Show Notes
Send us Fan Mail Thandiswa Mazwai sits down with Farima Kone Kito to discuss her upbringing in Apartheid South Africa and shares insights on her latest album Sankofa, created in Soweto, Dakar, and NYC, in which she brings traditional music from across the African continent and archival Xsosa samples into the present in a collection that Songlines magazine praises as "eleven incredibly unique songs". Additionally, she reflects on the encouragement and inspiration she has received from fellow a...
More from World Music Institute - WMI Plus at Home
Send us Fan Mail Grammy Award-winning percussionist Will Calhoun (Living Colour) and legendary Malian musician Cheick Tidiane Seck reflect on their 15-year collaboration, The Mali Project. What began as a chance meeting in Morocco at the Gnawa Festival evolved into a powerful cross-cultural musical journey—bridging continents, traditions, and sounds. In this conversation, Will and Cheick shared insights into the project’s transformation from a documentation effort to a full-fledged recording ...
Send us Fan Mail Artist-composer Firas Zreik and multi-instrumentalist, producer, and educator Ronnie Malley engaged in a dynamic discussion about music, identity, and cultural exchange. Firas, a Palestinian-born kanun player based in NYC, shared insights on the instrument's history, microtonal aspects, and composition. They discussed the maqam system, cross-cultural collaborations, and the evolution of Palestinian music, emphasizing how artists can preserve cultural heritage while integratin...
Send us Fan Mail Sunny Jain, a Brooklyn-based drummer, dhol player, bandleader, and composer, speaks with artist Samita Sinha in the first WMI Plus At Home session of WMI’s 40th Season. The two friends discussed Sunny’s upcoming WMI Season opening performance at Bryant Park along with Gamelan Dharma Swara, and Sunny’s project Wild Wild East, which explores themes of immigration and identity through a fusion of jazz and Indian music. The conversation highlighted the power of music to bridge cu...
Send us Fan Mail Adam Robinson and Ralph Samuelson joined us for this WMI Plus At Home session, where they introduced the Japanese flute (shakuhachi). Adam and Ralph spoke about the history of the instrument and the different contexts it was used in as it developed. They discussed how traditional music is taught and how the shakuhachi has grown into a modern, globally connected instrument. During their talk, Ralph and Adam played musical examples of shakuhachi music, performed a traditional d...
Send us Fan Mail Sardinian guitarist, composer, vocalist, and instrument innovator Paolo Angeli recently joined us for a WMI Plus At Home conversation with fellow guitarist and founder and director of the Alternative Guitar Summit Joel Harrison. Paolo treated us to some traditional music and took us through the decades-long process of crafting his unique instrument based on a prepared Sardinian guitar with levers and pedals designed to add percussion and additional instrumentation to his repe...