Latin Roots: Catupecu Machu
Though Argentina may be known for tango music, there is a strong and thriving rock scene that seems to be taking over. World Cafe recently traveled to Buenos Aires to visit the home-studio of Catupecu...
View ArticlePhoenix On World Cafe
The French band Phoenix seems to be appearing at the top of music charts all over the world. In 2009, Phoenix's album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix guided them to fame with popular tracks like "1901" and...
View ArticleAlo Brasil's Alex Shaw On The Urbanization Of Samba
Based in Philadelphia, Alo Brasil synthesizes various types of samba, with the hopes of making it a style accessible to American audiences. Alex Shaw, director of Alo Brasil, recently appeared on World...
View ArticleRoots Of Samba: Exploring Historic Pelourinho In Salvador, Brazil
The first stop on World Cafe's trip to Brazil was in Pelourinho, the old part of the city of Salvador on the country's northeast coast. In this installment of Sense of Place: Rio, World Cafe captures a...
View ArticleForro In The Dark: Building On The Sound Of Brazil's Northeast
Forro in the Dark gets its name from the Forro, a type of dance and music that's been popular in northeastern Brazil for more than 100 years. The style's traditional incarnation involves a three-piece...
View ArticleBeautiful Bossa Nova From Rio's Seu Jorge
The music of Seu Jorge occupies a singular place in today's Brazil. His songs are widely hailed as a return to the traditional songwriting of Tom Jobim and Caetano Veloso. But his style, and his...
View ArticleSylvio Fraga: Rio De Janeiro, By Way Of New York City
In this installment of Sense of Place: Rio, songwriter Sylvio Fraga performs two songs with his trio. There are underlying hints of samba in his performance, as well as a hefty dose of American...
View ArticleOs Mutantes On World Cafe
One of the most influential Brazilian psychedelic rock bands of the Tropicália movement, Os Mutantes released its first album in 35 years, Haih or Amortecedor, in 2009.
View ArticleDo Amor: A Rock Band In Rio
The four members of Do Amor have been playing together since they were 15, when they first bonded over their love of cheap vinyl records. They recently released their second album, Piracema, even...
View ArticleVinicius Cantuária On World Cafe
As part of this week's Sense of Place: Rio series, World Cafe revisits a 2004 session with Brazilian singer Vinicius Cantuária. At the time, he was in the midst of a string of highly praised albums,...
View ArticleBebel Gilberto On World Cafe
Bebel Gilberto may be the daughter of Joao Gilberto, one of the first bossa nova composers, but that's hardly her only claim to fame. Her album Tanto Tempo, produced by the electronic artist Suba, was...
View ArticleKassin On World Cafe
Kassin is an artist as well as an in-demand producer who works out of his own studio in Brazil with people like Marisa Monte and Arto Lindsay.He remains best known in the U.S. for a series of trio...
View ArticleNext: Aisha Burns
Aisha Burns is best known as the violinist in the chamber-folk band Balmorhea. But in the last few years, Burns has left her comfort zone to write her own songs and play them on guitar. On her debut...
View ArticleThe Handsome Family On World Cafe
Brett and Rennie Sparks have inhabited a unique musical world together since the '90s. As The Handsome Family, husband Brett sings and writes the melodies while wife Rennie focuses on the lyrics; the...
View ArticleBombino On World Cafe
Nomad is an appropriate title for Bombino's new album; a member of the Tuareg tribe in Saharan Africa, the guitar was first relocated to a refugee camp in Algeria, where he learned to play his instrument.
View ArticleELO's Jeff Lynne Describes His Work In The Studio
Jeff Lynne isn't quite at the forefront of '70s and '80s classic rock, but he was responsible for some formidable records with Electric Light Orchestra and Traveling Wilburys; later, he produced...
View ArticleLatin Roots: Argentine Reggae Legend Fidel Nadal
In this installment of Latin Roots, the World Cafe team travels to Fidel Nadal's home studio in Buenos Aires for a session with a reggae performer who truly owns his genre. Nadal has 15 solo records to...
View ArticleSteve Martin and Edie Brickell On World Cafe
Steve Martin is a true Renaissance man, having run the gamut of accomplishments from acting to writing to art collecting.
View ArticleNext: Coke Weed
Alt-psychedelic quintet Coke Weed is from picturesque Bar Harbor, well up the Maine coast. The band just released its third album, Back To Soft, which took nine months to make and is — despite the...
View ArticleLa Santa Cecilia On World Cafe
La Santa Cecilia got its start playing a mix of rancheras, norteno music and other Mexican-influenced rhythms for tourists and passers-by on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. The group developed a...
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