Jean Michel Daudier was born in Les Cayes Haiti. He became famous in Haiti after writing a protest song in Creole, “Lem pa we soley la” (When I don’t see the Sunshine) during the 1986 revolution against the former Dictator Baby Doc Duvalier.

I'm a big fan of Dave Matthews Band, so this news hit me hard today. LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Australia WOMADELAIDE headline act Cesaria Evora has been forced to cancel her appearance after suffering a stroke in Sydney.

The 66-year-old singer from Cape Verde was due to star at Womadelaide tonight and tomorrow following Sydney Opera House performances earlier this week.

She was admitted to hospital for tests after feeling unwell for a few days.

Lucky Dube, a reggae star who launched his career with criticism of the former apartheid government, was shot to death in an apparent carjacking attempt as he was dropping off his children, police and his Web site said Friday.

The 43-year-old singer was shot Thursday night after two men approached his car in Johannesburg's southern Rosettenville suburb, police spokesman Eugene Opperman said.

The Gandhi Tour benefit Event

(New York, NY): On October 10th, the Gandhi Tour, Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and Avon Mattison, Founder of Culture of Peace and Cofounder of 30 Days of Peace, will host a benefit at the Donna Karan/Stephan Weiss Studio/NY to raise funds for The Gandhi Tour in 2008.

Creative Commons, Modiba Productions and Global Beat Fusion are pleased to present the Vieux Farka Touré / "Ana" Remix Contest. Vieux Farka Touré — a highly talented guitarist, singer, songwriter, and percussionist from Mali (and son of the late Ali Farka Touré) — is offering the audio source files from the song “Ana” online under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, so that producers worldwide can use the sounds in remixes and new compositions.

I just became aware of Abdelkader Saadoun's music, thanks to MySpace and I was immediately blown away. He's one of the very few UK-based Rai artists and his variety of Rai is like nothing I've heard before. It's somewhere between the mainstream Rai style and Rachid Taha's rock fusion.

For the first time in two years Senegalese superstar Baaba Maal will bring his unique sound to the U.S. and Canada. In 2004 Maal toured with his acoustic ensemble, but this year he will perform with Daande Lenol, his full 13 piece electric band featuring blind griot Mansour Seck, who have not performed in the U.S. since 2002. The tour begins in Denver on June 13 and finishes in New York City on July 2nd.

World Music Cenntral reports that Desmond Dekker, the Jamaican singer who became popular worldwide with the hit songs 'The Israelites' and 'Intensified' died May 25 in the morning. He suffered a heart attack on stage during a soundcheck in Dublin, Ireland.

A lot of Senegalese artists seem to be joining MySpace Music. One of the latest is Rahmane Diallo. Like Baaba Maal, he's from the Fouta region and sings in Pulaar. If you like Baaba Maal, you'll probably like him.