New world music from Mali, Croatia, Greece and Czech Republic.
Anansy Cissé is a talented guitarist from Mali who attracted international attention with his debut album Mali Overdrive. In 2018, he was stopped by an armed gang on his way to a peace festival in Dire, Timbuktu region, who captured him and destroyed all his instruments. It took him four years to release his new album Anoura, but the final result was worth it.
Branko Galoic is a singer-songwriter, composer and guitarist. He was born in Zagreb, Croatia and moved to Amsterdam when he was 26, where he lived for 11 years. There he met Bosnian produced Dragi Cestiç, who produced Galoic’s first album Above the Roots for his record label Snail Records. His latest album is entitled Danse de La Liberté.
Singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Anthony Furey and Paul Butler form the duo Elgin. We know them as songwriters, singers and the core of the Irish band The Young Folk, who were guests of Concertzender’s on 19 June 2015 during the Kargadoor, listen here.
After years of touring, Furey and Butler wanted the freedom to play other instruments and other styles of music. Their first album will be released on 28 May and is titled Weightless / Still.
Dàn Tranh is the name of the sixteen-string Vietnamese zither related to the Chinese guzheng, the Japanese Koto, and the Korean gayageum. There have not been many world music recordings with the Dàn Tranh. However, on the album The Art of the Vietnamese Zither – Dàn Tranh, musician Tri Nguyen brings in Western instruments and percussion, creating new sounds.
Sofia Labropoulou is a well-known Greek canon player. She released the album Sisyphus, which directly refers to the famous myth from Greek mythology. Sisyphus is the man who is doomed to roll a heavy rock up a mountain for all eternity. Sofia Labropoulou is a unique artist, mixing her own compositions with melodies from the Ottoman Empire, Arabic music and even songs by the Sex Pistols!
The Czech duo Tara Fuki has been around for twenty years, and this is their sixth album, entitled Motyle. Singers Andrea Konstankiewicz and Dorota Barova sing fragile songs sung in Polish and Czech. They accompany themselves on the cello, and the whole sounds surprisingly beautiful and unique.
Playlist
- Djam Maganoum, Anansy Cissé (03:44)
- Foussa Foussa, Anansy Cissé (04:35)
CD: Anansy Cissé, Aunoura (2021) Riverboat Records, World Music Network - Raindrops, Branko Galoic (03:37)4.
- Don’t let me be misunderstood, Branko Galoic, Bennie Benjamin, Horice Ott & Sol Marcus
- Solitude, Branko Galoic (0:1:37
CD: Branko Galoic, Danse de la Liberté, Super Pitch, 2021 Xango Music Distribution - Cherry Picked, Elgin (03:14)
- Bulletproof, Elgin (0:3:43)
- Faultlines, Elgin (03:42)
CD. Elgin, Weightless / Still, (2021), Pixie Pace, EUCD2960 - Waterdrops, Tri Nguyen (3:19)
- The Joy of Coming Home, Tri Nguyen (02:58)
- Prayer for Water, Tri Nguyen (01:50)
CD. Tri Nguyen, The Art of the Vietnamese Zither Dà Tranh (2019), ARC Music EUCD2826 - Cyclothymia., Sofia Labropoulou (06:18),
- D.E.I.T.M.E.H.T. A., Sofia Labropoulou (06:30)
Cd Sofia Labropoulou, Sisyphus, (2020) Odradek Records, ODRCD708 - Dlouný pád, Tara Fuki (04:10),
- Inna, Tara Fuki (04:11)
CD: Tara Fuki, Motyle (2020), Indies Scope 2664547-2
