This is an awesome mash-up of several Vampire Weekend songs with a groove by Fela and some other stuff. I love this song!

Click to play

Kwassa Kwassa asin: B00000061N

I've been enjoying Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa-Kwassa", so I decided to post some original kwassa kwassa from the originator of that style, Kanda Bongo Man. It's impossible not to smile when you hear this music.

Soul Makassar asin: B00005UKME

This beautiful song was one of Tarika's biggest hits in their native Madagascar.

Mustt Mustt asin: B000000HOB

August 1997 was a very bad month for the music world. We lost both Fela Kuti and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had a remarkable career in which he brought Qawalli music to a wider audience and worked with artists like Peter Gabriel and Eddie Vedder. This is his most well known song, based on Dam Mast Qalandar.

One Thousand and One Nights asin: B00008BRDH

I heard this CD playing when I walked into a big used CD store in Vancouver last year and I was hooked instantly.

Tékitoi (Who Are You?) asin: B00094ARWI

Rachid Taha makes some of the most exciting music anywhere in the world today. Here's his cover version of The Clash's "Rock the Casbah", which appears on his album "Teketoi" as well as the sound track for the new Joe Strummer movie, "The Future is Unwritten".

I got this import tape a few years ago from Africassette and it's still one of my favorite. Aby does kind of a high energy rap style. As far as I know this was her only release.

This is a little different than the usual music I include here, but I really love this song. I first heard this song in the early 90s when KTWV "The Wave" in Los Angeles played it in heavy rotation. This is kind of a strange album, published by Private Music (Yanni's label), but the style is pretty far from new age. Kristen has a beautiful voice and John Fruiscante contributes to this album.

This version of Sabar is from the first import tape I ever bought, "Volume 12: Jamm La Paix". It's very different than the version of Sabar you might be familiar with from "Set".

James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul" has died at age 73. Brown was one of the most influential artists in the past 50 years.