Afropop Worldwide on KRVS

For this exclusive Afropop Worldwide Hip Deep report, producer Ned Sublette travels to Port-au-Prince, where he checks in with bandleader Richard Morse of RAM, and with Lolo and Manzandeacute; Beaubrun of Boukman Eksperyans, both of whom produced hotly controversial carnival songs this year. In a country where the president, Michel Martelly, was formerly the #1 dance-music singer, the complexities of politics are felt in music. We'll look at how vodou and carnival interact to provide a vocabulary for political expression in the tense post-quake atmosphere. We'll meet 95-year-old Emerante de Pradines Morse, who was the first singer to perform the songs of vodou as entertainment in Port-au-Prince; we'll hear from historian Laurent Dubois, author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History; and we'll go crowd-surfing in the crush of carnival at Jakmel, the southern Haitian port city that was once a colonial cousin to New Orleans. Produced with support from a Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion, a program of the University of Southern California's Knight Chair in Media and Religion.

Afropop's Roadshow series continues with a focus on new music and interviews from Sierra Leone. Electric Bubu music from Janka Nabay, hip hop from Bajah and The Dry Eye Crew, the latest from Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars, and introducing Sorie Kondi. Israeli maestro Idan Raichel talks about his collaborations with Mali's Vieux Farka Tourandeacute; and musicians from Sudan. Also, new Madagascar salegy boogie from Jaojoby, the arrival in the US of exiled Cameroonian legend Lapiro de Mbanga, and lots more.

Afropop's Roadshow series continues with a focus on new music and interviews from Sierra Leone. Techno Bubu music from Janka Nabay, hip hop from Bajah and Dry Eye Krewe, the latest from Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars, and introducing Sorie Kondi. Also Israeli maestro Idan Raichel talks about his collaborations with Mali's Vieux Farka Tourandeacute; and musicians from Sudan. Also, new Madagascar salegy boogie from Jaojoby, the arrival in the US of exiled Cameroonian legend Lapiro de Mbanga, and more.

In this Hip Deep program, we explore musical connections between Africa and the Indian subcontinent. First, we hear the story of the Afro-Indian Sidi community. Starting in the 13th century, Africans arrived in India as soldiers in the armies of Muslim conquerors. Some were able to rise through the ranks to become military leaders and even rulers in India. Their descendents continue to live in India today, performing African-influenced Sufi trance music at shrines of a black Muslim saint named Baba Gor. Next, we dive into the swinging jazz era of 1930s Bombay, when African-American jazz musicians arrived by the dozen to perform at the glitzy Taj Mahal Hotel. They trained a generation of Indian jazz musicians who would become instrumental in the rise of India's Hindi film music industry. Then, we head south to Sri Lanka, where Africans have had a presence for almost 500 years. We explore their history through the groovy Afro-Indo-Portuguese pop music style known as baila, popularized by 1960s star Wally Bastiansz and still performed at parties around Sri Lanka today. Last, we speak with Deepak Ram, a Indian jazz flutist who recounts his experiences growing up Indian in apartheid South Africa. Throughout, we speak with leading experts, and of course, hear fantastic - and often unexpected - music.

It's been more than two years since APWW last surveyed the African sounds making waves in America. This program plays catch-up by putting the spotlight on a few standouts. From hip-hop and reggae to roots grooves and Afropop revival bands, spiced with remixes, collaborations, and off-the-wall connections--music drawn from across the African continent is thriving in US towns and cities. Including afrobeat from the Souljazz Orchestra, Cheick Hamala Diabate's experimental traditionalism, Alec Lomami's Congolese-American Dancepop, and with a special focus on Bombino's collaboration with Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach on his 'Nomad' album.