Los Camperos de Valles are Huastecan musicians and are considered to be national treasures in their native Mexico. This album, released by Smithsonian-Folkways, serves as a great introduction to the sound of son huasteco.
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In a land of amazing bands and ensembles, MAiKA have managed to forcefully grab my attention. While they call themselves an alternative dance-punk band, there’s so much more to the music. The energy is amazing, the voices cut right through you in a way that most indie music can’t, and the fact that they combine brass band music with punk gives the music an authentic, punchy feel. From their Bandcamp site: “From the perspective (both musical and visual) of MAiKA, Balkan is an absurd mix of contrasts: religion and tradition combined with modern technology, natural beauty with destructive politics, mud with…
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We at MYNTH are elated that our friends at WeWantSounds have another spicy platter on offer from their label. This one comes to us from the Marseille-based band Biensüre. From the label’s press release: Biensüre’s influences are varied and transcend generations and borders. Ranging from the Anatolian pop scene of the 70s and 80s with key figures like Erkin Koray and Barış Manço to 70s Jazz, Disco and early electro, their music is at the intersection of several musical continents. Obviously, Hakan’s close connection to traditional Kurdish music is at the heart of the group’s music, embraced by all the other…
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Our friends at Xango Music reminded us about a profoundly interesting album released by Glitterhouse Records out of Germany. The artist, Yanna Momina, is from Djibouti, a country which very rarely gets any sort of press attention outside of military news (and the fact that it is now one of the most expensive places in the world despite the crushing poverty the average person suffers from. You can hear the pain in her voice as she sings and wails about with the most minimal of musical backings, as she is accompanied only by an acoustic guitar, calabash and sparse handclaps. …
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The legendary Habibi Funk will be releasing another scorching release on October 10, 2022. The release will feature a singer called Maha, who hails from Egypt and who worked with Salah Ragab’s Cairo Jazz Band as their main vocalist. There is an amazing backstory you can find on the release’s Bandcamp site, but the most important paragraphs can be read below: Some years ago, we had released “Al Massrieen,” music which is the passion project of their composer, Hany Shenoda. Most of the music of this band was released by the Sout El Hob label and after our reissue they…
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This disc from Nubian pop songstress Alsarah & the Nubatones is a revelation in terms of East African music, the part of the continent which produces less aggressive, more sultry and sensuous music. The Soukura EP is filled with more time changes than a noodly prog rock album, and this makes sense, since Sudanese music is full of gorgeous instrumentation and time signatures. From the release’s Bandcamp site: “The original song “Soukura” is a small taste of her upcoming album Silt (out on 3/11) and gets a signature deep and entrancing Ancestral Soul remix by African house legend Boddhi Satva…
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Today is a happy day for is at MYNTH! Our friend Arnulf den Boesterd, owner of The Netherlands’ most important world music distributor, Xango Music, celebrates 25 years in business. From the man himself: Xango Music is celebrating 25 years of distributing local music from all over the world, since 1997! Xango Music is an independent distributor specialising in local music from all over the world and operating in the Benelux (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg) countries. Xango Music came forth out of the desire to make more music available. Labels and artists are having great difficulty getting their work…
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Delicious Tunes is one of Europe’s finest labels dedicated to the best of modern African music. This track is from legendary Angolan guitarist and singer Paulo Flores, and if you wish more of his music, visit the label’s website here or visit Paulo’s Spotify account.
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I can’t say I know much about who Noori, the tambur-guitarist and leader of his eponymous band is, but to learn more, consider reading this article by OK Africa. From the Bandcamp site: A soundtrack of Sudan’s revolution and the first ever international release of the Beja sound, performed by Noori and his Dorpa Band, an unheard outfit from Port Sudan, a city on the Red Sea coast in eastern Sudan and the heart of Beja culture. Electric soul, blues, jazz, rock, surf, even hints of country, speak fluently to styles and chords that could be Tuareg, Ethiopian, Peruvian or…
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This is something of a revelation for me! The music produced by the Ellipsis Quintet, led by trumpeter Vasilis Nalbantis, mixes traditional Balkan, Greek and Levantine melodies inside a framework that would appeal to fans of the avant-progressive and Rock-In-Opposition genres. Theirs is a prog-world-jazz stew that’s one of the freshest things I’ve heard come out of Austria in a long time (barring electronic music, of course).