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The Refugee All-Stars
The Refugee All-Stars’ mix of roots reggae, Afropop, hip-hop and traditional West African goombay music--fused with its direct English-language lyrics--address the brutality, struggle, and the hopefulness of displaced Sierra Leoneans.
By Jeff Tamarkin

Brazilian Girls
Brazilian Girls’s métier is usually pure capricious fun and even a bit of debauchery. Born from the Nublu scene, the drummer explains, “There were a bunch of Brazilian girls [at Nublu] who were really excited about our music. So I thought of the name. It’s kind of like calling the band ‘free beer.’”
By David R. Adler

Aterciopelados
Aterciopelados’s one constant is the duo’s assertion that their Colombian identity is vital to their art. Throughout their career, they’ve represented an alternative vision of Colombian rock music, one that moves beyond the territory staked out by more traditional and less challenging performers.
By Ernest Barteldes

Vusi Mahlasela
If apartheid broke apart the different cultures and tribes of South Africa, Mahlasela’s music has unified them, blending many of the country’s 11 official (and some unofficial) dialects into his songs. He himself speaks 17 languages. “It’s important,” says Mahlasela, “for the youth to know what we went through, so that won’t happen again.”
By Wes Orshoski

Marisa Monte
One of the biggest Brazilian artists in the ’90s, Marisa Monte sold millions of records and toured the world, playing an imaginative brand of pop that drew upon her homeland’s musical roots in samba, but reached abroad for other sounds as well.
By Tad Hendrickson

Michael Brook
Guitarist Michael Brook is definitely more of a cult hero than a chart-topper. But a list of those he’s worked with—from the late genius Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Youssou N’Dour as well as Robert Fripp, the Pogues, Jane Siberry and many others—shows just how well regarded he is.
By Chris Nickson

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