The 2018 edition of the world music exposition WOMEX went down in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands with 300 artists and 2700 delegates from 92 countries. There was a lot to chew on. But one of the hidden wonders of WOMEX is the intimate European Broadcast Union radio studio. That’s where Afropop Worldwide and KEXP, Seattle, hosted four of the showcase acts up close and personal. On this program we hear radio sessions with Bakolo Music International, the oldest Congolese Rumba band alive; the Garifuna Collective, the band created by Garifuna music legend Andy Palacio; and Harouna Samake with Kamele Blues, a brand new band from a veteran Malian instrumentalist. Plus one or two surprises. This is the first of Afropop’s two-part coverage of the musical extravaganza that is WOMEX.

Produced by Banning Eyre.

[APWW #795]