The term “world music” has never been adequate to the task we’ve set it—even in its most benign reading, it implies a division between the listener and the rest of the world. And if that listener is in the United States, our country’s global hegemony in popular music colors the term’s meaning too. Americans don’t […]
Tag: Ragamala
Posted inFilm
A love letter to Ravi Shankar
Just as Shankar provided the music for several films, several films have been made about the music legend.
Posted inMusic
The Reader’s guide to World Music Festival Chicago 2019
The World Music Festival’s 18 free concerts, spread out over 17 venues, provide us with dozens of opportunities to get to know
our neighbors better—both across the street and around the globe.
Posted inMusic
What to see at the 2018 World Music Festival
The World Music Festival’s 21 free concerts feature a crowd of international talents—among them hallucinatory Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina, generation-spanning Cuban big band Orquesta Akokán, and omnivorous Congolese groove machine Jupiter & Okwess.
Posted inMusic
The brightest lights at the 2017 World Music Festival
The World Music Festival is a constellation of international stars—including Afrobeat scion Seun Kuti, rambunctious Cape Verdean accordionist Bitori, and Afro-Venezuelan flame keeper Betsayda Machado.
Posted inMusic
The best of the 2016 World Music Festival
Highlights of the 2016 World Music Festival include Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke, electro-rumba innovators Ìfé, and forward-looking Indian classicists Anjna and Rajna Swaminathan.
Posted inMusic
The World Music Festival bounces back
The World Music Festival’s free lineup includes Sidi Touré, Bassekou Kouyaté, and lots more.