And Not Enough: Rusted Root and "Too Much"

Pittsburgh band Rusted Root brings us today's random tune. A worldbeat band founded in 1990, Rusted Root is known for its fusion of acoustic, rock, world and other types of music with percussion that draws on African, Latin American and Native American influences and lyrics that often reference Christianity and Judaism. Co-founder Michael Glabicki cites as inspiration for the band the success of Peter Gabriel's world infused 1986 album So. The band has sold 3 million albums, led by its platinum 1994 album When I Woke. This song, Too Much, is from their 2002 album Welcome to My Party.

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.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusted_Root

Go with the Gut: Dissidenten and "Instinctive Traveler (Funk.Ed Up Mix)

One of the bands that is considered a leader of the worldbeat movement is on tap for our random tune for today. Dissidenten are a German rock/electronic band known for their collaborations with Middle Eastern, African and Indian musicians. The band was founded in 1981 by German musicians, and the band released their first album in collaboration with Indian musicians after a one year tour of India. They then moved to Morocco to record their second album in 1982, again collaborating with local musicians, particularly the band Lem Chaheb. In 1986, they moved to Spainand repeated the process, and again in 1989 when they moved back to Morocco. The band, which had a hiatus, reunited in 1995 and released another album. Since then, they have toured and performed at festivals, and have participated in a documentary and an opera. Their song Instinctive Traveler can be found on their 1997 album of the same name. This version, Instinctive Traveler (Funk.Ed Up Mix) can be found on the 2001 album Dissidenten Remix.ed: A Worldbeat Odyssey and on the compilation Putumayo Presents: World Lounge CD (2002).

Baaa Ram Ewe: Zoë Lewis and "Sheep"

Baaa! Today's random song is by Zoë Lewis, an English folk musician now living in Provincetown, Massachussetts. She began her career with the London ten-piece jazz band Avanti, but has been more recently performing her own solo music and with her band Zoë Lewis and her Rubber Band. A multi-instrumentalist, she employs a wide variety of styles including vaudeville and worldbeat. This song, Sheep, can be found on her 1998 album of the same name.

And Not a Drop to Drink: Cirque du Soleil and "Désert"

The random tune for today comes from a surprising place - Cirque du Soleil. Désert, along with the entire soundtrack of Cirque du Soleil's Las Vegas (Bellagio Hotel) water and stage show O, was composed by Canadian Benoit Jutras. Jutras' eclectic music combines worldbeat, classical, rock, trip hop and electronica, and the score of O is no exception, with instrumentation that includes classical Western, erhu (Chinese violin), bagpipes, African guitar, African kora (harp), Colombian guitar, cello, ancient woodwinds and a wide variety of percussion instruments. Désert can be found on the soundtrack for O, released in 1998.