects happier times from a generation that "just escaped" the worst of the Derg.

16 min
11/07/2020

Ennio Morricone: a tribute to the late maestro

Italian composer Ennio Morricone was famed for his film scores but his work straddled jazz, pop, psychedelia as well as the avant-garde, influencing bands as diverse as Air and Metallica.

10 min
03/07/2020

Hachalu Hundessa: the Oromo singer who helped transform politics in Ethiopia

"Everyday I walk in this city, I know I walk alongside death," singer Hachalu Hundessa said just days before he was shot dead in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on 28 June. We hear how the 34-year old protest singer became the voice of the Oromo ethnic group. "He was the soundtrack of the 2018 revolution that brought change to Ethiopia" Awol Allo told RFI.

16 min
26/06/2020

'Black Lives Matter', and songs are showing it's a fact

Inspiring speeches are great, but a song can travel and connect people like nothing else. After the tragic death of George Floyd, musicians are helping to bring issues of police violence and social justice to the fore. Beyoncé, queen of R 'n' B, and the young gospel singer Keedron Bryant have just released songs with a strong 'Black Lives Matter' message.

12 min
19/06/2020

Ariana Vafadari breathes life into Anahita, Persian goddess of water

After exploring Zoroastrian chants on her 2016 album “Gathas, songs my father taught me”, mezzo soprano Ariana Vafadari puts femininity to the fore with the heart-wrenching “Anahita”, inspired by the Persian prophet Zarathustra and the goddess of water. Ten deeply spiritual songs set to Oriental maqam scales, tracing a path from despair to resolution.

18 min
12/06/2020

The Eddy: a love letter to jazz in modern, multicultural Paris

There are big names in The Eddy, a Netflix series about a struggling jazz club in Paris. But the real star is jazz. And since coronavirus is depriving us of the thrill of live music, the jazz sessions recorded with its own six-piece band provide music lovers a much needed fix. Composer Glen Ballard and saxophonist Jowee Omicil talk about the joy of putting music first.

20 min
06/06/2020

Mugogo!: electronic music from the coast of Kenya

When Swiss beatmaker FlexFab was doing a set in the coastal town of Kilifi, Kenya, a young Kenyan rapper Ziller Bas grabbed the mike and delivered his "Swengflow". The chemistry was immediate and six months later the two artists are set to release their debut EP Mugogo! A dancefloor must.

13 min

See All (24)

Paris is a hub for musicians from all over the world. Our weekly show is a forum for sharing that music, and exploring its emotional impact. World Music Matters is hosted by RFI's Alison Hird.