Tracks, Streaming Africa >>
Seattle is a music town as well as a tech town, so it makes sense that it's the place Chondo, one of the more intriguing new music Web sites, calls home. What's surprising, though, is that the music this site (www.chondo.net) emphasizes has so little to do with the sound Seattle is best known for. Run by Michael Eastman, a former RealNetworks employee, Chondo offers subscription-only streaming channels ($5.95 month, $35.70 for six months, or $66 for a year) that play music from Africa and the African dias pora, with special attention to Cuba, Brazil, and black America. The channels are grouped by tempo{"Chillin'," "Groovin'," and "Jammin'," .. in ascending order of speed), area (North America, South America, "Global"), and category (reggae, jazz, hip-hop, soul, "divas").
Chondo is still in its fledgling it-launcned last summer with only four hours of music per but it's growing. The amount of music has incrementally increased over the past few months, and Eastman hopes to offer downloadable MP3s of many of the songs by the spring. And the music is excellent: World Music Network's Rough Guide series figures into the playlists, and there's plenty of meat in the American (and the UK sensation Dizzee Rascal is in rotation) selections. Most important, Chondo has tapped into largely neglected, but potentially large, online audience.-Michaelangelo Matos
02/01/05
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