Hear Afropop and Afrobeat music from West Africa and elsewhere, including new music from Malian desert-blues queen Khaira Arby, from recent music from Afrobeat band Antibalas, from the father of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti, & more.

For a full playlist, visit http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/articles/new-sounds-podcasts/ 

Listen to music from around the globe, in the music from Italy, India, Egypt, Tunisia and Mali on this New Sounds. Hear music of northeastern and southeastern Europe together in the eight members of Finno-Balkan Voices, a Finnish-Estonian folk singing group and a Balkan choir. Then, there’s music and dances from Southern Italy in a piece from Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. Hear the collaborative duo between a Jewish clarinetist from France, Yom, and Wang Li, a Chinese player of the “Jew’s Harp”/jaw-harp, mouth-harp from their 2012 record, “Green Apocalypse.” Listen to music from Anouar Brahem’s latest gorgeous release, “Souvenance,” music for oud, piano, quartet & small orchestra. Plus, music from Alsarah, a Sudanese-born singer by way of Yemen, who now lives in Brooklyn, as Alsarah & the Nubatones. Then, listen to Egyptian oud master, Tarek Abdallah, and percussionist Adel Shams El-Din, who both live in France, as they revive Arab musical tradition from their excellent, “Wasla.”  And more.

PROGRAM #3702– Music Around the Globe (First aired on 03/02/2015)             

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Yom, Wang Li

Green Apocalypse

Rings, excerpt [1:00]

Buda Musique 860220
budamusique.com Download from iTunes or Amazon.com

Finno-Balkan Voices

Finno-Balkan Voices

Lintuseni [4:30]

Finnish Folk Music Institute 
kansanmusiikki-instituutti.valmiskauppa.fi 
or download via iTunes or Emusic.com

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino

Pizzica indiavolata

Itela [3:09]

Ponderosa Music & Art 65
ponderosa.it

Yom, Wang Li

Green Apocalypse

Rings [2:52]

Buda Musique 860220
budamusique.com Download from iTunes or Amazon.com

Alsarah & The Nubatones

Silt

Yanas Baridou [6:01]

Wonderwheel Recordings #WONDER 21
wonderwheelrecordings.bandcamp.com

Tarek Abdallah, Adel Shams El-Din

Wasla (Suites musicales égyptiennes)

Wasla [4:33]

Buda Musique 4704634
budamusique.com

Anouar Brahem

Souvenance

Kasserine [9:35]

ECM 2423/24
ecmrecords.com

Debashish Bhattacharya

Slide Guitar Ragas From Dusk Till Dawn

Vasundhara (Mother Earth) [8:22]

Riverboat TUGCD1083
worldmusic.net OR
propermusic.com

Listen to electronic music from as far back as the 1970’s, along with brand new music from Tyondai Braxton for this New Sounds. Tyondai Braxton is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist who has recorded for both Warp Records and Nonesuch. (He's also the former guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist of the band Battles, which he co-founded.) On his latest album "HIVE1," which was originally a multimedia sound installation, combinations of electronic skitterings, distorted casino/pachinko parlor-esque bleepings and cartoony sproings are at times anchored by percussive pulses, and at others interrupted and accented with a wide battery of percussive elements. The record takes modern electronic dance music into the laboratory for some late night experiments with (or on) animated characters, and we’ll hear its jubilant closing track, “Scout 1.”

There’s also music by electronic music pioneer Laurie Spiegel. Back in the 1970’s, she figured out how to meld Americana roots music into the electronic realm. Listen to her banjo-inspired music for electronics, a three-part work “Appalachian Grove,” from a collection of her early works, called “the Expanding Universe.” Plus, hear electronic music from film composer Thomas Newman (WALL-E, Shawshank Redemption, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and Los Angeles-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Rick Cox from their collaboration, “35 Whirlpools Below Sound.” And more. 

PROGRAM #3737– Electronic Music Survey (First aired on 06/10/2015)             

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Thomas Newman; Rick Cox

35 Whirlpools Below Sound

Ashland Schine, excerpt [1:00]

Cold Blue / Cold Blue Music - #40
coldbluemusic.com

Laurie Spiegel

The Expanding Universe

Appalachian Grove I [5:23]

Unseen Worlds UW 09
unseenworlds.net

Tyondai Braxton

Hive1

Scout 1 [9:27]

Nonesuch 547466

nonesuch.com

Laurie Spiegel

The Expanding Universe

Appalachian Grove II [7:56]

Unseen Worlds UW 09
unseenworlds.net

Thomas Newman; Rick Cox

35 Whirlpools Below Sound

Ashland Schine [7:18]

Cold Blue / Cold Blue Music - #40
coldbluemusic.com

Alain Thibault (Montreal Saxophone Quartet)

Volt

ELVIS (electro-lux vertige illimite synthetique) [13:57 ]

Imedia 9003
www.electrocd.com has all details.

Laurie Spiegel

The Expanding Universe

Appalachian Grove III, excerpt  [3:00]

Unseen Worlds UW 09
unseenworlds.net

This episode continues the series exploring the new music of Ireland. John Schaefer sits down with Jonathan Nangle at the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin. Nangle tells how Donnacha Dennehy influenced him to explore more experimental music, and then shares how electronics and silence factor into his compositions. Listen to how Nangle uses electronics to subtly augment conventional instrumentation on "Where distant city lights flicker on half-frozen ponds". Hear Nangle explain how his piece "Then Falls by Shadow" takes the inspiration of Irish weather to combine shuffle mode with a choral performance. Later in the hour, John Schaefer talks to David Bremner about his own compositions and playing the pipe organ at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. Hear Bremner's piercing organ compositions "Variations upon 'the usual reason'" and "Amhrán na Leabhar."

PROGRAM #3715 New Music from Ireland: Part 3 (First aired on 4/17/2015)  

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Kate Ellis

Jump

Donnacha Dennehy: Aisling Gheal [2:09]

Diatribe Records

Jonathan Nangle

Self-released

DIY Aeolian Harp [:39]

Soundcloud

Jonathan Nangle

new music::new Ireland 2

Where distant city lights flicker on half-frozen ponds [excerpt 1] [2:14]

CMC Ireland

Jonathan Nangle

new music::new Ireland 2

Where distant city lights flicker on half-frozen ponds [excerpt 2] [4:47]

See Above

Ergodos Musicians

I Call To You

Jonathan Nangle: Ich ruf' zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ  [2:22]

Ergodos Records

Jonathan Nangle

Commissioned for Dublin SoundLab

untitled (after Dan Flavin) [1:42]

Soundcloud

Jonathan Nangle

Commisioned by David Bremner and Elizabeth Hilliard

Then Falls thy Shadow [:51]

Soundcloud

Jonathan Nangle

Contermporaty Music from Ireland, Volume Nine

Our headlights blew softly into the black illuminating very little [5:21]

CMC Ireland – CMC CD09

Contemporary Music Centre

Jonathan Nangle & David Bremner

Ergodos 2009 'Off-Grid' Festival

Untitled improvisation [1:25]

Soundcloud

David Bremner

Contemporary Music from Ireland, Volume 2

Variations upon ‘the usual reason’ [4:40]

CMC Ireland

David Bremner

L’Air Du Temps

Amhrán na Leabhar [2:49]

Soundcloud

Hear electroacoustic music by Dublin-based Seán Mac Erlaine and Australian-born, London-based Leah Kardos. Plus, music from NY-based GABI, cellist Julia Kent, and Bing & Ruth.

Composer, keyboardist and bandleader, Missy Mazzoli, joins John Schaefer to introduce selections from her new recording, “Vespers for a New Dark Age.” The work, commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the 2014 Ecstatic Music Festival, is a 30-minute suite for singers, chamber ensemble and electronics, and is built around text, both spiritual and worldly, by contemporary poet Matthew Zapruder. Mazzoli wrote for the very specific voices of sopranos Martha Cluver, Melissa Hughes and alto Virginia Warnken Kelsey, who all have a lot of experience with contemporary music but also early and Baroque music. Her ensemble Victoire provides dramatic settings while drummer Glenn Kotche (perhaps best known for his work in Wilco) propels the work percussively.  Plus, hear selections from Phil Kline’s millennial mass “John the Revelator,” written for the early/new music vocal group Lionheart and the quartet ETHEL.

Listen to works that include gamelan, but take a more western approach for this New Sounds - like combining Celtic traditional music and Indonesian gamelan in music from Gamelan Son of Lion and composer/sax player and bagpiper Matthew Welch. In the music of Barbara Benary, the co-founder and guiding spirit of Gamelan Son of Lion, there is a juxtaposition of Cape Breton Celtic singing, gamelan and Benary herself on violin. Also, hear the Celtic-Balinese tapestry of Matthew Welch’s chamber rock hybrid Blarvuster with its Scottish bagpipes, Balinese gamelan, and Welch’s vocalizing in Indonesian. Plus, Lou Harrison’s "Threnody for Carlos Chavez," written for viola and gamelan ensemble, and music from NYC-based Patrick Grant, who serves his post-minimalism with a twist of Rock and Balinese gamelan. That, and more.

PROGRAM #3691 Gamelan Plus (First aired on 2/3/2015)  

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Gamelan Son of Lion

Sonogram

John Morton: She (really) Had To Go [9:23]

Innova 718 innova.mu

Patrick Grant

Patrick Grant

Fields Amaze [8:35]

Available at cdbaby.com

Gamelan Son of Lion

Sonogram

Barbara Benary: Jigalullaby [8:23]

Innova 718 innova.mu

Matthew Welch  & Blarvuster

Blarvuster

Canntaireachd Masolah I [6:23]

Tzadik 8077 tzadik.com

Lou Harrison

Drums Along The Pacific

Threnody for Carlos Chavez [8:00]

New Albion #122 Out of print, but available as a download via Amazon 

Bill Alves (performed by Susan Jensen, violin; The HMC American Gamelan)

Mystic Canyon

Mystic Canyon for Violin and Gamelan [5:20]

MicroFest Records Amazon

Hear unusual music for string quartet on this program, as Australian composer Andrew Byrne, now based in New York, uses the string quartet as a percussion instrument in his work called “Striking.” Then, listen to Bang on a Can All-Star saxman, clarinetist and composer Ken Thomson’s work for the JACK Quartet, “THAW.” There’s also folk-informed music from the singer, songwriter and composer Aoife O Donovan as played by Brooklyn Rider. Hear string quartet music by multi-instrumentalist composer Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ, who plays a traditional Vietnamese string instrument on “Green River Delta,” in collaboration with Kronos Quartet. Plus, hear a work from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams that uses the string quartet as an ambient music ensemble, relying upon harmonics and on tones played on open strings. That, and more.

PROGRAM #3686 Music for String Quartet (First aired on 1/21/2015)  

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Ken Thomson (JACK quartet)

THAW

Thaw, excerpt [1:41]

Cantaloupe Records 21095 bangonacan.org

Members of Either/Or Ensemble

Striking; Whispers and Cries

Andrew Byrne: Striking Parts 1 & 2 [7:32]

Available for purchase directly through composer here: andrewbyrne.com

JACK Quartet

John Luther Adams: The Wind in High Places

John Luther Adams: The Wind in High Places - Above Sunset Pass [7:24]

Cold Blue Music CBM 41 coldbluemusic.com

Ken Thomson (JACK quartet)

THAW

THAW: Thaw [10:55]

Cantaloupe Music 21095 bangonacan.org

Brooklyn Rider

Almanac

Aoife O'Donovan: Show Me [4:56]

Mercury Classics / In A Circle Records #002159302 mercuryclassics.com Available at iTunes, Amazon.com, Emusic.com

Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ with Kronos Quartet

 Three-Mountain Pass

Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ: Green River Delta/Luu Thuy Truong [4:40]

Innova 866 innova.mu  

Members of Either/Or Ensemble

Striking; Whispers and Cries

Andrew Byrne: Striking Parts 3 & 4 [8:30]

Available for purchase directly through composer here: andrewbyrne.com

Listen to world music that veers into psychedelic territory on this New Sounds, with Native-American inspired percussive drone music and Afrobeat from Brazil in music by Bixiga 70. Hear a mix of Afro-Ethiopian rock and jazz from the Brazilian band, Bixiga70, whose name is clearly a nod to the Afrobeat pioneered by Fela Kuti and drummer Tony Allen (with whom Mauricio Fleury from the band studied with.) This brass-heavy sound bounces through boundaries to harvest textures of Guinean and Malian mandingo from Guinea and Mali, soukous from the Congo and ethio-jazz. Also, there’s music from a Chinese string band, Red Chamber, and their pipa, zheng, zhongruan, among other Chinese lutes and zithers. On this tune,"Ah Ya Zein," they accompany oud player Gordon Grdina, and are augmented by all kinds of percussion from other traditions. Then, hear “tribal folkadelia” from Flamingods, with musicians based in London & Bahrain, and operatic trance music from Toronto-based artist, Alexandra Mackenzie, who records under the moniker Petra Glynt. Also, listen to a song from Nathan Bowles, a pounding tribute in percussive drone to the dwindling population of the Nansemond tribe who were part of the Powhatan confederacy in Virginia. Plus, explosive music from the Belgian brass klezmer punk band Kermesz a l'est, and more.

PROGRAM #3638, Psychedelic World Music (First aired on 9/17/2014)  

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Flamingods

Hyperborea

Vimana, excerpt [1:00]

SHAPE 027 shaperecords.co.ukshaperecords.bandcamp.com

Red Chamber

Gathering

Ah Ya Zein [7:40]

www.asza.com

Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem in My Heart)

Mo7it Al-Mo7it

Amanem [8:54]

Constellation Records CST093cstrecords.com Included as part of www.musicworks.ca, Summer 2014 Sampler jerusaleminmyheart.com

Kermesz a l'est

Kermesz a l'est (2014)

Zumkind [6:02]

www.kermeszalest.com

Flamingods

Hyperborea

Vimana [2:32]

SHAPE 027 shaperecords.co.ukshaperecords.bandcamp.com

Petra Glynt

Musicworks Summer 2014

Of This Land

petraglynt.bandcamp.com

Nathan Bowles

Nansemond

The Smoke Swallower [2:38]

Paradies of Bachelors 016 paradiseofbachelors.com

FatDog

New Found Land

Halling Etter Sjur Eldegard, excerpt [1:00]

Riverboat Records 1087 worldmusic.net

Kronos Quartet

Floodplain

Tashweesh [3:24]

Nonesuch 518349 nonesuch.com

Bixiga 70

Ocupai

5 Esquinas [4:31]

maisumdiscos.com

maisumdiscos.bandcamp.com

Angeli Drake

Deghe

Spargiani [6:00]

Available at Amazon.com or Emusic.com

Listen to new music for the instrument from Southwestern Norway known as the Hardanger fiddle, (or hardingfele), but of course there’s a twist. For this New Sounds, there’s post-rock, world music, electroacoustic music, and even an Irish-American duet on this Norwegian instrument – with music from Scotland, Ireland, and the U.S. Hear the collaborative recording between Hardanger fiddle master Nils Økland and the post-rock duo The Low Frequency In Stereo, called Lumen Drones – which comes off as a psychedelic drone band. Then, listen to music from the octogenarian bard Robin Williamson (of Incredible String Band reknown), along with violist Mat Maneri and drummer Ches Smith. Then, hear a duo record from Caoimhin O Raghallaigh (of The Gloaming) and Dan Trueman (founder of Princeton Laptop Orchestra), which stretches and recombines the DNA of Norwegian folk and Irish trad fiddling on a 10-stringed instrument, the Hardanger d’Amore. Plus, there’s music from the Hardanger’s likely ancestor, the viola d’amore, by composer/violist Garth Knox, and more.

PROGRAM #3676 Hardanger Fiddle Music (First aired on 12/23/2014)  

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Lumen Drones (Nils Okland/Per Steinar Lie/Orjan Haaland)

Lumen Drones

Dark Sea [3:54]

ECM 2434 http://ecmrecords.com

Annbjørg Lien

Baba Yaga

Aja [6:27]

North Side #6044 / Grappa Musikkforlag GRCD 4158 annbjorglien.com

Robin Williamson w/ Mat Maneri, viola and Ches Smith, drums

Trusting In The Rising Light

Our Evening Walk [5:40]

ECM 2393 ecmrecords.com

Lumen Drones (Nils Okland/Per Steinar Lie/Orjan Haaland)

Lumen Drones

Keelwater [6:15]

See above.

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh & Dan Trueman

Laghdú

fead an iolair [4:02]

store.irishmusic.net

Carla Kihlstedt

Borrowed Arms

Hold My Own [5:00]

kihlstedtbossi.bandcamp.com

Garth Knox

D'Amore

Malor me bat (2004) [4:54]

ECM 1925 ecmrecords.com