Long Live Papa: Papa Wemba and "Sala Keba"

Today's tune is by Papa Wemba, who recently departed this life while performing on stage on April 24th, 2016. A Congolese musician and singer who worked primarily in the genres of rumba, soukous and ndombolo, he was one of the most popular African musicians of his time. He performed with a number of bands in the 70s before starting his own group, Viva la Musica. He especially developed his sound after his group performed in Paris in the 1980s. He also became internationally known, especially after performing with Peter Gabriel on his Secret World Live tour in 1993. He eventually maintained two incarnations of his musical group, one in Paris and the other in Kinshasa. In the early 2000s, he ran into legal troubles after being suspected of trafficking illegal immigrants into France - he spent over three months in jail. Regardless, he had a deep impact on a younger generation of Congolese musicians, and will be deeply missed. This song, Sala Keba, can be found on his 1995 album Emotion.

All in the Family: Joan Soriano and "Vengo de Lejos"

We go to the Caribbean for today's random tune. Vengo de Lejos is from Joan Soriano, a Dominican bachata singer and guitarist who blends modern and traditional bachata styles. The seventh of fifteen children, he began his music career with a self-made guitar fashioned from a tin can and some fishing line. After mastering his style of bachata playing, he began working as a session musician in Santo Domingo. His album El Duque de la Bachata won the Indie Acoustic Project's Best Worldbeat Album of 2011. Vengo de Lejos can be found on his 2012 album La Familia Soriano.

Globalquerque Video 2: DVA (Czech Republic)

Here is an interesting duo from the Czech Republic called DVA, performing in the Fountain Courtyard at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 19th for Globalquerque. They are...well...I can't really describe them. They are unique, and interesting, and odd. They often sing in imaginary languages. All good things in my opinion. I don't know the name of the song, but you can see their kinetic energy in their performance. This video was shot by me on my Samsung Galaxy 4 phone. Apologies for video quality - but the sound is pretty good, though the female performer's voice gets lost a little bit at times. I think you'll get the picture.