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TRANSPACIFIC SOUND PARADISE
Popular and Unpopular Music from Around the World
with Rob Weisberg

Saturdays 6-9pm (NJ Garden State time) on WFMU

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See playlists and hear audio archives of all Transpacific Sound Paradise (TSP) shows since 2002:
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/tp

Check out the TSP NYC metro area world music concert calendar:
http://www.wfmu.org/world

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To be added to the TSP email list for notification of upcoming special guests, Barbes remotes and other

show-related news send an email to Rob Weisberg here. Please put the word LIST in the subject line.

WFMU is an independent, non-commercial radio station broadcasting at 91.1 FM in the
New York Metropolitan area and 90.1 FM in New York's Hudson Valley,
with live streams and archives via http://www.wfmu.org/audiostream.shtml.

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TSP Tonight (Nov 21): Vlada Tomova's Balkan Tales
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Saturday, November 21st: Vlada Tomova and ensemble live in the studio

Singer and composer Vlada Tomova conjures original musical blends from her native Bulgaria and elsewhere in the Balkans, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Vlada's vocal group Yasna Voices was featured prominently on the first Balkan Beat Box CD. Now she has assembled a stellar multi-instrumental ensemble and released her first full-length CD, "Balkan Tales." Vlada and ensemble will celebrate the new CD with a concert at the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck, NJ on December 5 - and they give us a live taste on tonight's show.

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Coming Soon (Nov 28): Cyminology
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Saturday, November 28th: Cyminology - Persian and jazz blends via Berlin from up-and coming ECM recording artists

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Recent Shows: Franco, Luaka Bop, Pink Puffers
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Saturday, November 14th: Ken Braun of Sterns Music on the great final years of Congolese legend Franco

Listen to the show, see the playlist, add a comment: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33642

Sterns Music , the venerable purveyor of African music has just released Francophonic 2, a beautifully packaged and well-documented 2-CD set of music from Congolese musical legend Franco's illustrious final years (the 1980s). Nobody knows Congolese music better than Stern's stateside rep Ken Braun. Ken will join us to give background and play the music. He'll also explore some of Stern's recent releases of vintage West African music from the Syliphone label archives.

Saturday, November 7th: Yale Evelev - Luaka Bop turns 21

Listen to the show, see the playlist, add a comment: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33571

Luaka Bop is thought of as David Byrne's label but an equally or perhaps more powerful force behind the operation is his partner Yale Evelev. Yale has dedicated his life to exploring music off-the-beaten path and getting it out there on disc. (Prior to joining Luaka he was also involved for some years with the avant-garde-y New Music Distribution Service, a great friend to adventurous college freeform DJs of the 1980s.) Luaka has finally reached drinking age and where better to celebrate than in swinging Jersey City? Yale comes by to play and talk about some favorite releases from years gone by, and new things as well.

Saturday, October 31st: Pink Puffers Brass Band from Rome

Listen to the show, see the playlist, add a comment: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33483

The Pink Puffers brass band regularly fills the streets, squares and historical sites of Rome with their buoyant brand of funk, soul, jazz and New Orleans inspired originals and covers, not to mention the occasional Italian 70s film soundtrack. The youthful Italians hit our shores earlier this month at the invitation of the annual Boston-area HONK Festival of activist street bands. HONK festival bands are known for their Vaudevillian antics - stilt walking, juggling etc. - and outrageous costumes. The Pink Puffer's own trademark bright pink outfits are more carnivalesque than "haunted house" - but their Vespa-throttling volume is definitely not for the timid. The thirteen Puffers squeeze into FMU Studio B for a spine-tingling, blood-curdling live session.

Also Recently: Rokia Traoré

Saturday, October 3rd: Rokia Traoré

Listen to the show, see the playlist, add a comment: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33153

Singer / songwriter / bandleader Rokia Traoré has always gone her own way. She's Malian by birth and often sings in her native Bambara, but with a diplomat dad, Traoré grew up around the world, and she has based her career in France. She has incorporated traditional Malian music into her sound but she would not call herself a traditional musician. Her lyrics often support women's rights and other socially progressive themes. Her latest CD, the sparse, intimate "Tchamantché" (Nonesuch) takes a step further away from her West African roots - but still does not abandon them completlely. Rokia joins us to talk about the new CD and other musical adventures.

Rokia's tour dates through the end of 2009 are in Europe. She will be back in North America in the spring with a show scheduled at the Highline Ballroom, 431 W 16 St in NYC on April 17.

Also Fairly Recently: Barbes Live Remote

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Our recent live remote from Barbes, 376 9th St in Park Slope,
Brooklyn was Saturday, Sept 19, 6-9 pm. The next one will be May 1, 2010.

Listen to the show, see the playlist, add a comment: http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33003

Performing live:

Clay Ross / Matuto's visionary explorations of Brazilian musical forms +
Djarara, New York's premier Haitian rara group (who are featured in the new documentary film The Other Side of the Water) +
Happyfunsmile - NYC's first and foremost Japan / Okinawa roots band +
Smokey Hormel's latest project Smokey's Secret Family, who revisit entrancing old-school Congolese guitar styles.

Coming soon:

Live sessions with Brazilian retro soul-ster Curumin and Franco-Iranian roots/jazz stylists Cyminology,
interviews with Malian / French vocal stylist Rokia Traore, Inuit throat-singer Tanya Tagaq and Dominican roots singer Puerto Plata ,a Luaka Bop 21st anniversary label retrospective with Luaka prez Yale Evelev, and lots more TBA. Keep an eye on this page and http://www.wfmu.org/upcoming for dates and details as they are announced.

Somewhat Recently: Bomba Estéreo, Alash, Tel Aviv Show, Gato Loco

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Saturday, August 15th: Gato Loco

Gato Loco is a NY-based band with three different incarnations. But all three play some variant of Afro-Cuban music filtered through an aggressively improvisational jazz lens, with classical and rock influences in the mix as well. The group recently released a debut CD, "Coconino," featuring its 12-piece psychotic-mambo-band look.

Today (August 15) happens to be leader / sax player Stefan Zeniuk's birthday. Gato Loco's unique low-end formation - playing Afro-Cuban classics and songs inspired by that music, at uniquely low frequencies - honor the occasion by playing live in our studios.

Listen to the show, see the playlist, add a comment: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/32588

Saturday, August 8th: New music from Israel and Palestine, from Tel Aviv radio station Kol Ha Kampus

This week Transpacific Sound Paradise time-shifts back to Rob's recent Holy Land Tour for a show recorded at Israel College of Management radio station Kol Ha Kampus ("The Campus Voice"). Kol Ha Kampus is probably Israel's most adventurous and influential non-commercial music station.

Rob is joined by guest-DJs Gil Rouviou of Kol Ha Kampus and Ilan Rosenberg, Tel Aviv native but currently host of Jaffa Jive Sundays at noon on WCBN-FM in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Gil and Ilan give us a multi-genre intro to rootsy contemporary Israeli (and some Palestinian) artists, many of whom have rarely been heard on US airwaves. This is not your stereotypical Jewish music - not a bit of schmaltz, and nary a klezmer song is in the mix. Well except, of course, for Oy Division.

Listen to the show, see the playlist, add a comment: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/32507

Saturday, August 1st: Alash

Alash is a quartet of master throat singers and instrumentalists from Tuva, the tiny but music-rich Central Asian republic. Proteges of Tuvan musical ambassador Kongar-ool Ondar (who you may know from the documentary film Genghis Blues), Alash mainly focuses on traditional repertoire. But the group also cites Jimi Hendrix as an influence and has collaborated with the Sun Ra Arkestra and Béla Fleck. Alash is currently on the road in North America, and we catch the ensemble for a live session in advance of their tour-ending August 15 gig at cozy Barbes in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Listen to the show, see the playlist, add a comment: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/32425

Saturday, July 25th: Bomba Estéreo

Bomba Estéreo is a super-energized young band from Bogotá, Colombia whose enervating sound is an electro-psychedelicized potpourri of that vibrant city's many musical influences: traditional bullerengue, cumbia, African-influenced champeta, reggae, dub, hip-hop - not to mention rock and roll. It's been a breakout year for the band, which made a smashing North American debut at SXSW and blew away a field full of Danes at the legendary Roskilde festival. Bomba Estéreo joins us for a live set at the tail end of its first east coast tour - in support of new CD "Blow Up" on Nacional Records - before flying off to Amsterdam's famous Melkweg and further European adventures.

Listen to the show, see the playlist, add a comment: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/32350

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Complete TSP Playlists and Program Archives
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Chronological index: http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/tp

Alphabetical index: http://www.wfmu.org/Playlists/Robw/alphabetical.html

See also:

TSP NYC / Northern NJ world music events guide: http://www.wfmu.org/world

TSP Northern NJ multi-culti restaurant tipsheet: http://www.wfmu.org/Playlists/Robw/restaurants.html

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Saturdays 6-9pm (NJ Garden State time) on WFMU

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