Totallyradio genre: world

This week a selection of bands playing at my favourite friendly African, Latin and Caribbean music festival this year at Tropical Pressure Festival in Porthtowan in Cornwall, Thursday July 10 to Sunday July 13th. With several stages, night time clubs, workshops and always more going on at this friendly festival than I can possibly mention. This year Pilani Bubu, Novalima, Djabel Cissokho, Benin International Musical, Lindigo, Rokia Kone, K.O.G, Zion Train, The Hempolics, Raoul Monsalve y los Forajidos, and a whole lot more

Aracataca's John Child selects new releases and reissues from Los Orquesta Lebrón, Melcochita, Bailatino, La Sonora de Diego Galé, Fabio Gianni, Mongo Santamaría ft. La Lupe, Manteca and Los Gavilanes de la Costa; classic Latin big band from Bebo Valdés & His Havana All Stars; vintage charanga from Orquesta Sensación de Rolando Valdés; and new Latin jazz from Ittetsu Nasuda. Plus, Aracataca remembers the Dominican merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was among more than 230 people who died when the roof of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic collapsed on 8 April 2025.

Getting REALLY hot now! Liam is going to try and not boil you to the swimming pool but he really would like to share some new tunes with you! Featured artists are Sampling is Beautiful, John Pizzarelli, and Herbie Mann.

Liam is here with some tunes for your Sunday, so come in and take a listen. You are sure to have a good time! Featured artists are RALPH TV, Serge Gainsbourg, and Lenny Kravitz.

Early reminder of Tropical Pressure Festival, Porthtowan Cornwall July 11-13 With music from Benin International, and singer Pilani Bubu. More from Planet ilunga with classic Congolese rumba with album African Jazz Invites OK Jazz and from Analog Africa's retrospective Roots Rocking Zimbabwe with The Green Arrows. New music from Kiala & Afroblaster, Kaleta & Ibibio Horns, Djingo Typical Band, Alun Wade, Cheikh Ibra Fam and Nubiyan Twist

Sliding back the screen to reveal Japan's singular tidal wave of creativity, that rushed in after punk, which had opened the door to a new way, from the late 1970s onwards. It seemed almost overnight pompous prog. rock and jazz fusion were swept aside for a more immediate and relevant sound. Once the garage bands had set down their three chords, another crop of musicians and amateurs had their moment. Stepping up to the mic in this session are (early) Rough Trade styled low-fi guitar units, minimal bedroom synth outfits, have-a-go vocalists with primitive drum machines, and ethereal strummers, released on cassette, flexi disc and the rest, all Made In Japan.

To match the balmy weather this weekend, some Hot Hot Heat this week from Elias Rahbani, Fairuz, Baris manco and much more! Including some scintillating double troubles from Okay Temiz & Anunaku & DJ Plead and not forgetting a indelible Kyrgyzstani Morit von Oswald dub! Tip!

This show takes us on a journey through Balkan and revisits some western geniuses. Voices, guitars, Breaks… great production and innovative genre merging and bending. Lots of beautiful melodies. Faithfully, Bo ☀️❤️

Aracataca's John Child spins recent releases and reissues from Tomás Martín López ft. Tito Allen, Mercadonegro, Gerardo Frisina, La Malamaña, The Reddish Fetish with the Jersey City All Stars, Mike Guagenti and Carlos Pickling (from the compilation Cumbia Cumbia Cumbia!!! Vol. 3). Plus Aracataca remembers the Colombian singer Wilson "Saoko" Manyoma, featuring Fruko y sus Tesos and his own orchestra.

Music via Southern Africa from the incredible voices of Edith WeUtonga, and Pilani Bubu, and kwaito music from Brenda Fassie, and Moskito. Afrobeat from the late Tony Allen via Colombia's Bogota Orquesta Afrobeat, and revisit to the late legendary Congolese star Josky Kiambukuta, and underestimated Angolan singer Ricardo Lemvo bringing Latin rumba and soukous together. Ethiopian inspired Alogte Jonas actually from Ghana, makossa meets soukous from Camerounian singer Valerie Ekoume, and dub from Brighton based band The Hekatones featuring Kassia on vocals.

Just another hour with The Virgin Vinyls. As usual, lots of love and all the chaos x

This show features special introduction to one of my favourite Serbian producers and a fantastic guitar player. Nikola Mladenovic aka Koxy M aka Kolja ❤️ in several different styles as well as some other gems. This show will be quite electronic so for those of you that like to boogie is a great one! See ya there and let me know if you’re listening. Faithfully, Bo 🫡❤️☀️

This one is revisited Yugoslavia and some classics. Many great voices and guitars. Usual mix of oddities and curiosities. Hope you enjoy! Faithfully, Bo ❤️🫡☀️

The Damping Wells 148 with lily livered hasenpfeffer Dj Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Dhangsha, Cygnet V Zer0, Kemper Norton, Alien Alarms/Desmesne Furze/Ned Rush, Automouse, McCloud+1, Acre, and Spheress. Chew the bone, pop kids!!!***

The sun is out and Liam's is also out with the musical rays! Here to bring you some crackers this Sunday afternoon. Featured artists are Elis Regina, Trampled by Turtles, and Van Morrison.

Aracataca's John Child catches up with recent releases and reissues from Rubén Blades y Roberto Delgado & Orquesta, Luisito Ayala y La Puerto Rican Power ft. Gilberto Santa Rosa, Steve Guasch & O.N.E., Pablo Pérez "El Alcalde de la Salsa", Reunidos Por La Salsa and Brooklyn Sounds; reissued salsa africana from Gnonnas Pedro & His Dadjes Band; and charanga from La Son Charanga. Plus two cuts from Charlie Aponte, featuring Héctor Santos y su Orquesta and El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico; and classic tracks from Tito Puente & Celia Cruz, Machito & His Famous Orchestra, Cortijo y su Combo ft. Ismael Rivera and Mauricio Smith.

Japan Blues serves up a golden hour of Enka. The unique Japanese genre, somehow taking in strands of Country ballad, Fado, Blues and pop, evoking a nostalgia for a time that possibly never was. Often orchestrally backed, plucking at the heart strings with sentimentality, exploring well trodden paths of regret, sadness, lost love, infidelity and heartbreak, easily identified by early listeners who had fled the countryside for work in the growing urban landscape. Best viewed from the melted ice at the bottom of a glass of your favourite poison, while slumped over the counter at a small bar, mulling over life’s blind cruelty. But it doesn’t have to be miserabilist, there is something to be gained from facing one’s pain, to emerge from the precipice and face the world anew. This is the magic we learned from the Blues, transported to the other side of the Pacific. The musical style evolved from the early days of recording, melancholic burusu (blues) ballads, but in the 1960s and 70s it was re-promoted by record companies and absorbed by a younger pop fandom. Singers would be rigorously trained in exacting vocal technique, and stage direction for TV. Often with an expanded vocal range, and emphasis on extending notes with an exaggerated vibrato and ornate vocal styling - sometimes taken to melodramatic extremes. Once established, artists could carve out their own small territory of individual style, but they would be expected to exactly reproduce all their hit song’s elements, and stage moves. Some numbers get down and moody, some playfully incorporate early synths, others slip into a groove. What may seem on the surface as formulaic is merely a starting point, a template, evolved over time, though others remain completely unchanged. The sounds that would be heard blaring out of karaoke bars - before J- & K-pop sidelined them - in the covered shopping arcades scattered across the country. Mostly written in minor scale, strongly emphasising the mood, which radiates so strongly it can cross the boundary of language.

New release this week includes afrobeat crew Soothsayers featuring Lizzy Dosunmu and Dele Sosimi both also part of Estuary 21, more afrobeat from Femi Kuti, and a jazz meets afrobeat from the Konkolo Orchestra. Oriental Brothers International from Nigeria get remixed by Brooklyn DJ Uproot Andy, I pull out tracks from Zimbabwean band Ilanga from 1987, and Leonard Zhakata once of the Sungura Boys. Music from the Cameroun includes Christian Dina Bollanga, a new compilation of previously unreleased tracks from Francis Bebey, and a preview of a gig coming up in Shoreham on 28th June featuring singer 'makossa meets soukous' Valerie Ekoume and one time part of Manu Dibango's crew. Plus a touch of Latin sounds from Doble R Super Stars

Ben Khan with another episode of Orientalism, showcasing unsung Eastern delights. This week featuring indelible treasures from Iran, India, Turkey, Morocco and Egypt

In this episode, Thiago digs into some obscure samba tracks and mixes things up with Brazilian rap midway through the show.