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Our elders : libraries consumed by flames during lockdown

By Arnaud Robert - 20 July 2020

Hariprasad Chaurasia, Danyel Waro, Joyce, Ray Lema, Zakir Hussain...they may all be giants of the music scene, but they also belong to a group considered “at risk” during the current health emergency. At a time where the elderly are quarantined,...

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Langues et cultures régionales en danger ? Le cas des Outre-mer

By François Bensignor - 6 July 2020

Outre-mer, la disparité s’impose en matière de géographie, de statut, de culture et de langue. Mais cette diversité se heurte au premier alinéa de l’article 2 de notre Constitution : « La langue de la République est le...

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Afro-descendant jazz sets the tone… except in France

By Emma-Sacha Morizan - 22 June 2020

While jazz is regaining popularity with millennials thanks, in large part, to hybrid compositions by black musicians haunted by its social and militant DNA, it’s clear that in France, the genre is represented by a rather inward-looking white...

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Chimurenga : a musical struggle in Zimbabwe

By François Mauger - 7 June 2020

When Bob Marley performed a historic concert to celebrate Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, did he suspect that the country’s “chimurenga”, or fight for freedom, was only just beginning? Let’s tune into 40 years of history and music, from...

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Regional languages in danger – in Metropolitan France

By Benjamin MiNiMuM - 25 May 2020

Languages are like species: some are doing well; others are dying out. While scientists agree in estimating that around 7,000 languages are currently in use around the world – in addition to thousands of dialects – half of them are likely to...

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Narcocorridos : A musical tradition perverted by violence ?

By Alejandro Abbud Torres Torija - 11 May 2020

Although intimately related, narcocorridos can’t be entirely blamed for drug violence. Drug violence is to blame for narcocorridos. These songs are very popular in Mexico but are also a phenomenon found in other drug-ridden countries in Latin...

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Reflected in the Other : Jazz and World Music

By Stéphane Ollivier - 27 April 2020

Jazz was born a century ago in New Orleans before spreading all over the world and staking its claim as the source of the main forms of popular music that emerged after the war. Still today, jazz remains “Creole” music at its best,...

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World music and the biodiversity challenge

By Frank Tenaille - 13 April 2020

Our destructive society of the Anthropocene era would be well advised to make good use of the rich teachings of early humans. Maintaining the links between nature and culture, their musicians, in particular, paid...

© Irene Nobrega - Wikimedia commons - Peça de teatro, Besouro Cordão de Ouro - 21/01/2017

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Music to fight to

By Anne-Laure Lemancel - 30 March 2020

All over the world, combat sports and music are closely linked, drawing on traditions and spirituality. A quick overview offers three examples : capoeira in Brazil, moringue in Réunion and taiko drumming in...

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Country gets its groove back

By Eric Delhaye - 16 March 2020

At the recent Grammy Awards, the rapper Lil Nas X began by walking the red carpet in a candy pink cowboy outfit, before performing his hit “Old Town Road” with the country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. The 20-year-old gay...

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Female rappers & Africa in 2020 : Ears to the ground !

By Jeanne Lacaille - 2 March 2020

Are female rappers Africa’s new griots in 2020 ? One thing is certain, African hip-hop is standing tall as these women offer modern takes that are uninhibited, in step with the times and uncompromising. Rap to live...

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“We don’t have the right to make mistakes”: the struggle of Brazil’s female musicians

By Sarah Cozzolino - 17 February 2020

Samba, forró… In Brazilian music, women have often been relegated to the role of singers and dancers. But all-women groups have formed in recent years and been forced to contend with Brazil’s cultural machismo. “We are...

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The song “Gbaka” by Daouda Le Sentimental : A whistleblowing anthem

By Soro Solo - 3 February 2020

The song “Gbaka” by Daouda Le Sentimental saved the life of informal transport in Abidjan in 1976. We take a look at this whistleblowing anthem. Daouda Koné began working in Ivorian television as a...

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What role can contemporary world music play in tackling environmental challenges ?

By Gwen Sharp - 20 January 2020

Last November, the London-based organisation Julie’s Bicycle, a pioneer in supporting the creative community to act on climate change, received the award for professional excellence at WOMEX 2019, the...

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Graceland, the disputed summit of a landmark in World Music

By Jean-Christophe Servant - 6 January 2020

With the release of Graceland on 26 August 1986, the South Africa of the townships under a state of emergency, Zulu miners’ hostels and the rhythms of Mbaqanga and Shangaan, the musician Paul Simon flew in through the large...

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The avatars of Indian music

By Inès #AuxSons - 9 December 2019

For Indians, music goes back to the very origin of the world. Over the centuries, it has developed a strong identity that has allowed it to welcome countless foreign influences without losing anything of its remarkable...

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Venezuela : music suffocated by the crisis

By Inès #AuxSons - 25 November 2019

Music is still queen in Venezuela, a land of salsa and rhythms inherited from Africa. But the economic, political and social crisis in the country has put a serious break on the production and creation of music in a...

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Maku Music

By Guy Sioui Durand - 11 November 2019

“Music is the only universal language, the only one that is understood and spoken in each of the 195 countries on this planet.” Tomson Highway Few people on the other side of keechigamaak, “the big water” as...

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Flamenco 2.0, the small revolutions of a new generation ?

By Inès #AuxSons - 28 October 2019

Neo flamenco, millennial flamenco, ex flamenco or flamenco 2.0 are just some of the names for the music of a new generation of Spanish musicians (like Rosalía and Niño del Elche) who blend traditional flamenco...

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The accordion : a musical instrument that knows no borders

By Inès #AuxSons - 14 October 2019

There was a need in the early 19th century to invent a new musical instrument that imitated the human voice. The weakening of the nobility in Europe and the emergence of a powerful bourgeoisie in the middle of the...

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The “danse des griffes”

By Manuel Charpy - 30 September 2019

On Sunday evenings in the bars of Brazzaville’s Bacongo district, Congolese rumba and Sape become one. Against the soundscape of music playing from walls of speakers, members of the informal Société des Ambianceurs et de...

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Contemporary music : an Arab story

By Mounir Kabbaj - 16 September 2019

In the 70’s : committed young people with a taste for globalisation and revisiting their heritage In the early 1970s, the Arab world was a heterogeneous group of young nation states from North Africa, East...

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Surrounded by vibrations

By Eva Dréano - 2 September 2019

Scared of relapsing into the same old daily routine of commuting and work ? September is here with its share of stress and new projects. Here are some tips for rising above it and taking a deep breath to help you face the...

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New Caledonia, roots and canoes

By Sylvain Derne - 22 July 2019

An archipelago of 18,000 km² in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, New Caledonia is home to a prodigious diversity of languages and cultural communities among a population of just under 300,000. Its musical...

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From Mayotte to Réunion, the body at every latitude

By Sandrine Le Coz - 9 July 2019

In 2018, the driving force behind Kassav’, Jacob Desvarieux, put his weight behind the new scene coming out of France’s overseas territories by inviting their promising talents to the Olympia. For this second part of our...

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Musical aesthetics in the French Antilles and French Guiana

By Bertrand Dicale - 24 June 2019

When we talk about Creole culture, we have to look past plenty of concepts and ideas inherited from “vertical” cultures. In Europe, Africa and Asia we see that physical type, territory, language, law, music and cuisine...

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Music, to the rhythm of the street ?

By Bastien Brun - 11 June 2019

On 21 June, music will take over streets across France for the 38th Fête de la Musique [Music Day], an event now celebrated around the world. But what relationships do musicians have with towns and cities ? Are they really...

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Does concentration leave room for musical diversity ?

By Stéphane Krasniewski - 27 May 2019

Are Live Nation, AEG, Fimalac et al a convenient bogeyman for professionals concerned about defending their turf, paper tigers that justify the redirection of public funds towards a regional marketing policy or a...

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Europe and culture, diversity facing an identity crisis

By Ludovic Thomas - 13 May 2019

With a record number of 33 electoral lists, the European elections show an optimum variety when it comes to the political landscape. While the European Union is going through an unprecedented crisis of values and a...

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Algeria, soundscape of a popular revolution

By Sarah Melloul - 29 April 2019

Every Friday since Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his candidacy for a fifth term in February, tens of thousands of Algerians of all backgrounds and ages have been gathering in protest. From football stadiums to...

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Afrobeats : watch out for the S !

By Benjamin MiNiMuM - 15 April 2019

The great musical styles of the 20th century – blues, jazz, rock, funk, hip hop, techno and their many incarnations – can trace their roots back to Africa. Today the continent has assimilated these trends and suggests a...

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The sound of Brazil

By Véronique Mortaigne - 1 April 2019

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Migrations, diasporas & world music

By Frank Tenaille - 18 March 2019

“Only humans display migratory behaviour ; all other species are closely dependent on particular and often restricted ecosystems”. Hervé Le Bras, L’âge des migrations (The Age of Migrations – Not...

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North African and Oriental artists – the rise of female musicians

By Fara C - 4 March 2019

North African and Oriental artists – the rise of female musicians As International Women’s Day approaches, the Arabofolies Festival – taking place at the Paris Arab World Institute (AWI) – focuses its attention...

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Six artists take sounds of the world by storm

By Frédérique Briard - 15 February 2019

1 – Six artists take sounds of the world by storm Two years ago, Blick Bassy, Flavia Coelho, Pascal Danaë, Naïssam Jalal, Awa Ly and Cheick Tidiane Seck sponsored the launch of the #AuxSonsCitoyens campaign. We meet...

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