Bodega Pop à la Turk | April 2 on WFMU

From 7-10 PM EDT Wednesday, April 2, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio will take you on a three-hour tasting tour from Şanlıurfa to Istanbul, sampling a century's worth of Anatolian rock, arabesque, folk, hip hop, psych, Sufi, underground and pop from one of the world's most musically advanced cultures -- most of it from my own personal collection. 

Bookmark the page and join me next Wednesday night!

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES SPECIAL

On March 26, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio celebrated the label's first decade with a three-hour-long serving of sublime pop, folk and radio snippets from the 80+ game-changing titles they've put out to date. 

Listen to the show in the archives

Seattle's supremely influential label Sublime Frequencies released their first album in August 2003 and, over the course of the next 10-1/2 years, they changed the way we think about -- and listen to -- pop music from around the world.

Sublime Frequencies | Bodega Pop Live

Seattle's supremely influential label Sublime Frequencies released their first album in August 2003 and, over the course of the next 10-1/2 years, they changed the way we think about -- and listen to -- pop music from around the world. 

From 7-10 PM EDT this Wednesday, March 26, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio will celebrate the label's first decade with a three-hour-long serving of sublime pop, folk and radio snippets from the 80+ game-changing titles they've put out to date. 

Bookmark the page now and join us this Wednesday night!

ROGUE STATES | BODEGA POP LIVE

On March 19, 2014 Bodega Pop Live hosted three raw, spine-tingling hours of BURMESE PUNK, BELARUSIAN AGITRAP, CUBAN HIP HOP, IRANIAN ROCK, IRAQI POP, LIBYAN DISCO, SYRIAN SOUL and ZIMBABWEAN MBIRA.

LISTEN TO THIS ARCHIVED SHOW NOW

Pesniary | Pesniary II (1974)

You are grabbing now this music.

In advance of tonight's Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio broadcast, ROGUE STATES, I'd like to share this longstanding Belarusian folk band's hard-to-find second LP, appropriately monikered Pesniary II.

Here's what the Pedia of Wiki has to say about them:

Pesniary was the best-known Soviet group coming from the Belorussian SSR. It was one of the very few (and possibly the first) Soviet bands to tour in America in 1976. They've toured the South of the USA together with a folk band The New Christy Minstrels. 1974-1980 is considered the Golden Age era of the band when it achieved top popularity in the USSR, in Eastern Europe and in other countries.

In 1979, after the success of rock opera Guslar, the whole band was awarded the honorary title Meritorious Artist of the Soviet Union, and Mulyavin personally received a higher title of People's artist.

After band's leader Vladimir Muliavin death in a car accident on 26 January 2003, the original Pesniary split. Currently, three different bands laid claims to be the official descendants of the original "Pesniary" band. They are:

* Belarussian State Ensemble Pesniary - state-produced band under Ministry of Culture of Belarus, consisting mostly of young musicians.

* "Belorusskie Pesniari" led by former Pesniary saxophonist Uladzislau Misevich

* "Pesniari" led by former Pesniary vocalist Leanid Bartkevich.

All three keep touring and performing original Pesniary songs.

Watch the original band live on Soviet television ca. 1972:

ROGUE STATES | Bodega Pop on WFMU

This Wednesday, March 19

Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio 
presents:

Rogue States

Music from Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria + Zimbabwe

Pop, funk, folk, rap, disco and "Dear God, what was that?!?" from the Axis of Evil, Beyond the Axis of Evil and the Outposts of Tyranny.

Bookmark the show now!

Korean People's Army | Beautiful Music of North Korea

Reupped, just for the heck of it, here.

[Originally posted September 2, 2012.] I offer my apologies in advance for this. But, honestly? I couldn't help myself. Yes, yes; I'm well aware that the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, who passed away today (or, technically, tomorrow) at the tender age of 92, was technically South Korean (after having been imprisoned for nearly three years in North Korea's Hŭngnam labor camp). But, work with me, people! The man, after all, was born in North Korea. And, c'mon, it's the Unification Church. Not only did the Reverend Moon visit North Korea in 1991; his youngest son, Hyung Jin Moon, visited North Korea last year to extend condolences in the wake of Kim Jong-il's death that December.

Having spent my formative years in San Francisco, Moonies--er, Unificationists--occupy the same part of my brain occupied by Krishnas: Lost or batshit crazy people who latch on to the first wacky religion that accosts them on the street. That's ... not really fair, of course. But, eh. Whatever. The truth? I've been waiting for the perfect moment to post this bizarrely upbeat album, and right now frankly seems as good a time as any. 

"Enjoy"!

Yé-Yé Yeah! | Bodega Pop Live TONIGHT

Tonight from 7-10 PM EDT on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio ... Bodega Pop Live presents Yé-Yé Yeah! ... a century of pop Français distilled down to a bracing three-hour café noisette of ... what's the French word? 

Listen in and check out the playlist

Yé-Yé Yeah!

This Wednesday, from 7-10PM EDT, Bodega Pop Live presents "Yé-Yé Yeah!", a century of pop Français distilled down to a bracing three-hour café noisette of ... what's the French word?

Bookmark the page now!

BODEGA POP LIVE ON WFMU's GTDR TONIGHT

TONIGHT from 7-10 PM ET, Bodega Pop Live is pulling out all the stops to offer an egregiously thrilling three-hour hip-hop tour through Brazil, Cambodia, Egypt, Hong Kong, Israel, Lebanon, Nigeria, Panama, Senegal, Vietnam ... and beyond. 

LISTEN in and check out the PLAYLIST 

Oh, and by the way ...

This super-awesome CD, Rap Around the World, lovingly hand-compiled by your favorite bodega proprietor, can be yours by pledging $75 or more to support WFMU / Give the Drummer Radio during their annual marathon. 

PLEDGE NOW

READ MORE ABOUT THE CD 

Mayumi Kojima | Love of a 20-Year-Old (1996)

Listen to the first track of this blistering early Mayumi Kojima album

Get it all here.

Long-time visitors of the bodega not only know the special place this singer holds in our heart--they also know why. (Newer visitors need simply listen to the sample above.)

I'm so wiped out that I can't possibly write up a properly thrill-packed intro for this one ... but, just having found it, I couldn't wait to pass it along to you.

RAP AROUND THE WORLD | LIVE WFMU WEDS

This Wednesday from 7-10 PM, Bodega Pop Live is pulling out all the stops to offer y'all three insanely glorious hours of the most awesome international hip hop you've ever heard. 

Bookmark the page! And, while you're there, why not make a pledge to keep WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio on the air?