globalFEST bios


Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective (Belize)

Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective came together thanks to a series of shipwrecks of historical importance. The first brought the Garifunas’ African ancestors to the shores of Central America, and the second brought Palacio to a deeper appreciation of his threatened cultural heritage. After years as a punta rock star in his homeland, Palacio and this ensemble of Garifuna musicians young and old have returned to the simple, stunning roots of this little-known music.

Label: Cumbancha

Babylon Circus (France)

Making its globalFEST debut, this 10-piece global ska group originally from Lyon, France makes leftist politics fun and funky, in the spirit of Mano Negra and Les Negresses Vertes. Drawing on everything from chanson to reggae to punk, the group’s musicians have worked together for more than a decade and toured the world, but still have no qualms about being called clowns. That is, in fact, part of the show, as is multilingual chicanery, improvised comic interludes and an unrelenting up beat. Presented with support form the French Music Export Bureau.

Label: AKIRIRA

Boom Pam (Israel)

“The killer ace in the hole for Boom Pam is a slightly unexpected instrument—tuba…. But Yuval “Tuby” Zolotov rocks on that thing, providing the hyperspeed basslines that drummer Dudu Kohav matches, on top of which guitarist/singers Uzi Feinerman and Uri Brauner go to town.” –Billboard

Named after a hit song by a Greek Israeli pop star, the mustachioed men from Tel Aviv behind Boom Pam—Uzi Feinerman and Uri Brauner (electric guitars), Yuval Zolotov (tuba), and Dudu Kohav (drums)—got together in 2003 and soon experienced a meteoric rise to local fame. This star’s bold mix of electric surf rock and ethnic sounds from the Balkans and the Mediterranean inspired Boom Pam’s own high-energy, original approach to Eastern European, Arabic and Klezmer music, which reclaims surf pioneer Dick Dale’s Lebanese roots. Presented with support from the Consulate of Israel in New York.

Label: Essay Recordings

Carolina Chocolate Drops (U.S.)

“The Drops strive to reknit the lost threads of string-band music, which has existed in Africa as well as Appalachia for centuries.” –Creative Loafing

Taking their cues from respected elder musicians, the Carolina Chocolate Drops play the distinctive banjo-led stringband music of the Carolinas’ piedmont region. Dom Flemons (jug, guitar, harmonica), Rhiannon Giddens (banjo), Justin Robinson (fiddle), and Sule Greg Wilson (percussion) apply their extensive musicianship to the compelling African-American traditions that sprang from the musical world of the antebellum South.

Label: Music Maker

Dengue Fever (Cambodia / U.S.)

“…original material that shatters the language barrier with mildly psychedelic, blissed out pop.” –Pitchfork

Psychedelic surf rock and Cambodian pop are a heady blend, as Dengue Fever demonstrates. L.A.-based Farfisa organist Ethan Holtzman, his guitarist brother Zac (ex-Dieselhed), sax player David Ralicke (Beck/Brazzaville), bassist Senon Williams (Radar Brothers) and drummer Paul Smith—musicians into everything from Ethiopian soul to 1960s garage—found the perfect way to explore swirling world groves with singer Chhom Nimols, a member of one of Cambodia’s top pop families who became a fixture on the L.A. Cambodian wedding circuit.  

Label: M80 Music

Julia Sarr and Patrice Larose (Senegal / France)

“One of the most fascinating new collaborations on the global music scene” –Relix

Senegalese singer Julia Sarr, a favorite vocalist for acts as diverse as MC Solaar, Youssou N’Dour and Julio Iglesias, teamed up for the first time with French flamenco-inspired guitarist Patrice Larose thanks to the vivid dream had by a producer friend. This unconventional beginning launched a collaboration based on the delicate balance between Sarr’s stunning voice and Larose’s sensitive approach to Spain’s guitar traditions. Presented with support from the French Music Export Bureau.

Label: Sunnyside Records

Le Trio Joubran (Palestine / France)

“The trio brings to its material a passion and willingness to experiment that is entirely contemporary, spurring each other on to create intricate and suspenseful improvisations.” –Chicago Tribune

The Paris-based Joubran brothers—Samir, Wissam, and Adnan—come from a long line of Palestinian luthiers and musicians. Born in Nazareth, the brothers decided to form an ensemble to do with the oud what other respected world and jazz trios have done with the guitar, featuring instruments that Wissam has built himself. Presented with support from the French Music Export Bureau.

Label: Fairplay/Randana/Sheer Records


Lenine (Brazil)

“…a samba-rock fusion more rhythmically aggressive than bossa nova but just as melodically lush, with Hendrix-ian guitar and fat electrobeats pushing the sound into heavy funk territory.” –Rolling Stone

Brazilian songwriter, singer and guitarist Lenine took his Recife roots and added the sounds of Northeastern Brazil to the rich mix of MBP (Brazilian Popular Music). After several groundbreaking albums and a groundswell of popularity in his homeland, multiple Latin Grammy Award-winning artist Lenine (né Oswaldo Lenine Macedo Pimentel) is finally gaining the attention he deserves in North America as one of the finest songwriters working in Brazil today..

Label: Six Degrees

Les Primitifs du Futur (France)

“Knowing that R. Crumb is involved in this project makes it all the easier to imagine this as what happens when the Cheap Suit Serenaders go to seed in Paris.” –Tom Hull, Static Multimedia

Retro and global, the legendary Primitifs meld jazz, blues, the rocking accordion of French musette, and just about any other world pop style that fits, all under the astute tutelage singer and songwriter Dominique Cravic, who founded the band along with cartoonist Robert Crumb (who does not tour with the band). Fay Lovsky, Daniel Colin, Daniel Huck, Jean-Michelle Davis, Jean-Philippe Viret and Bertrand Auger work together bring back to the world the sound of 1930s bal musette. Presented with support from the French Music Export Bureau

Label: Sunnyside Records

Lila Downs (U.S. / Mexico)

“Downs has brought a new social awareness to her repertoire of original and native Mesoamerican songs.”  -- NPR, All Things Considered

Growing up between Oaxaca’s Sierra Madres and Minneapolis, Lila Downs began singing traditional tunes at age eight. Her career continued to evolve, as Downs studied voice as a teenager in Los Angeles and then in Oaxaca City, before graduating from the University of Minnesota. It was music that moved Downs to reconcile her diverse heritage. Her motivation was the songs and stories of the Oaxacan people. Her Mixtec (indigenous Oaxacan) mother spurred Downs to sing cumbias and rancheras with folk and rock overtones, and with sentimiento — a deep, almost empathic emotion which has left audiences of all cultures and countries spellbound.

Label: EMI / Virgin

Lucia Pulido and Palenque (Colombia / U.S.)

“Ms. Pulido holds on to the rawness of the original melodies while giving them a sophisticated new context." –New York Times

Colombian vocalist Lucia Pulido came to New York in 1994, after half a decade of successful collaboration with Iván Benavides, now of Sidestepper. A versatile singer capable of moving between the traditional and the experimental with ease, Pulido and Palenque take on chimuría, the music played by Colombian street bands, with help from composer and guitarist Sebastián Cruz, as well as Adam Kolker (clarinet), Stomu Takeishi (bass), and Ted Poor (drums).

Label: self-released

Sara Tavares (Cape Verde / Portugal)

“Tavares' voice is filled with sunshine and light.” –Los Angeles Times

Originally from Cape Verde, singer-songwriter Sara Tavares grew up in Portugal, part of a diverse generation of Lusaphone Africans and Cape Verdeans struggling to define themselves and find a meaningful place in Portuguese society. Tavares has managed to do just that, and do it with a warm grace that made her a child pop star and, years later, Portugal’s representative at Eurovision. Her voice has a healing power which comes from someone who has struggled with her place in the world and then accepted herself fully.

Label: Times Square Records