In his review of the 2019 release by this duo from Malawi Bruce Miller wrote, "Homemade instruments such as the ones played on this record seem like orchestras. The guitar holds tight to the rhythm while Ythe long-necked, banjo-like babatoni, the sliding bass sound serves as bottom end as well as lead. While key shifts are few, dynamics, subtleties, and variety seem endless. And their vocal harmonies are like choruses... there simply are no weak spots." Here's the single from their 2025 album that comes out in June of 2025.
Well, it's not really roots, in spite of its bluesey enough sound. But Geiger von Müller's "Alien Fig Yogurt Incident" is charmingly weird and musically more complex than you might think at first. And his videos are out-of-this-world.
Italian composer Fabio Mina explores the contemporary possibilities of that most ancient of instruments, the flute, in less than ancient settings and methods on Existence / Resistance.
January, 2025
Ebo Taylor, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad are touring the world right now with a new round of what they call "psychedelic afrobeat." The album is titled Ebo Taylor, honoring the 88 year oldGhanaian musician's years as one of highlife music's greatest artsists/
March, 2025
We've been covering some great Polish music this month, and here's another to hear. Daj Ognia is one a radio listener tipped me off to, a band with roots in both Poland and Scandinavia. This is from their 2023 album, Przednówek.
Siwy kon, siwy kon,
Na siwego siadom,
A swojego dam dziadom
Gray horse, gray horse,
I'll sit on the gray one,
And I'll give mine to the grandfathers
Released 2023
"Sarah Allen and company should be commended for crafting an instantly recognizable sound that expands the boundaries of instrumental acoustic music." - Lee Blackstone in RootsWorld. Flook just released a single from their upcoming 2025 album, and it is as artful as expected. Here's a taste of Sanju.
Single is out January, 2025. Full album in March.
The French trio Tako Toki create all their music on instruments made from found objects and scrap they collect and make musicial. It's a clever idea that's been done before, but they take it to a different level, moving from the dead serious, to the slyly imitative, to the downright funny, like this homage to the movie sound track and sound effects artist, Raymond Scott. We have a review coming soon, but dig in and enjoy some now.
February 2025
Clarinet virtuoso Aurélie Charneux leads a trio of musicians on Cinquième Saison. Joined by Nicolas Puma (double bass) and Simon
Leleux (percussion), her compositions explore a 5th season of sounds, improvising to evoke the relationship between humans and nature, the earth and its human adversaries and friends. It can be trance like and soothing, or harsh and demanding.
This is the second album by Libérica, led by bassist Manel Fortià (a favorite around here). It brings together Catalan singers Pere Martínez, Valencian Carles Dénia and Cádiz-born Antonio Lizana, along with trumpeter and vocalist Alba Careta. It's jazz at its heart, and tradtion in its soul. (Read our review of Manel Fortià & Magli Sare's album 2022 release, re·tornar.)
Novalima is a team of DJ-musicians from Lima, Peru who dig deeper into their own roots while staying firmly on the dancefloor.
January, 2025
Digital Ngoma is group of musicians from the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte who experiment with traditional beats and electronics. They guarantee "100% made in Mayotte."
Canadian string player (mostly mandola and mandolin) Kevin Breit is joined by singer Ariana Gillis on one of the few covers of a Warren Zevon song that has ever been successful and original.
Released in 2021
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp is possibly the best named band in Europe: artful, enigmatic and surprising at every turn. We'll have a review of this soon, but here's a taste of their newest album. While you wait, you can read Martha Willette Lewis' review of their previous album, We're OK. But We're Lost Anyway to get the lowdon on who they are.
January, 2025
We just reviewed Lynn Adib's 2024 work with Zeid Hamdan, as the duo Bedouin Burger. Here's a taste of some of her solo work, from her 2018 album Youmma.
Posted January 2025
Wishamalii is an adventurous trio based in Helsinki: singer, oud player and composer Nemat Battah (Palestine/Jordan), pianistand composer Kari Ikonen and Ethiopian-born, Finland-based percussionist Abdissa «Mamba» Assefa (Ethipia). Their newest work, Al-Bahr is rooted in classical Arab music but only as a starting point for new compositions. Ikonen has even refined a piano tuning to play the maqam notes at the heart of this music.
September, 2024
We'll have a review shortly from this album by Polish cymbaly and accordion player Karolina Wegrzyn, but here's a taste of it, a traditional Carpatho-Rusin song that translates as "Whose scythe cuts well."
January 2025
Two Italians and a Belgian come together in Brussels... sounds like the beginning of a joke, I know. But the sounds that come fromthe instruments, voices and hearts of Flavia Clementi (vocals, shruti box, percussion), Federico Bragetti (cello, vocals, percussion) and Thomas Van Bogaert (guitar, vocals, percussion) is serious, joyous and absobs all the influences a city like Brussels seems to embrace.
December, 2024
We Interupt Our Regularly Scheduled Magazine For This Important Announcement.
RootsWorld cannot survive without the support of our readers. If you want to hear great music and read great writers, then we need each listener and reader to contribute just a little to make it happen. Please join us!
About RootsWorld: RootsWorld is a world music magazine started in 1993, pretty much at the dawn of the term "world music" as well as the pre-dawn of internet publishing (I suspect this was the first music magazine of any sort published on the www). Our focus is the music of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, Pacifica and The Americas, the roots of the global musical milieu that has come to be known as world music, be it traditional folk music, jazz, rock or some hybrid. How is that defined? I don't know and don't particularly care at this point: it's music from someplace you aren't, music with roots, music of the world and for the world. OK?
