Banning Eyre

Bixiga 70 is a 10-piece band from Sao Paulo, Brazil. The eclectic set of musicians seamlessly fuses cumbia, afrobeat and funk. NPR's Banning Eyre says their instrumental dance songs have earned them a global reputation.

You might not have heard of Solorazaf, but you've certainly heard him play guitar. He's been a sideman to everyone from Nina Simone to Dizzy Gilespie. His latest solo album is called Solodeguitar.

Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band's eight songs unfold in beautifully paced arrangements that are unhurried, but also packed with ideas. Legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen guests.

Imagine a country where most of the people are under 14 years old. Madagascar singer Razia Said lives in the U.S., but her songs tackle the challenges the African island nation faces.

The musicians who live in countries along the Nile rarely got to meet — until the Nile Project came along. Now they learn from each other, make records together and are currently touring the U.S.

Named after the mosquito-borne disease, LA's band Dengue Fever combines psychedelic rock with Cambodian pop. For over a decade, the six member band have managed to stay relevant by st...

On his new album, Lily-O, the folk musician approaches the genre with a sense of adventure, not reverence. In the process, he makes parts of our musical past viscerally present to us.

Known only by his first name, Honduran singer Aurelio has been making music for a decade. Yet, Aurelio is not only known for his raspy voice and catchy cumbia melodies, but for his ti...

In the West, we're used to hearing dance music at weddings. In southern Madagascar, guests might hear tsapiky, a regional guitar-band music, at funerals, as well as any other number of ceremonies.

Fifteen different musicians from five different ethnic groups have gathered to create music under the name Kasai Allstars. Banning Eyre reviews Beware the Fetish, the latest album fro...

Somi is a jazz singer and songwriter currently based in New York City. Banning Eyre reviews her latest album, The Lagos Music Salon, a collection of songs composed while she lived in Lagos, Nigeria.

Rapper Blitz the Ambassador hails from Ghana, but he has lately made New York City his home. This juxtaposition of continents and cultures has infused his beats with a wide range of sounds.

Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan redefines the concept of Middle Eastern music. Her debut album, Ya Nass, seamlessly fuses her roots in punk rock and techno with traditional Arabic sounds.

Caetano Veloso has been making music for over 40 years, and he's among the best known singers in his native Brazil. Veloso's new album, Abracaco, is one of the most engaging in his epic career.

Years since two filmmakers discovered a group of musicians in a Guinea refugee camp, that group — Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars — continues to make new music.

Keith Jarrett is a jazz legend. His catalog of recordings includes solo piano improvisations, trio and quartet works, classical performances, early sessions with Charles Lloyd and late ones with Miles Davis. But there's nothing quite like Jarrett's new double-CD set No End: It was recorded in his home studio ...

Tal National is the most popular live act in the West African nation of Niger, and the band is ready to go global. Its third album, Kaani, is the first to get an international release, and it arrives just in time for the group's first U.S. tour.

The first thing ...

It might come as a surprise to learn that people of Haitian descent are the largest ethnic minority in Cuba. But that's the history behind The Creole Choir of Cuba, a vocal and percussion ensemble that performs songs about history, faith and social change in the Caribbean.

The ...

Throughout Kobo Town's new album Jumbie in the Jukebox, frontman Drew Gonsalves declares his love for the past even as his feet are firmly planted in the present. The music of the Toronto band can drift between classic Caribbean pop styles and even verge on hip-hop, but the singer's perspective ...