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 Saban Bajramovic
| Bosnia and Herzegovina
Saban Bajramovic was one of the most inventive and honoured Rom singers, composers and poets in the Balkans. Considered the “king of gypsy music” by his Serbian compatriots, he died on 8 June 2008 in his native town of Nis in Serbia at the age of 72.
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Zong
| Reunion (France)
This trio from the Reunion Island is a challenging hybrid of in-your-face punk, cutting-edge electro and deep dub. They are led by electro wizard Yann Costa and the sculptural singer Drean, and backed by the aggressive drumming of a man nicknamed Fever. Originally formed in 1996, they released Chromozong in 2001, and Paradis Thématik in 2004. Their 2007 album Fractures confirmed their reputation as one of the Indian Ocean’s most audacious and irreverant bands.
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Cachao Lopez
| Cuba
Born on September 14th 1918, Israel “Cachao” Lopez is credited as having invented the Cuban mambo style with his brother Orestes (although this is disputed by those who say it was Arsenio Rodriguez). His Latin jam sessions called “descargas” were legendary and Cachao’s bass playing was considered as a pure marvel of Latin jazz music. He moved to the United States in the early Sixties and later spent a decade in relative anonymity before a film and some consummate albums in the Nineties brought him worldwide recognition. Recording right up to his death on March 22nd 2008, Cachao is considered one of the most important figures in Cuban music ever.
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David Murray
| United States
Born on February 19th 1955 in Oakland, California, David Murray is a seasoned tenor sax and clarinet player. His prolific career has included diverse explorations of West Indian percussion music, free jazz experiments and a homage to the Grateful Dead. He has worked with the likes of Elvin Jones, Randy Weston, Olu Dara, Max Roach and McCoy Tyner. A Grammy Award winner in 1989, Murray has been involved in well over 200 albums – and keeps on going strong.
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Taraf de Haïdouks
| Romania
The Rom ensemble from Clejani, Romania, have established themselves as one of the most outstanding groups in their genre. Taraf de Haïdouks were established in 1990, and their fame spread largely thanks to the Swiss ethnomusicologist Laurent Aubert. Made up of a dozen musicians of all ages, they have brought out six international albums, the latest of which is the 2007 release Maskarada.
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Toumani Diabaté
| Mali
Born in 1965 into a family that boasts 70 generations of musicians, praise singers and griots, Toumani Diabaté has imposed himself as one of Mali’s most outstanding contemporary artists. His refined playing of the 21-string harp called the kora has attracted musicians as diverse as Taj Mahal, Peter Gabriel and Spain’s Ketama group. His international debut Kaira set the standards for the modern kora. Diabaté marked the 20th anniversary of this release with the The Mandé Variations, a powerful re-interpretation of classic Malian tunes.
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Tcheka
| Cape Verde
Attaching smile, charismatic stage presence, virtuoso guitar-plucker and a velvet voice. These are the most suitable epithets for Manuel Lopes Andrade, nicknamed Tcheka. The soft-spoken singer-composer-guitarist was born to a violinist father on July 20th 1973. In 2005 he grabbed the prestigious Discoveries award that Radio France International (RFI) offers annually to help launch international careers. This was fitting recompense for Tcheka’s refined second album called Nu monda. In November 2007, the Cape Verdian released his third album Lonji.
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Liu Fang
| China
Born in 1974 in Yunnan, China, Liu Fang was a child prodigy on the pipa lute and the guzheng zither. She graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and won some of her country’s most prestigious awards. In 1993 she left China to settle, first in Berlin and then in Montreal. She has been involved in several film soundtracks and has released nine albums. In May 2006, Fang brought out “Le Son de Soie”, an 11-track exchange with musicians from Algeria, Mali and France.
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Lo Còr de la Plana
| Occitanie (France)
Founded in 2001 in Marseille, this all-male ensemble focuses its musical talents on the voice and the rich traditions of France’s second-biggest city. This heritage centres on the Occitan language that is as old as the Phocean agglomeration itself. The six singers add a rich mélange of daily sounds and certain traditional instruments like the « picaments » and the « bataments ».
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Orchestra Baobab
| Senegal
In their heyday considered one of the finest live bands in West Africa, Orchestra Baobab are to Senegal what the Buena Vista Social Club have been to Cuba: a repository of some of the country’s finest music traditions and a band resurrected after years of oblivion. Formed in 1970, the seven musicians have come to symbolise unity in this proud nation and, since 2001, they have seduced audiences worldwide. In 2007, they released a seminal album entirely recorded in their capital’s Xippi studios Made in Dakar. It was only their second since they were resurrected six years earlier.
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