Formed after the disastrous 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Port-au-Prince band Lakou Misik combines the diverse talents of elder and younger musicians and of modern and traditional styles into a unified message of hope, strength, and pride for listeners at home and beyond. The 9-member multigenerational…
Though they hail from Los Angeles, Dengue Fever are like Cambodian ambassadors to the Pacific Northwest. On their recent return to the KEXP airwaves, the six-piece seemed right at home, even in our new studio. The band's instrumentation is uniquely cinematic, a multicultural modernization of the ps…
Musical lore has it that Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the iconic South African mbube group, was founded by Joseph Shabalala after having a series of dreams in which he heard their sounds. It goes unmentioned whether or not Joseph dreamt of 50 years of worldwide success as perhaps the most well-known cu…
One of the cornerstones of Wo'Pop, and what has kept it a unique program is its focus on emerging global music and genres. This focus on the new is important, but you have to have context in order to make sense. Traditional music can be quickly overwhelmed by new ideas and the essence of its origin…
This October was my first visit to the WOMEX Conference, the annual World Music Expo that happens in different European Cities with a focus on International music. Yes, I’ve been involved in the World Music scene for years and it’s a bit odd that I’ve not been before, but I always found the timing …
Can you believe there was once a time where Reggae wasn’t a word everyone recognized? In the musical world you have to really be in awe of how a sound from a tiny island in the Caribbean has propelled itself into the Global Consciousness. The legendary Reggae singer Winston Jarrett can clearly reme…
For the rest of the year, we'll be spotlighting our KEXP DJs Top Albums of 2015, leading up to our 2015 90.3 Top Album Countdown on Friday, December 18! Tune in to make sure your favorites made the list!
This Tuesday, December 1st, KEXP, in partnership with Lifelong, presents the 2015 KEXP World AIDS Day Concert at The Showbox at the Market. Enjoy a FREE concert from Ivan and Alyosha, Fly Moon Royalty, and Graig Markel and the 88th St. Band, with KEXP's own DJ Darek Mazzone, as we shed light on the…
In 2018, KEXP celebrated the 30th anniversary of local record label Sub Pop with a four-month retrospective, "counting up" every catalog number in their vast discography of over 1,200 releases. Dig into the archives of our catalog coverage, featuring in-depth coverage on the history of their releases.
