Just Let It Go: Afro Celt Sound System and "Release It"

The Afro Celt Sound System, a fusion band that mixes modern electronic dance rhythms with traditional Irish and West African songs, brings us today's random song, called Release It. The Afro Celt sound System were formed by British producer Simon Emmerson and Afro-pop star Baaba Maal in 1991. Since then they've been proclaimed a world music supergroup, and have collaborated with Peter Gabriel, Sinead O'Connor, Robert Plant, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Ayub Ogada and many other pop and world stars. This song, Release It, is an instrumental that can be found on their 1999 album Volume 2: Release.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: http://www.afroceltsoundsystem.com/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro_Celt_Sound_System

It's Somebody's House: Beausoleil and "Chez Varise Connor"

Chez Varise Connor is the title of today's random tune, and it is brought to us by Beausoleil. Founded in 1975, Beausoleil released its first album in 1977 and became one of the most well-known groups from playing traditional and original music in the Creole tradition of Louisiana. They have also gone beyond the traditional, incorporating rock and roll, jazz, blues, calypso and other genres. They are an extensive touring band, and they sing in both English and Colonial Louisiana French. The band takes its name from Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil, who led the Acadian resistance to British deportation from Canada and led 193 exiles to safety in Louisiana. The band almost didn't come to be - Michael Doucet, one of the founders, was going to New Mexico to study Romantic Poets, but he won a Folk Arts Apprenticeship sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. As he puts it: "I traded William Blake for Dewey Balfa," and he sought out every living Cajun/Creole performer to learn what he could about Cajun music and their techniques. He even encouraged some to resume performing. They are one of the few Creole/Cajun groups to win a Grammy. Chez Varise Connor can be found on their 1997 compilation The Best of Beausoleil.

Light 'er Up: Incendio and "Song of Tiamat"

Incendio brings us today's random song, called Song of Tiamat. Incendio is an instrumental world music band built around a guitar song but incorporating other instruments such as mandolin, bouzouki, violin, Celtic harp, piano, bass, synthesizer and various ethnic percussion instruments. The band was formed in 1999 by Jim Stubblefield, Jean-Pierre Durand and Liza Carbé, and originally played music in the nuevo flamenco tradition, but has expanded into many other areas, including the varied stories of the individual band members. Song of Tiamat can be found on their 2013 release called The Shape of Dreams.

At Least It's Not Chin Music: Mouth Music and "Martin Martin"

Today's tune, Martin Martin, is by Mouth Music, a Scottish musical project that combines traditional Gaelic music with contemporary instrumental and techno. Featuring a variety of musicians over the years that often went on to fame under other bands, and produced and directed by Martin Swan, Mouth Music appears to be on hiatus since 2005, but their interesting sound led them to international fame in the 1990s. You can find Martin Martin on their 1990 self-titled debut album, featuring electronics, sparse electric guitars, fiddles and a world-beat type of sound that prefigured later groups like Afro-Celt Sound System.

Stormy Weather: Marcel Khalife and "Promises of the Storm"

Our random song today is from Marcel Khalife, a Lebanese singer, composer and oud player. A winner of the Palestine Award for Music and the UNESCO Artist for Peace award, Khalife first created a group in his village in the 1970s to revive Lebanese music and Arab choral singing during the Lebanese civil war. He combines traditional Arab music with western elements such as piano, and recently has concentrated in instrumental works. His music has been controversial in the Arab world - it was banned in Tunisia in 2005 possibly due to his support of imprisoned Arabs in Israel and Arab countries and his support of Tunisian activists. He also faced criminal prosecution in Lebanon for a song using lyrics that quoted the Qu'ran. While Khalife was found innocent of blasphemy, senior Sunni Muslim clerics still maintain that he is guilty. This song, Promises of the Storm, is from his 1997 album of the same name.