To listen to audio on Rock Paper Scissors you'll need to Get the Flash Player

log in to access downloads
Sample Track 1:
"Kadja Boswa" from Creole Choir of Cuba
Sample Track 2:
"Peze Cafe" from Creole Choir of Cuba
Sample Track 3:
"Ruperta (Zeb Remix)" from Novalima
Sample Track 4:
"Se Me Van" from Novalima
Sample Track 5:
"Cantoda Sereia" from Orquestra Contemporanea de Olinda
Sample Track 6:
"Ladeira" from Orquestra Contemporanea de Olinda
Sample Track 7:
"Barissaxaya" from Yoro
Sample Track 8:
"Kan Lay Wolu" from Yoro
Sample Track 9:
"Chamber Music" from Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Ségal
Sample Track 10:
"Ma Ma FC" from Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Ségal
Sample Track 11:
"Aia I ‘Ola‘a Ku‘u Aloha" from Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole
Sample Track 12:
"Hili Song" from Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole
Sample Track 13:
"Gorbandh - Song of Camel Decoration" from Rhythm of Rajasthan
Sample Track 14:
"Khaartaal - Sindhi Sarangi and Dholak" from Rhythm of Rajasthan
Sample Track 15:
"Chaal Baby" from Red Baraat
Sample Track 16:
"Punjabi Wedding Song (Balle Balle)" from Red Baraat
Sample Track 17:
"An' Amour" from Diblo Dibala
Sample Track 18:
"Laissez Passer" from Diblo Dibala
Sample Track 19:
"Funky Boogaloo" from La-33
Sample Track 20:
"Roxanne" from La-33
Sample Track 21:
"Ten Cuidado" from La-33
Sample Track 22:
"La Luna" from Pedro Martinez Project
Sample Track 23:
"Que Palo" from Pedro Martinez Project
Sample Track 24:
"Ibo Lele (Dreams Come True)" from RAM
Sample Track 25:
"Min Hubbi Fiik Ya Gaari" from Zikrayat
Layer 2
Bio

More About The Artists of globalFEST 2011

Aurelio and Garifuna Soul (Honduras/NYC)

Soulful singer, composer and guitarist Aurelio Martinez is a central figure in the resurgence of Garifuna music. The Garifuna are an Afro-Amerindian community whose ancestors were escaped slaves whose culturally threatened population lives primarily along the Caribbean coasts of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. A veteran of tours with the late great Andy Palacio and his own projects, including a recent collaboration with Youssou N’dour, he enjoys a tremendous following in the Garifuna diaspora.  Martinez brings a bittersweet vocal style to the guitar-accompanied paranda ballad and other traditional Garifuna song forms. Martinez’s group takes Garifuna music into the future without compromising the cultural foundations of his inspiration.


Chamber Music: Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Ségal (U.S. debut)

Ségal has taken the cello into new realms as a musician with the French trip-hop group Bumcello and in collaborations with Sting and Elvis Costello. An accomplished Malian kora (West African lute-harp) player, Sissoko has worked with every one from African icons (Toumani Diabate) to blues masters (Taj Mahal) and Italian minimalist composers (Ludovico Einaudi). Sissoko and Ségal struck up a friendship that blossomed into an elegant, rich acoustic collaboration. The unexpected intertwining of their instruments creates an intimate space for subtle, yet striking sounds flowing from African traditions and European classical roots. It’s chamber music for the 21st century.


Creole Choir of Cuba (CANCELED)

Though Cuba has around a million Creole speakers, the intense songs, vibrant harmonies, and lush traditions this ensemble (once known as Desendann) has inherited from Haitian immigrants to the island feel like new discoveries. Singing of their ancestors’ longing for home and stirring audiences with percussion and movement, these skilled musicians from Eastern Cuba evoke the Caribbean’s complex and rich musical heritage with precision and passion. These qualities shine on their debut international release on the Real World label.


Diblo Dibala

Dibala’s spitfire guitar-playing has earned him the evocative nicknames “machine gun” and “magic fingers.” After rising to Congolese stardom as a teenager, Dibala’s soukous won admiration and shook hips all over Africa. Over the decades fronting several popular Afropop bands and working as a session musician in Europe, Dibala has used his music’s irresistible pulse and sparkle to pack dance floors worldwide. 


Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole (NY solo debut)

The youthful Kanaka’ole hails from a long, venerable Native Hawaiian line—seven generations of experts in traditional dance, poetry, song, and music. An accomplished traditional dancer and vocalist, he can move effortlessly from powerful traditional mele to moving contemporary ballads. From his early teens, Kanaka’ole has been performing as a dancer and singer, continuing the songs of his ancestors and using his poignant, powerful voice to draw new audiences to Hawaii’s deep musical roots. His efforts have won him coveted awards rarely granted to one so young.


La-33

Bogotá’s music scene is filled with fire, style, and quirks, and La-33 embodies the excitement and innovation of this musical hotspot. Darlings of the world salsa scene thanks in part to their clever revamp of Mancini’s Pink Panther theme, La-33 was the brainchild of two brothers who recruited fellow musicians, players into everything from ska to classical music. As a result, the group mixes the hardcore intensity of salsa dura, the brass sophistication of Colombia’s jazz scene, and a fun-loving live show with tropical flair.


Novalima

Originally the product of a long-distance musical collaboration between four Peruvian friends who adored Afro-Peruvian traditions and global DJ culture, Novalima uses cutting-edge sounds to explore the rhythmic and vocal treasures of Peru’s once denigrated African-roots   community. Novalima unites cosmopolitan musicians with traditional Afro-Peruvian masters, including renowned percussionists and drummers. This groundbreaking collaboration has made a major step toward greater understanding—as well as hip, smart dance music.


Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda

This avant-garde big band wryly named Orquestra may sound grandiose, but is really more about a multi-generational good time. It brings together veteran members of the mangue beat scene in Pernambuco and an older generation of master players who have spent decades polishing the frevo carnival music of Brazil’s Northeast. Together, they transform some of the region’s signature African rhythms and Latin melodies into a full-on funk and rock-inflected party, abounding with both experimental and roots-heavy moments.

Pedrito Martinez Group

Afro-Cuban percussionist Pedro “Pedrito” Martinez, born in Havana, has been singing and drumming professionally starting in his early teens. Since making the U.S. his home, he was the first Afro-Cuban hand drummer to take first place at the Thelonious Monk Competition, the most prestigious jazz competition in the world. His skill and style have graced projects by Paquito D'Rivera and Eddie Palmieri, and he was a central figure in NY’s seminal band Yerba Buena. Now with his own group, Martinez and his fellow musicians have perfected the ability to sense each other’s next musical move, thanks to a midtown Manhattan standing gig that has wowed Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, and other musical movers and shakers.


RAM

In an era when many Haitian artists have felt forced to flee the troubled island, RAM still plays regular Thursday night shows at the historic Hotel Oloffson in downtown Port-au-Prince. At the forefront of Haiti’s misik rasin movement, RAM has developed a distinctive blend of rock aesthetics, traditional Haitian sounds, and voudou rhythms and lyrics. Its founder, Richard A. Morse, a Puerto Rican-born, Haitian-American singer and songwriter, went back to the country of his ancestors and fell in love with Haiti’s music and spiritual culture. The group that bears his initials became part of a vibrant, bold musical protest movement that continues to challenge the authorities and present a powerful alternate vision of Haitian culture. Thanks to director Jonathan Demme, who caught their show at the Oloffson, RAM gained a wider international audience thanks to a track featured in the hit 1993 film, Philadelphia.


Red Baraat

One of the world’s only bhangra-gone-brass band, founded (not surprisingly) in New York by an MC/dholi (ceremonial drummer),bursts with shimmering beats and horn section funk. The group—featuring members of Afrobeat innovators Antibalas and veterans of the New York global jazz scene—uses improvisation to unite Northern India and Pakistan’s favorite drum with some serious Sousaphone, when not laying down some Bollywood classics in their energetic and upbeat live shows.


Rhythm of Rajasthan

Hailing from the Great Thar Desert in western Rajasthan, the musicians and dancer of Rhythm of Rajasthan were born into communities of hereditary musicians, each with its own style shaped over centuries by local patrons’ tastes. The Langa (literally “song givers”) and Manganyar musicians behind this project perform traditional songs, weaving together the region’s stunning heritage, from booming bowed sarangi (fiddle), algoza (double flutes), and dazzling percussion, to the spectacular snake charmer dance. Sharing roots with Europe’s Roma, these performers offer uplifting insight into India’s breathtaking diversity, as well as the musically rich journey of the Gypsies from East to West.


Yoro Ndiaye (U.S. debut)

Senegalese singer and guitarist Yoro Ndaiye grew up building his own instruments in his father’s workshop and learning from local musicians in his small home town. After moving to Dakar and catching the eye of star Youssou N’Dour, Ndiaye made waves with his more introspective take on mbalax’s hard-hitting dance beats. His sound has captured the imagination of young fans packing Senegalese school auditoriums and the audiences at stylish Parisian jazz clubs.


Zikrayat

The music of Zikrayat (“memories” in Arabic) evokes the grand and glamorous heyday of midcentury Egyptian cinema, with its lush music and broad range of traditional, classical, and contemporary pieces. Led by violinist Simon Shumays, whose Arab-American heritage spurred him to study both Western classical music and Arabic maqam in great depth, the group aims to delight and enlighten simultaneously. Arabic instruments like the nay (end-blown flute) and buzuq (long-necked lute) interweave with a fierce percussion section, and sinuous Egyptian-style dance interchanges with virtuosic vocals, creating fresh and vibrant versions of forgotten film gems from the 1940s-1960s.