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        Royal Rhythm: Maracatu North and South
        0

        Royal Rhythm: Maracatu North and South

        By Richard Gehr, eMusic Contributor

        (Photo by: Kevin Yatarola) When Dona Marivalda Maria dos Santos took the stage at Lincoln Center in Manhattan recently, she flickered like a psychedelic Snow White. The glittery queen, priestess and president of Maracatu Naçao Estrela Brilhante wore an elaborately spangled, mostly red and white hoop-skirted gown she had sewn herself and would wear for but a single year. She was flanked by a pair of equally dazzling "ladies of the palace," who carried the calunga… more »

        Summer Soundtrack: EMI's Balearic Compilations
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        Summer Soundtrack: EMI’s Balearic Compilations

        By Barry Walters, eMusic Contributor

        Like Krautrock and Northern Soul, Balearic Beat is a genre not recognized by those who created it. And, like the aforementioned musical categories, it was the Brits who bestowed this name on the sound they "discovered." As the story goes, UK DJs Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling and Trevor Fung holidayed in Ibiza, one of Spain's Balearic Islands, in 1987. Chicago's thumping house beats were sweeping clubland's most forward-leaning dancefloors while aggressive, four-to-the-floor house remixes started… more »

        Hidden Treasures 2013
        6

        Hidden Treasures 2013

        By eMusic Editorial Staff, eMusic Contributor

        Every year, hardcore music fans wrestle with the same wonderful problem: There are too many records. Even if we listened to nothing but new records, non-stop, the numbers just don't add up; we're going to miss something, it's certain, something strange and special. But what? What are we missing? We at eMusic know this exquisite pain better than anyone; the question "What are we missing?" keeps us up nights. Our Hidden Treasures feature is a partial… more »

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        2013 | Fat Cat Records / The Orchard

        Tal National, Kaani

        2013 | Label: Fat Cat Records / The Orchard
        Richard Gehr By Richard Gehr eMusic Contributor

        West Africa’s largest nation, Niger, has one of the region’s smallest musical profiles. But that should change once the world gets wind of Kaani, the thrilling third album (and first export) by Tal National, a Niamey-based group that emits as much jubilant energy as any on at least a couple of continents. Formed in 2000 by guitarist (and current municipal judge) Hamadal “Almeida” Moumine, Tal National combines high-speed contrapuntal guitar lines, hard chikita-chikita beats, and chattering mbalax-flavored talking drums into a breakneck polyrhythmic skein. “Kaani” means “sweet” in the Zarma… more »

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        2013 | Planet Mu / Revolver

        John Wizards, John Wizards

        2013 | Label: Planet Mu / Revolver
        Andy Beta By Andy Beta eMusic Contributor

        When in the 1980s African artists began to make their way to world music circuit, the biggest acts — Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Ali Farka Touré — were also the most unadulterated, their music with clear lineages back to their highlife, juju and griot roots. But in the 21st century, the African acts most likely to break through are instead a messy and bright jumble of genres. The Very Best, the acts on the Shangaan Electro comp and Cape Town’s John Wizards offer a panoply of sounds both African… more »

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        2013 | Krian Music Group / BFM DIGITAL

        Os Mutantes, Fool Metal Jack

        2013 | Label: Krian Music Group / BFM DIGITAL
        Richard Gehr By Richard Gehr eMusic Contributor

        “Open your mind, it’s time to get high,” sings Sergio Dias, the sole original Mutante here, in “Once Upon a Flight,” an art-rocking incitement to “trip, trip, trip, trip…” Dias and company hoist their freak flags aloft on the group’s ninth album, their second since reemerging in 2009. While their sound is somewhat more orthodox, little has changed thematically since Os Mutantes spearheaded the burgeoning Tropicália scene with youthful hippie fervor, hedonist politics, and producer Rogerio Duprat’s uncanny knack for one-upping George Martin with homegrown psychedelia. Fool Metal Jack‘s trajectory… more »

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        2013 | Riverboat

        Etran Finatawa, The Sahara Sessions

        2013 | Label: Riverboat
        Michelangelo Matos By Michelangelo Matos eMusic Contributor

        Etran Finatawa’s back-story is resonant — the 10-piece unit from Niger features members from two traditionally antagonistic ethnic groups, the Tuareg and the Wodaabe. But each of the band’s four albums plays easy and cuts deep, whether you know the first thing about the band or not. The Sahara Sessions isn’t markedly different in tone than their first three. Dry-toned, fleet-fingered guitar runs dance atop ruminative rhythms, like a mind unreeling after a long day’s work. Lead singer (and lead guitarist) Ghalitane Khamidoune’s warm, slightly parched voice… more »

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        The Mixtape
        4

        The Mixtape

        By eMusic Editorial Staff, eMusic Contributor

        This Month: Mollusk Jamboree Festival The grandeur of California's Big Sur is legendary -- a breathtaking expanse of verdant green hills, roaring waterfalls and the deep blue beauty of the Pacific Ocean. At the end of this month, Big Sur gets a soundtrack befitting its vistas, when Mollusk Surf Shop and (((folkYEAH))) present the Mollusk Big Sur Jamboree. To help get you ready for this fantastic combination of scenery and sound, we've compiled this radio station… more »

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