i probably first came across ry cooder on ali farke toure’s talking timbuktu. years later he went to cuba with wim wenders and inspired me to drop everything, quit my city job in london, fly to habana to find the kids’ answer to the buena vista social club. we thought it would be hip hop and were probably right.

more recently, ry has been touring california and has produced this wonderful audio slideshow for the ny times.

In other world music news i just found out that hector zazou passed away in september. another huge musical influence, sahara blue in particular turned me on to the possibilities of modern middle eastern music.

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