For His Holiness: Yungchen Lhamo and "Someday"

Yungchen Lhamo, a Tibetan exile in New York City, sings today's random tune. Lhamo's name translates to "Goddess of Song," and was given to her by a lama after her birth in Lhasa. Fleeing Tibet in 1989, she first lived in Australia and then in New York. She tours extensively, singing unaccompanied, and has collaborated with artists such as Annie Lennox, Billy Corgan, Sheryl Crow, Michael Stipe and Peter Gabriel, to whose label, Real World Records, she is under contract. This song, Someday, can be found on her 2008 album Ama, and is for the Dalai Lama, who she hopes will come home to Tibet someday.

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: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yungchen_Lhamo

Near Johannesburg: Deepak Ram and "Night in Lenasia"

Deepak Ram brings us today's random tune, called Night in Lenasia. A flautist, composer, keyboardist and producer, Deepak Ram is from South Africa. Ram's grandparents were brought to South Africa to work on plantations, and he was born a second generation immigrant during the apartheid era - in fact his family's home was bulldozed by law when the Group Areas Act to implement racial segregation went into effect. He grew up in Sophiatown, a racially mixed area. His earliest musical influences were jazz and Bollywood music, and he created his own flute from a drainpipe. He later went to India and studied music under flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and the late Shri Suryakant Limaye, who bequeathed a collection of flutes to Ram. He has released six solo albums and has collaborated on others with musicians such as Taufiq Qureshi, Emam, Darius Brubeck, Ustad Tari Khan and Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. You can find Night in Lenasia on his 1998 album Flute for Thought. The title refers to a former segregated township in South Africa.

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: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Ram

The Darkness: The Afro Celt Sound System and "When I Still Needed You"

Today's song is called When I Still Needed You by the Afro Celt Sound System and sung by Rwandan singer Dorothee Munyaneza. The Afro Celt Sound System was started in 1991 by British music producer Simon Emmerson and Afro-pop artist Baaba Maal after Emmerson noticed the similarities between an Irish air and an African folk song.  Members of Maal's band came together with a group of Irish musicians to collaborate on the initial project.   The group produced their first album after recording the initial tracks in a week's span, and the resulting sales were so good that they continued to record together.  The group fuses Irish and West African traditional music with elements of techno and electronic dance rhythms.  They have since released seven albums, and are considered something of a world music supergroup as they have often performed and recorded with a number of superstar musicians, including Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Sinead O'Connor, Ayub Ogada, Shooglenifty, and Altan.  When I Still Needed You is from their 2005 CD Anatomic, and references the Rwandan genocide.

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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro_Celt_Sound_System

Send it Packing: Pink Martini and "Auld Lang Syne"

In case you are looking for some music to send the old year packing, Pink Martini is on the case with today's random tune. Formed in 1994 in Portland, Oregon by Thomas Lauderdale, Pink Martini was originally created because Lauderdale, who worked in politics, thought that most bands at political functions were loud and boring. He asked a fellow Harvard classmate, China Forbes, to join the band, and their first single, Sympathique, was nominated for song of the year at the Victoires de la Musique awards in France. Described as a little orchestra, the band consists of 10-12 members and features a multilingual repertoire that crosses the lines of jazz, classical, Latin and classic pop. Forbes splits lead singing time with Storm Large. The band has collaborated and performed with many other musicians, and their music has appeared in films and television. You can find this song, Auld Lang Syne, on Pink Martini's 2010 album Joy to the World, and their 2011 album, A Retrospective.

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: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Martini

Questions to the King: Pascuala Ilabaca y Fauna with "Preguntas al Rey"

Pascuala Ilabaca and her band Fauna bring us today's random tune, called Preguntas al Rey. Born in Spain but hailing from Chile, Pascuala Ilabaca is a singer-songwriter who was part of the group Samadi, which translates a number of different styles of ethnic music. Ilabaca studied music in India in 2008-2009, and is a great admirer of the great Chilean singer-songwriter Violeta Parra. She is noted for her voice, and her instruments are accordion and piano. Preguntas al Rey can be found on her 2015 album Rey Loj.

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: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascuala_Ilabaca

The Silent Sunrise: Kardemimmit and "El Niin Hiljaa"

Our random song for today is by the Finnish band Kardemimmit, which is made up of four women who play the national instrument of Finland, called the kantele. The instrument comes in 15 and 38 string versions, and both types are present in their music. Founded in 1999 in a music school, the band plays original modern folk compositions steeped in tradition from Finland's various regions, and their styles include Finnish reki and ancient runo singing, 19th century dancing music, Perhonjokilaakso kantele playing styles and eastern Finnish archaic improvisation. They have released three albums. The band's name is that of a common spice used to sweeten, so Kardemimmit advertises themselves as Finland's Spice Girls. This song, El Niin Hiljaa, can be found on their 2009 album Kaisla, and on a bonus CD included with The Rough Guide to the Music of Scandinavia called Introducing Kardemimmit.

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.kardemimmit.fi/

Mama's Got a Squeezebox: Roddie Romero & The Rockin' Cajuns with "Da Big Squeeze"

Today's random song is by Louisiana accordionist Roddie Romero and the Rockin' Cajuns. Roddie Romero is from the town of Lafayette, Louisiana. Influenced early on by his grandfather's accordion playing, he taught himself how to play by reproducing the sounds he heard his grandfather make. Surrounded by his heroes, like Buckwheat Zydeco and other legends, he became a sought-after performer himself while still in high school - the scandal of his performances in nightclubs and bars as a minor led to the Roddie Romero Law in the state legislature, which allowed underage musicians to perform in such settings if accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Sometime later, after seeing Sonny Landreth in Canada, Romero became enamored of the slide guitar, adding it to his repertoire. While the Rockin' Cajuns was one of his first bands, he now fronts the Hub City All-Stars. This song, Da Big Squeeze, is from the Roddie Romero & The Rockin' Cajuns' 1991 album of the same name, though we found it on the various artists compilation Cajun and Zydeco Mardi Gras (1992).

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://roddieromero.com/web/