For those of you who love Desert Blues, that loping, hypnotic guitar music that we associate with the Tuareg and the Saharawis, consider this: The electric guitar has reshaped traditional Saharawi music, but the situation in the refugee camps grows more dire every day, with fewer and fewer guitars for young people to play, thus further endangering an already endangered cultural legacy.   
Got an electric guitar that is gathering dust somewhere?  Want to put it to truly good use? Check this out!

Okay, if you've gone to the URL above, you know that this is a great site.
It's maintained by my old friend Angel Romero, and it's a terrific resource for what is going on in world music, and as you can see, what is happening on many tangential levels.

This just in from a friend who thought it was worth sharing.  He's right.
Istanbul's Sulukule, the world's oldest Gypsy settlement, known for its music & dance clubs, is being demolished by developers to make way for gentrification. If you have ever been entranced by the sound of Turkish Roma clarinet, read this and weep.

Good-bye, Gypsies: The Loss of 1,000 Years

Rupa, who fronts the April Fishes is certainly a multi faceted creature. A doctor, a musician, a painter, a linguist, she is someone who doesn't just sing about life, she plunges in with both feet.  She spent quite a bit of time talking to me in New York about the various bandmembers and singing their praises (sorry Fishes, I didn't use that stuff --and readers, it IS an excellent band!) but eventually we got down to some of the subjects that drive her.

A documentary about the band's trip along the border between Mexico and the USA is in production.

On another note, there is a very moving video that while as commercial as it gets, cuts to the heart. It is an homage to Neda, and all the young people who have demonstrated and suffered during the recent government crackdown in Iran. The majority of people living in that country are now below the age of 30-- Possibly the largest demographic on earth of educated young people to be held back by their own government. These days we all know we are watching history when we watch Iran.

The ripples continue to spread outward.

In the next week or so, we will be adding interviews with Chico César (Brazil), Jorge Nasser (Uruguay) and Aterciopelados (Colombia) to our series “Music for Human Rights.” In each case we have outreached to the artists for more photos and contacts and had to do plenty of research after the actual interviewing, to make them all good television journalism. We received wonderful photos from Jorge of his rock n’ roll days complete with Telecaster, and Chico sent us a heartwarming family photo. And while one doesn’t always relish the research, sometimes it is an enriching experience all its own; looking up “Uruguayan Dictatorship,” “Landless Movement” and “Escopitarra” I found myself drawn into the multitude of Latin American historic and contemporary issues. (And the picture just gets bigger with each lead). Perhaps the most intense vector involved our interview with Emmanuel Jal, who had such an electrifying part in our “Price of Silence” video. As a Sudanese child soldier seeking refuge from the horrors of war, he was singled out by Emma McCune, a young British aid worker, who was responsible for putting him on the path to a better future. Googling her name, she emerged as a figure of extreme controversy, and in my outreach to find photos of this mysterious person I was put in touch with her mother Maggie. Not only did Maggie send me extraordinary photos of her late daughter, but she sent me a book she had written about her own journey to find herself within her daughter’s death. It’s fascinating reading, and I feel as if I now know some truths that no amount of info-surfing could ever yield.  I love this job!