Now that the U.S. is just a couple of months away from having a President who has Kenyan heritage, I predict that we'll be seeing an upsurge of interest in the music, culture, and history of Kenya. Barack Obama's father was born (and lived most of his life) in this country, which is home to a tremendously diverse and vibrant musical culture. From finger-style guitar to Afropop, Hip-Hop to reggae, Kenyan music is all about variety and inclusiveness, much like Obama's incoming cabinet! Okay, okay, the terrible analogy of the day award probably goes to me for that one, but seriously, while you're waiting for inauguration day, get yourself warmed up with a Kenyan music playlist, and be ready to impress all of your friends with your diverse musical knowledge.

Extremely sad news today: legendary South African musician and activist Miriam Makeba has passed away. It seems that she had a heart attack following a concert on November 9, and died shortly thereafter at a clinic in Castel Voturno, Italy.

Miriam Makeba was one of the first, if not the first, stars of world music. Known as Mama Afrika, she gained fame in the United States and around the world in the late 1950s, and remained popular for decades. In 1963, Makeba testified before the U.S. Congress on the issue of apartheid, and subsequently had her South African citizenship revoked. Much loved around the world, ten different countries made Makeba an honorary citizen and they all issued her passports. In the late 1960s, she married Stokely Carmichael, moved to Guinea, and became an ambassador to the United Nations. She never stepped entirely out of the spotlight, but her career was rejuvenated when she appeared on Paul Simon's seminal Graceland tour in 1987.

Makeba was a great artist, an important social activist, and by all accounts, a genuinely kind person. She will most certainly be missed.

Image (c) Gallo Images/Getty Images, 2007

Get your passports ready, we're heading out again!

The big and exciting news in the world music business community is that WOMEX, the major international world music conference, wrapped up this past weekend in Sevilla, Spain. I expect to start seeing some exciting wrap-up blogs soon (when everyone gets caught up on their sleep), but to tide us over, World Music Central has an insightful wrap-up of WOMEX by the numbers. I wish I could've been there but, as I've been promising myself for years, I'm gonna make it next year!

Over at SoundRoots, there's a review of a new CD by a Bay Area based Balkan Brass Band (say that five times fast!) called Brass Menazari. I'm not familiar with this group, but SoundRoots also gives us an MP3 of their song Kozarica Kolo. I can't say I'm 100% hooked quite yet, but what I hear sounds promising!

I have been really digging Calcopyrite Communications insightful blogs about some of the issues surrounding the world music industry lately. They also post CD reviews and playlists, which are great, but they've got a real knack for explaining some of the more complex legal issues surrounding, say, internet radio royalties, in a way that mere mortals can actually understand what they're saying.

Steve Hochman over at Spinner.com is always great for a thoughtful interview, and this time around, he's talking with Miles Copeland, whose music, which features both Arabic and Western pop musicians, has recently been featured in a PBS documentary. You don't read a lot of stories which feature Donald Rumsfeld, Sting, and Courtney Cox... it's definitely worth a gander!

And right here at About.com, my friend Kim Ruehl (our intrepid guide to Folk Music), has a fun little piece about what I call the frottoir, but is also called a rub board or washboard... it's one of those scary instruments that makes sheer magic in good hands, and just makes horrible top-volume noise in less capable hands. I, unfortunately, fall into the latter category.

Read any good world music blogs lately? Leave a comment and let us know!

Well, fictional HBO vampires do, at any rate. During a glut of ugly, cold, drizzly Upstate New York days this week, I decided to catch up on some television, because going outside was simply an unacceptable option and working didn't seem much fun either. How convenient, then, that I had stockpiled every episode of HBO's new series True Blood. Watching the show, I was very quickly reminded of my strange inability to suspend disbelief when it comes to things I actually know something about. After I'd seen a few episodes, I started complaining to my poor sweet sister. "Ugh! First of all, Northern Louisiana is more like Arkansas than funky swamp country. Secondly, that one guy, Rene? His Cajun accent is one of the worst I've ever heard! Third..." Cutting me off, she said, "Uh-huh. But vampires are real?" Point taken, dear sister. Mom still likes me better.

At any rate, I finally made it through Episode 4, when much to my pleasant surprise, I noticed that Vampire Bill was listening to Cambodian-meets-surf-punk band Dengue Fever on his car stereo in the last scene of the show. Naturally, his southern-bred companion couldn't possibly tolerate such music, so she turns it off. Because, as we all know, no one except weirdos from New York and San Francisco like world music. Also, remember, vampires are real. Fast forward through the creepy opening sequence to the first scene of the next show, and... wait, could it be? That sounds like Tuvan throat singing! "What is that, anyway?" asks our fair heroine. "It's Tuvan throat singing," responds our handsome vampire. "Wait, what? For real?" asks our shock-riddled world music guide. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen or heard Tuvan Throat singing in any pop-culture context before. And I certainly didn't expect to hear it in a TV show about vampires in Louisiana. Cajun or zydeco, maybe, or even old-time music (given that the show's producers are clearly geographically challenged), but not Tuvan flippin' throat singing! So now I'm officially a fan of the show, and I hereby deem vampires to have the best musical taste of any subcreature. I officially agree to not complain about the terrible, stereotypical depiction of Louisiana life, in exchange for the producers throwing me another world music bone once in awhile. On that note, Happy Halloween!