We’re showing some fascinating music documentaries this week, and all of them deal in some way with cross-cultural influences. “Gilles Apap: Renegade Fiddler” spotlights a brilliant but controversial classical violinist whose musical interests are too eclectic to be contained by the western written tradition alone. “The Pied Piper of Hutzovina” focuses on the meeting point between “traditional” Russian Gypsy music and Punk. “Fangafrika” takes us to a huge hip hop festival in Burkina Faso, where that quintessentially American synthesis (rap) is being synthesized yet again. “Guca” introduces us to the brass band repertoire of the Balkans, a joyous offspring of the Turkish Janissary bands that accompanied the Ottoman troops so many generations ago. And as if to bookend our survey, “Brasileirinho” is about choro music, the cross between the western classical tradition, African improvisation and rhythms, and the saudade of Portuguese folk music. While we are sometimes daunted by the monolithic and jaded pop music of our time, it is incredibly refreshing to dip into these hybrids, and to know that music itself is always capable of infinite combinations, and that musicians will ever remain open to that process.

Every country has its character cliché. Hot Latin temperaments, Asian industriousness, Brazilian sexiness; the list goes on and on. Russia conjures up a ponderous, intellectual penumbra. Okay, maybe for ME that's what it is. Endless days thumbing through Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky isn't conducive to dancing a jig, unless it's as a survival mechanism. The music of Moussourgsky and Shostakovich is not a romp in the park. Don't get me wrong, I think these guys are GREAT.  Maybe that's because there's a streak of that old Slavic Doom in my DNA. So if you feel like wallowing in a murky mood, may I suggest you grab a bottle of vodka, pull down the shades, turn out the lights and seek out the video "Belaya Noch" by DDT playing as an interstitial this week. Let it carry your spirit along its alleys, canals, museums, and graveyards. Drink in the waxworks, funerary effigies and angels. Ponder the vanity of history. Then open the window, take a deep breath and have a nice Thanksgiving.

We love concept videos, but sometimes the best way to really understand what a musician is about, is to see them perform! Block #107, our ninth "In Performance" block, brings you Mamak Khadem a vibrant singer from Iran, Malian guitarist Habib Koite, the Southern Brazilian accordionist Renato Borghetti, Russia's DDT at a massive concert in St. Petersburg, Cape Verdean diva Mayra Andrade  at the Africa Festival in Lisbon, and Ojos de Brujo (Spain) with Faada Freddy (Senegal) rocking the house with Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up.".

Block #109, AKA "What a World" shows how world music artists address a variety of serious issues: Michael Franti speaks to the unity of mankind but keeps it all very danceable;  K'Naan describes the difficulties of being a refugee in a new country, and Nasjota rap about the Sudanese homeland. Then Aterciopelados sings about the misplaced love of money with "Don Dinero" and El Hadj N'Diaye makes an impassioned plea about third world debt. We close with DDT's animated anthem to the Kursk tragedy, "Captain Kolesnikov."

And of course, these two blocks will both be streaming on our site soon!