We're live!

That's right - Hemispherical now has a radio station, Hemispherical Radio. (Clever name, no?!) We went live yesterday, with an African playlist that ranges from Mali and Congo to Sudan and Ethiopia. We'll be posting updates on what's airing as the playlists change. For now, enjoy - and your comments are welcome!

Some highlighted discs:



This disc is the soundtrack (pretty literally) to Banning Eyre's book - a compendium of music from Mali, much of it recorded on site. If you've been looking for an intro. to West African music, this is a great place to start.



Featuring three artists from Sudan - we're playing a track by singer/oudist Abdel Gadir Salim.



This is by far one of the best Rough Guide anthologies - click here for partial liner notes and more audio samples. (Click here for a review on the Afropop Worldwide site.) We've chosen a lot of tracks by Berber artists - Azawan.com, dedicated to the music and culture of the indigenous peoples of North Africa, will give you more insight than we ever could!


Tuareg guitar band Tinariwen is a particular favorite of ours - the BBC recorded their WOMAD 2004 gig in its entirety. (You'll need RealPlayer in order to listen.) There's more audio and plenty of interviews here.

Other places:

Afropop Worldwide's 2001 interview with Habib Koite.

A comprehensive bio. of Moroccan Berber singer Aicha Redouane. (You'll have to scroll down the page a bit.)

Official site for Congotronics 2.

Everything you ever wanted to know (well, almost) on Cameroonian singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Francis Bebey. (In French - do check the "discography" section!)