LEARN AROUND THIS WORLD
A SUPER SUMMER IN BELARUS
One of the most important traditional holidays in Belarus is the summer solstice holiday of Kupalle…
THE BALTIC WAY
On August 23, 1989, more than a million people from the Baltic nations — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — linked hands to form a human chain almost 400 miles long in an event called “The Baltic Way….”
KALINKA, KALINKA, KALINKA MOYA
Kalinka is a mid-19th century Russian song that has had multiple lives: as a pre-Soviet standard, a sanctioned Soviet-era folk anthem, a post-Soviet elctro-pop hit and, not at all least, the soundtrack for “Tetris…..”
EASTERN EUROPE — WE’LL SEE YOU IN SERBIA
If your idea of heaven is spending several days in a small town in Serbia in with 600,000 trumpeters — and how could it not be! — get yourself to Guča.
TRINIDAD — RIKKI JAI’S CHARISMATIC CHUTNEY
As far as we’re concerned, Rikki Jai will forever be the only Chutney Soca King….
BARBADOS — RAGGA RAGGA RAGGA RAGGA RAGGA RAGGA RAGGA RAGGA RAGGA RAGGA
One of All Around This World’s favorite soca songs is “Ragga Ragga,” a mid-’90s Caribbean mega-hit by Bajan musician Stedson Wilshire, otherwise known as “Red Plastic Bag….
MARTINIQUE — IN 1992 KALI WAS THE FACE OF FRANCE
Kali is a vocalist and banjo player from Martinique who explores the roots of French West Indian music….
JAMAICA — KUMINA IN JAMAICA
In Jamaica we explore Kumina, an early Afro-Caribbean religious folk music that paid, and still continues to pay, homage to “the spirits” through communal drumming, chanting and dance.
THE BAHAMAS — WAKE UP EARLY AND ENJOY JUNKANOO
How lucky are we that we get to go the Bahamas to celebrate Junkanoo?
PUERTO RICO — RAFAEL CORTIJO HELPED START SALSA
We can’t spend a musical week in Puerto Rico without ea nod to salsa, one of Puerto Rico’s most danceable musical exports, and one of its formative stars, Rafael Cortijo....
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC — JOHNNY VENTURA’S PATACON PISAO
Johnny Ventura, born as Juan de Dios, is a preeminent Dominican singer and band leader who Dominicans know for bringing American R&B and rock to merengue....
HAITI — BRING YOUR VAKSEN TO THE RARA
Haiti is a small country in the Caribbean with a proud rebellious streak and a terribly troubled past....
CUBA — CONGA AND CARNIVAL IN SANTIAGO DE CUBA
Cuban conga music developed from rhythmic street parade performances by groups of musicians called comparsas which play music and dance in Cuban streets during festivals like Carnival....
JOIN US, AND THIS VIDEO, FOR A TOUR OF AFRO-CARIBBEAN DRUMMING AND DANCE
Join us, and this video, to dive in the the African heritage of Caribbean drumming....
COLOMBIAN CURRULAO
As we end our “Everything is a Drum” season, let’s go in for one more percussion style, this one from Colombia....
RAPPER’S DELIGHT
The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delgitht” is the oldest of Old School rap/hip-hop.....
RHYTHMIC FUN WITH FLAMENCO
Flamenco is an intensely artistic, and infinitely rhythmic, form of music from Southern Spain….
EVEN THE WATER IS A DRUM
When All Around This World says "Everything is a Drum," we mean EVERYTHING. In Vanuatu, in the Pacific Islands, there is a tradition of women wading into the water and using the water -- yes, the water! -- as a drum.