world

Konono Nº1 is a musical group from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire). They combine three electric likembé (a traditional lamellaphone similar to the mbira) with voices, dancers, and percussion instruments that are made out of items salvaged from a junkyard. The group's amplification equipment is equally rudimentary, including a microphone carved out of wood fitted with a magnet from an automobile alternator.

"The swagger of a Balkan wedding band with the riotous energy of a Latin carnival." Based in Scotland, but taking in musical influences from far and wide, Orkestra del Sol inflect their music with a raucous enthusiasm. Blending the best of brass with the swinging sounds of samba, New Orleans street music or the rolling rhythms of Turkey and the Middle East, they charge through it all with full-blooded rock and roll speed. They make mincemeat of musical categories.

Te Vaka is a unique group of ten musicians and dancers from Tokelau, Tuvalu, Samoa, Cook Islands, and New Zealand brought together under the inspired leadership of Opetaia Foa'i. They have been wowing international audiences since 1997, presenting a rich, luscious mix of Polynesia's ancient culture, to the modern world and in 2008 won the “Best Pacific Group” award. The language they sing in is usually Tokelau but more recently they have been singing in Samoan and Tuvaluan too.