Casual Listening wins 5 Grammys, plus Bassekou Kouyate, Bela Fleck, Yo-Yo Ma

Casual Listening

a review of cool new music

by Jeff Pinzino

February 5, 2010

Casual Listening Wins 5 Grammys

While the Grammy voters are notorious for choosing star power over musical integrity, the down-ballot categories tend to be a reasonable benchmark for how much quality and diversity of music you can find on Casual Listening. The following grammy winners had garnered a starred review or better here when they were first released:

Best Regional Mexican Album: Vicente Fernandez – Necesito de Ti

Best Americana Album: Levon Helm – Electric Dirt

Best Bluegrass Album: Steve Martin – The Crow

Best Contemporary World Music Album: Bela Fleck – Throw Down Your Heart

Best Musical Album for Children: Ziggy Marley – Family Time

Anyone can turn you on to Beyonce, but Vicente Fernandez? That’s what we’re here for.

! Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba – I Speak Fula (world)

How do you say “guitar god” in Fula? The ngoni is an ancestor of the banjo native to Mali, and Kouyate leads a band full of them. The rhythms are devastating, and multiple vocalists give elegant contrast to the furious strings. This album will be 2010’s must-hear world music album.

Listen to Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba “Musow (For Our Women)”