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Border Blaster
Buyepongo Present Exclusive Mix — A Roadmap to Their Globe-Spanning Sound
Listen to Los Angeles-based Buyepongo's special Border Blaster mix, spanning ome of the farthest reaching tendrils of the buyangú sound, from Indonesian gamelan to breathless Honduran punta.
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Border Blaster
For Bulgarian-German Artist DENA, Breaking Down Borders Starts at the Flea Market
For Denitza Todorova, aka DENA, filming at the Turkish Market in Neukölln helped communicate a theme central to her work: the idea of “home" in a fluctuating world, and how access to culture and prestige fluctuates with it.
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Japanese Breakfast Blends Darkness and Light for a Colorful Meditation on Loss
“Psychopomp" directly confronts loss from different points in the grieving process, at the same time meditating on other crises — for instance, the nature of broken relationships, or the lasting psychic damage of one’s hometown.
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Peruvian Band Kanaku Y El Tigre's 'Quema Quema Quema' Burns With a Hunger for Life
All the songs feel, in one way or another, enamored with life and its possibilities, nodding sometimes toward life’s more somber aspects without becoming somber themselves.
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Chilean Artist Alex Anwandter's Urgent 'Amiga' Masterfully Combines the Personal and Political
Anwandter's two major works released in 2016 are both dedicated to drawing out the intersection with the personal and political, particularly with regard to violence against the LGBT community.
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Duppy Gun: L.A.'s Experimental Scene Goes to Jamaica
Duppy Gun Productions = What happens when two musical outsiders leave the comfort of L.A. to immerse themselves in a small scene of vocalists in Jamaica — one of the most influential, yet fundamentally conservative, music scenes in the entire world.
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The Empowering and the Personal in Helado Negro's 'It's My Brown Skin'
Roberto Carlos Lange’s approach — talking about his skin as if it’s a lifelong companion — opens up an deep well of perspective on color, representation, and self-regard, extending further to a broader message of inclusivity and empowerment.
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Enter Ghanaian-Swiss Group OY's Unique Vision of 'Space Diaspora'
In "Space Diaspora," OY came upon the idea of a future in which the “recurring loops of human behavior” — incessant wars, endless political disputes, even art movements — finally cycled past themselves.
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French Producer Débruit Explores Istanbul's Psychedelic Side
For Débruit, the record is as much a portrait of Istanbul's diverse, colorful music scene as it is a recollection of a crazy two-week trip to the city on the Bosphorus.
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Sudanese-American Singer Alsarah Mixes Complexities of Immigration with Retro Sounds of East Africa
Much of Alsarah’s music deals with the ever-unfolding complexities that arise from dislocation and immigration — ideas that have impacted Alsarah throughout her life.