World Music Foundation Podcast

The goal of this show is simple: opening minds through Music! We bring you interviews with world-renowned musicians from every part of the globe, as well as our own explorations of musical styles, instruments, and artists. If you believe, like us, that open ears = open minds, then come with us into broader horizons!

Illmind- Filipino-American Multi-Platinum Music Producer and Innovator 05/18/2022

Illmind- Filipino-American Multi-Platinum Music Producer and Innovator Many articles, films, and interviews have been made about Illmind’s extraordinary career producing many albums for several of the top names in Hip-Hop today. This isn’t one of those interviews. In this week’s episode, John digs deep into the early experiences and upbringing that shaped Ramon Ibanga Jr - AKA !llmind - as a musician and planted the seeds of what has become a life’s quest towards community building. After years of social innovation within the Producer Community, we catch up with this 2x GRAMMY Award winning artist just days before he speaks at Gary Vaynerchuck’s VeeCon and just a couple months after the launch of his landmark NFT project: Squad of Knights. MUSICAL MENTIONS 0:00:10 0:00:12 0:00:18 0:00:20 0:00:21 0:00:26 0:00:38 0:00:48 0:01:07 0:01:16 0:01:21 0:01:29 0:02:22 0:02:44 0:02:44 0:02:44 0:02:44 0:03:00 0:03:02 0:03:17 0:04:19 0:04:32 0:04:32 0:05:38 0:06:33 0:06:34 0:06:38 0:06:36 0:06:50 0:07:26 0:07:32 0:08:00 0:08:01 0:08:04 0:08:05 0:08:06 0:08:07 0:08:15 0:08:35 0:08:36 0:08:44 0:08:47 0:08:52 0:09:13 0:09:21 0:09:24 0:09:41 0:09:53 0:09:54 0:09:58 0:14:36 Disco 0:14:36 0:14:58 Hip-Hop 0:15:06 Producer 0:15:34 0:15:36 0:15:37 0:15:38 0:15:40 0:15:42 0:15:46 0:15:46 0:16:17 0:16:18 0:16:43 0:16:44 0:18:11 0:18:18 0:18:18 0:18:24 0:18:59 0:18:59 0:18:59 0:20:02 Music Producer Community Forum Producer Beats 0:20:23 0:20:32 0:21:48 0:21:56 12-Inch Vinyl Single 0:22:11 0:24:48 0:24:58 0:25:16 0:25:59 0:26:11 0:27:20 0:28:09 0:28:22 0:28:32 0:28:47 0:29:12 0:29:57 0:30:32 0:31:21 0:32:00 0:32:02 0:32:59 0:33:00 0:33:01 0:33:02 Beat Machines 0:33:33 0:33:35 0:33:39 0:35:19 0:37:20 0:37:26 0:37:35 0:37:38 0:37:55 1:04:38 1:04:48 1:04:48 1:04:51 1:04:59 1:05:00 1:05:01 /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/23148737

Daniel Nebiat: Eritrean Krar Master & Founding Member Of The Juno Award Winning Okavango African Orchestra 05/09/2022

Daniel Nebiat: Eritrean Krar Master & Founding Member Of The Juno Award Winning Okavango African Orchestra Juno award-winning, Eritrian krar player, Daniel Nebiat joins John to talk about his journey playing the krar. From growing up in the midst of a war for independence to working with African legends, Daniel Nebiat shares the ways he had to persevere, adapt, and innovate to continue pursuing his passion for music. Currently based in Toronto, he is a founding member of the Okavango African Orchestra, where he and African musicians from six other countries create original music for traditional instruments that have historically had little or no interaction. Whether he’s talking about krar, family, or food, “Toronto’s Krar Star” does not disappoint! MUSICAL MENTIONS: 00:04 00:08 00:15 00:17 00:18 00:20 2:24 2:25 2:26 2:27 2:28 2:29 3:16 3:17 4:32 4:33 4:35 4:52 4:53 4:54 4:55 5:07 5:09 5:10 6:14 6:15 6:19 6:40 7:39 9:30 9:33 12:54 16:50 17:36 20:17 21:15 21:28 21:46 24:48 25:02 25:18 25:19 25:21 27:32 29:02 29:30 29:36 29:48 29:53 30:52 31:03 31:22 32:46 34:46 35:52 49:40 49:50 41:12 44:20 45:21 46:12 Musica 52:46 59:38 1:00:02 1:00:06 1:03:38 1:03:40 1:04:49 /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/23055059

We Will Return Soon! (Upcoming Episodes Trailer) 08/25/2021

We Will Return Soon! (Upcoming Episodes Trailer) Like all of us, the global pandemic has hit The World Music Foundation hard. We're excited to return soon and we're excited to share with you a sneak peek of upcoming episodes along with some updates on what we've been up to. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/20256248

Rhymefest: American Rapper, Writer, Community Organizer, and Explorer 02/11/2020

Rhymefest: American Rapper, Writer, Community Organizer, and Explorer In this week’s episode John meets with American rapper and prolific creator, Che “Rhymefest” Smith to discuss Hip-Hop and his Hollywood acting debut, along with topics ranging from Chicago’s youth, spirituality, various life changing trips around the world, and much more. Rhymefest's upcoming album is titled Love Lessons Part 1. This episode also includes the world-premier of an amazing track from the upcoming album, featuring Black Thought (aka Tariq Trotter of The Roots) & Raheem DeVaughn. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/13113098

Wu Fei: Genre-bending Composer, Guzheng Virtuoso & Vocalist From Beijing 01/27/2020

Wu Fei: Genre-bending Composer, Guzheng Virtuoso & Vocalist From Beijing Wu Fei describes herself as an ancient soul trapped in a feisty woman's body. Hailing from Beijing, China, Wu Fei is a multi-talented composer and guzheng virtuoso, known also for her improvisational singing and piano playing. Fei talks to John about transitioning from China to the U.S., how both countries have influenced her and her music, and what it was like to hear American music for the first time in her teenage years. She also discusses her critically acclaimed original work "Hello Gold Mountain." /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/12906275

Louis York: American Griots, Weirdo Workshop Founders, and Multi-GRAMMY Nominated Musicians 12/16/2019

Louis York: American Griots, Weirdo Workshop Founders, and Multi-GRAMMY Nominated Musicians This week's episode takes us to Nashville, TN, USA where John visits Weirdo Workshop, the music label and creative headquarters for our guests, Louis York, to speak with them about their new album and everything that's brought them to this point in their careers. Louis York is the powerful duo of multi-GRAMMY nominated songwriting and production team, Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony. Their debut album is titled American Griots and it's a sonic adventure that's deserving of their incredible backstory. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/12423854

Roberto Fonseca: Cuban Pianist, Composer, and Bandleader 11/11/2019

Roberto Fonseca: Cuban Pianist, Composer, and Bandleader Self-proclaimed "crazy, romantic musician", Roberto Fonseca, speaks with John about his recently released 9th solo album, Yesun, along with the life experiences and musical training that have brought him to this point. Roberto is a GRAMMY nominated, Cuban pianist, composer, producer and bandleader, and on this album he experiments with a wide range of musical forms. Roberto also talks about his tenure with the Buena Vista Social Club and this forever changed his approach to music making. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/11988719

Femi Kuti: Afrobeat Legend And Concerned Citizen Of The World 11/04/2019

Femi Kuti: Afrobeat Legend And Concerned Citizen Of The World John spoke with Afrobeat icon Femi Kuti from the Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria, where he shared his life-changing transition from the Saxophone to the Trumpet and the effect this has had on his music and his thoughts. Femi is the son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, and is considered a torch-bearer to his father’s legacy, but in this interview Femi explains why he believes that his mother, Remilekun Taylor, is actually 90% responsible for who he is. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/11904896

Goat Picnic: Hill Country Music of North Mississippi 10/21/2019

Goat Picnic: Hill Country Music of North Mississippi John travels down to Coldwater, MS for the 69th Annual Goat Picnic in honor of fife & drum legend, Otha Turner. What started off as something else, ends up being a a good handful of great conversations with musicians (and even some audience members) about the Hill Country Music of Northern Mississippi, USA. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/11736317

Mei-Ann Chen: Award-Winning Taiwanese-American Conductor & Music Director 09/23/2019

Mei-Ann Chen: Award-Winning Taiwanese-American Conductor & Music Director Mei-Ann Chen is acclaimed for infusing orchestras with energy, enthusiasm. In our conversation we follow her musical evolution from shy violin player in her birth country, Taiwan, to dynamic, trailblazing, internationally sought-after conductor. Mei-Ann also shares the inspirational interaction with Martin Luther King that inspired the creation of the MacArthur Award-winning, Chicago Sinfonietta, the nations most diverse orchestra, of which she is the principle conductor and music director. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/11385635

Mile of Music Festival Part 2: Afro-Cuban, Mariachi, Ghanaian Drumming, and Menominee Flute Interviews & Workshops 09/09/2019

Mile of Music Festival Part 2: Afro-Cuban, Mariachi, Ghanaian Drumming, and Menominee Flute Interviews & Workshops Last week, we spoke with Brian & Leila Pertl, and members of the Music Education Team, who have helped design the Mile of Music Festival, especially the cultural education components. This week, we’re speaking with the teaching-musicians themselves to learn about Afro-Cuban Drumming, Mariachi, Ghanaian Drumming, and Native American Flute. We attended a few sessions ourselves during the festival and spoke with these artists afterwards. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/11229437

Mile of Music Festival Part 1: Cultivating An Inclusive View Of Local Music 09/02/2019

Mile of Music Festival Part 1: Cultivating An Inclusive View Of Local Music We were delighted to discover the Mile Of Music Festival, which curates international music workshops alongside concerts of Americana and Folk music. Several of the Americana acts were imported nationwide and even internationally, but all of the international music is taught by people from within their small Appleton community. So which music is ‘local’?? We attended this 3 day festival, attended the workshops and spoke with the organizers to fully understand the blurring of this dichotomy. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/11106893

Jess Sah Bi & Peter One: Ivory Coast Guitar & Vocal Duo 08/12/2019

Jess Sah Bi & Peter One: Ivory Coast Guitar & Vocal Duo Jess Sah Bi & Peter One, musicians from Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa, recall hearing the harmonies and guitars of Simon and Garfunkel and Cat Stevens for the first time and how that impacted their music from that point onward. In our conversation they take us through the creation of their landmark African-Country-Folk inspired album Our Garden Needs Its Flowers from their initial search for a producer to now the recent reissue, 30 years later, by Awesome Tapes From Africa. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/10885021

Pamyua: The Most Famous Inuit Band In The World 07/29/2019

Pamyua: The Most Famous Inuit Band In The World Pamyua’s musical footprint, spanning two decades and several countries, is a testament to the ongoing vibrancy of Inuit music, the group members, and their unique heritage. Brothers Phillip and Stephen Blanchett speak from the heart on issues of identity, culture and music expressed through their music. They are preservers of an amazing musical tradition that is still alive but has historically been marked for extinction and, to this day, continues to face the threat of becoming lost. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/10672175

Zeshan B: Chicago-Born Opera-Trained Indian Muslim Soul Singer 07/16/2019

Zeshan B: Chicago-Born Opera-Trained Indian Muslim Soul Singer Chicago’s own Zeshan B’s fearlessness as an individual translates into music that knows no boundaries and takes from a wider range of influences than we may be used to hearing in one musician’s discography. In 2017 he released his critically acclaimed debut album. Since then he’s been touring and preparing for his next release. We talk about his experience in music education, his current project, and how we all share an inherent hunger for groovy music. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/10407845

Strunz & Farah: Costa Rican-Iranian Global Fusion Guitar Duo 06/24/2019

Strunz & Farah: Costa Rican-Iranian Global Fusion Guitar Duo Originally from Costa Rica and Iran respectively, Jorge Strunz and Ardeshir Farah have brought the musical influences of their native lands into their highly virtuosic, rhythmic, and improvisation-rich original instrumental compositions, inspiring fans and many guitarists worldwide. Their meeting in 1979 in Los Angeles, where they are still based, marked the first time that Latin American and Middle Eastern music, along with other important elements, came together on the guitar. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/10283909

Aashish Khan - Living Legend of Indian Classical Music and Master of Sarode 06/17/2019

Aashish Khan - Living Legend of Indian Classical Music and Master of Sarode Aashish Khan is the eldest exponent of an Indian Classical music lineage that reaches all the way back to the court of Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. He takes us back to the creation of his pioneering Indo-Jazz fusion band, Shakti, in the early 1970s, he shares about his new project Shringar, and reveals that he has a literal treasure trove of unreleased recordings, including a track that he recorded with George Harrison, Eric Clapton and others. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/10179098

Thomas Brooman, Co-Creator Of The Term World Music & Co-Founder Of WOMAD Festival 06/10/2019

Thomas Brooman, Co-Creator Of The Term World Music & Co-Founder Of WOMAD Festival Thomas Brooman has always had a vision of a smaller musical world -- from his early years spent among fellow awe-struck concertgoers during the European Rock-&-Roll boom, to his later work cultivating a collective of artists as co-founder of the globally inspired World of Music Arts and Dance festival (WOMAD). We talk about the relationship between musicians and international markets and get a behind-the-scenes look into his involvement in the creation of the term ‘World Music’- in all of its complexiti /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/10104741

Paramount Records: the Rise, Fall, and Resurrection 06/03/2019

Paramount Records: the Rise, Fall, and Resurrection Our second episode brings us to a small town in the Northern part of the U.S. where we, surprisingly, find a deep Blues history. We follow Paramount Records through the peak of success, recording landmark artists that changed Western popular music forever, but this music, at several times, was almost lost forever. We follow the thin thread of events and recent efforts that have gone into preserving this important musical history. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/9960275

Dave Pietro, American Jazz Saxophonist 05/27/2019

Dave Pietro, American Jazz Saxophonist Dave Pietro’s curiosity and workmanship have been the foundation of his decade’s long career as an internationally touring musician. He explains the value of truly listening— even if what you’re hearing confuses or frightens you at first. We touch on his gigging history starting in New York, his new album New Road: Iowa Memoirs, and how immersing oneself in a culture can fundamentally change your understanding of pretty much everything. /episode/index/show/wmfpodcast/id/9576851

World Music Foundation Podcast

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