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Free Download: "Lo que me trajo el Niño Dios (What the Christ Child brought me)"

The marimba is a vivid legacy of African presence in Latin America, but only on the Pacific coast of southern Colombia and northern Ecuador does it keep its close connections to a strongly African culture.

Hailing from small towns along the river-ridden Colombian coast, the seasoned women singers of Grupo Naidy raise their voices to the accompaniment of marimba and drums, performing their unique styles of music known collectively as currulao.

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Free Download: "Joy" by The Paschall Brothers

Silken voices, intricate harmonies, and divinely inspired passion mark the quartet singing of the Paschall Brothers, and their classic Virginia Tidewater sound.

Founded in 1981 in the footsteps of the renowned Golden Gate Quartet, this multi-generational family carries on the African American "roots gospel" tradition that emerged in the post-Civil War South, engaging modern audiences with their joy and exuberance.

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Free Download: "Amedzro," by Obo Addy

Musicians from Ghana, Kenya, Republic of Congo, and Zimbabwe lead powerful performances by five ensembles of African musicians who now live in the United States. Studio recordings from 1995‒1998, these rhythmic tracks feature memories of childhood, the instrumentation and performance styles of contemporary Afropop, and experimentation with new international musical styles.

Born in Ghana, the son of a traditional healer, Obo Addy grew up around the drumming and vocal music of Ghana's Ga people. Along with his brothers, Yacoub and Mustapha, Obo formed a dynamic group, which quickly rose to the top of Ghana's booming music scene in the mid-1960s. After touring Africa, Europe, Australia, and Asia with Oboade, the Addy brothers eventually toured the United States to critical acclaim in the 1970s. After the ensemble dispersed, Obo Addy formed the nucleus of a drumming network in Portland that has now spread throughout the Pacific Northwest.

 

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Free Download: "El Corcovado (The Wood-Quail)" by Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto

With Un Fuego de Sangre Pura (A Fire of Pure Blood), the roots of the cumbia thrive in the music of Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto from Colombia’s violence-torn Caribbean hinterlands. The sounds of long-tubed gaita flutes, unique drums, and maraca stoke the fire of the cumbia and of other regional dances—the fast-paced puya and porro, the cadential gaita corrida, and the bullerengue. Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, the senior statesmen of their tradition, are an animated emblem of Colombian nationhood and a resilient fountainhead for some of Latin America’s favorite dance rhythms.

 

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Free Download: "Ana mía (My Ana) - canción-polca"

San Antonio, Laredo, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Seguín, and other Texas towns inspired this second Smithsonian Folkways recording of “hardcore conjunto” music by the spunky and spirited GRAMMY-winning group Los Texmaniacs.

Their signature sound comes from deep within the heart of Texan tradition, while Max Baca’s bajo sexto and David Farías’s accordion playfully break new creative ground. Multi-instrumentalists Óscar García and Lorenzo Martínez complete the quartet, with guest cameos by Western Swing singer Ray Benson, Jason Roberts, and Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame fiddler Bobby Flores.

 

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Free Download: "Los Dos Amantes (The Two Lovers)"

Nati Cano’s Mariachi Los Camperos brings you their solid-gold Mexican sound acclaimed by audiences at New York’s Lincoln Center, Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and other major venues throughout the United States Southwest and Mexico.

Llegaron Los Camperos (Los Camperos Have Arrived) showcases the group’s concert stage repertoire, skillfully arranged versions of classic mariachi melodies and styles of traditional music from many regions of Mexico

 

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Free Download: “Volveré (I Will Return)” by La Sardina de Naiguatá

Venezuela’s Caribbean coastal town of Naiguatá is home to one of that country’s most celebrated Carnival musical traditions. In the 1970’s, trumpeter Ricardo Díaz augmented the local legacy of Afro-Caribbean drumming traditions with brass, electric bass, keyboard, and women’s chorus to create La Sardina de Naiguatá, the musical group that drives the town’s annual cycle of public celebrations, including Carnival, Corpus Christi, and St. John the Baptist. ¡Parranda! brings us the contemporary, joyous sounds of the pre-Christian rite of “burying the sardine” to promote an abundant harvest of fish and crops. 20 tracks, 53 minutes, 40-page booklet with extensive bilingual notes.

This album is part of the Smithsonian Folkways Tradiciones/Traditions Series of Latino music albums, produced with support by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

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Free Download: "Shadiana (Celebration)," performed by Abdulla Majnun, Wu Man

In these exuberant recordings, pipa master Wu Man and her Uyghur, Tajik, and Hui collaborators explore connections between the musical worlds of China and Central Asia. Featuring the stirring vocals of Sanubar Tursun and Abdulla Majnun along with newly arranged and composed instrumental pieces, Borderlands is a masterful blending of kindred traditions.

This track is performed by Abdulla Majnun and Wu Man.

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Free Download: "Sekati" from Sekaa Gamelan Selonding Sudamala

In 1999, five years after releasing Music for the Gods: The Fahnestock South Sea Expedition: Indonesia, Mickey Hart sought to record an album highlighting the more contemporary musical adaptations of Bali in Living Art, Sounding Spirit: The Bali Sessions. “I have geared this recording toward rarer ensembles and new compositions,” says Hart, “omitting the most popular styles such as kebyar, since they have been often and well recorded elsewhere.”

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"Imaginaries" by Quetzal (SFW40563)

The music of Quetzal is at once visceral and intellectual. It makes you move, it makes you sing, and it makes you think. Sometimes thought of as a rock band, its members draw from a much larger web of musical, cultural, and social engagement. On Imaginaries, they creatively combine shades of East L.A.’s soundscape, traditional son jarocho of Veracruz, salsa, R&B, and more to express the political and social struggle for self-determination and self-representation, which ultimately is a struggle for dignity. 12 tracks, 55 minutes, 40-page booklet with bilingual notes.

 

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