The sound of Colombia’s Caribbean coastline, cumbia is one of Latin America’s most outstanding popular music forms. This influential genre had a major impact on overseas salsa, as well as certain styles of Mexican music, and inspired large audiences in the USA and Europe. The style’s immediate appeal stems largely from its melodic accordion parts (utilising a special tuning, said to have resulted from instruments that washed ashore from a shipwreck), as well as the percussive guacharaca, a rhythmic scraper that provides the most infectious element for dancing feet. Continue Reading

Bright young starlets and stalwarts of London’s happening latin live scene, Wara come forth with their inaugural release and it certainly does not disappoint. Capturing the best of what has become a really entertaining, tight and above all fun band this is a very strong release. Continue Reading

From the 23rd to the 28th of September, London’s Barbican staged the annual Transcender Festival – an acclaimed event that hosts a selection of global artists that supposedly perform some highly ecstatic and hypnotic grooves to world music aficionados. This year’s festival opened with bluesy alchemists Juju, aka Justin Adams, known for his Muddy Water guitar prowess and overall skills on all things musical. Joining him was Gambian griot and ritti-playing genius (one-stringed fiddle) Juldeh Camara. Continue Reading

In the crowded genre of Brazilian Samba and Bossa Nova, musicality, songwriting ability and tremendous vocals are commonplace; so standing out from the crowd is some feat. Singer songwriter Sabrina Malheiros has managed to do just that, making her mark as an artist transforming Brazilian music for a new generation. Continue Reading

A musician devoted to Brazilian music; that’s the best way to describe Emily Saunders, this lovely British singer with an incredibly sweet voice and great appreciation, and understanding, of Brazilian music. Continue Reading

Sem Nostalgia by Lucas Santtana is the first artist album from Mais Um Discos, the label that brought us Oi! A Nova Musica Brasileira! last year. If you listened to that album you will surely remember Lucas Santtana’s “Hold Me In”, one of the definite highlights and one of the tracks from Sem Nostalgia, which is finally getting it’s UK release. Continue Reading

They did it again. The Brazilian band CSS made a sold-out XOYO shake yesterday on their first club gig in London after the release of their third album La Liberación. Continue Reading

Strutting down the stairs to her opening number, it was obvious that Brazilian songstress Céu meant business. After all, with two critically acclaimed albums under her belt, as well as a nomination for Best Contemporary Brazilian Pop Record at last years Latin Grammys, the twenty-nine-year-old diva had a lot to live up to. Continue Reading

Recently released, Red Hot + Rio 2 is a new album produced by the Red Hot Organization, a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1989, that fights AIDS using the power of pop music. Red Hot was created as a response to the precocious death of many artists and intellectuals in New York in the late 80s. Continue Reading