World Music

Acts You Shouldn't Miss at iFest's Second Weekend

Texas Brass Band Bud Light World Music Stage, 1 p.m. April 27; Houston Press Rocks Off Texas Music Stage, 4:30 p.m. April 27 The Texas Brass Band combines trumpet flourishes and tuba-led bass lines with jazz, R&B, and hip-hop influences to create a unique, distinctively Southern sound. Last year, t ... More >>

World Beat: The Music of iFest

Performers from New Orleans to Zimbabwe enliven this year's Brazilian-themed Houston International Festival.

Acts You Shouldn't Miss at iFest's First Weekend

Rocks Off asked our staff members who will be covering the Houston International Festival for us this weekend to give us one or two choices for artists they don't want to miss. Forro In the Dark Bud Light World Music Stage, 2:30 p.m. Saturday/Center Stage, 6:30 p.m. Saturday As one of the first ac ... More >>

Radioactive Duo

Classic-rock station 93.7 The Arrow yanks controversial morning DJs Walton and Johnson off the air.

RIP Ravi Shankar, Sitar Pioneer And Beatles Buddy

One of the greatest musicians of all-time has died. Ravi Shankar, sitar legend and easily one of India's most revered cultural ambassadors, passed away Tuesday afternoon at the age 92 in San Diego. According to ZeeNews, he had been having trouble breathing and was admitted into the hospital last w ... More >>

Free Radicals: "If There's No Money Involved, That's Fine"

Free Radicals have won an amazing nine Houston Press Music Awards for Best Jazz, but jazz really doesn't even begin to cover the 16-year-old Houston group's sound. It's so all over the place that the only category that really fits is the oft-misunderstood "world music," especially on the Radicals' n ... More >>

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80

Tinariwen

Festival de Mariachi

España

The Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra says olé!

2010 Music Awards Nomination Ballot Is Live

​Besides the (dead) weather, the surest sign around here that summer is almost upon us is that - as of right this very minute - the 2010 Houston Press Music Awards nomination ballot is online and waiting for your suggestions in as many of the 43 categories as you'd care to offer them before the ba ... More >>

9th Ward Ramblers

New Orleans's Zydepunks embody the polyglot culture of their hometown...loudly.

"Why Can't It Be More Like Jazzfest?" Rick Mitchell Debunks The Top 10 Gripes He's Overheard About Houston's iFest

All photos courtesy of www.ifest.orgOzomatli: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 17, Bud Light World Music Stage​ A couple of days ago, Houston International Festival Director of Performing Arts Rick Mitchell emailed Rocks Off and asked us if we'd mind reprinting something he wrote for the blog on iFest's Web ... More >>

iFest Lineup Already Well-Known, Tickets On Sale At 10 a.m.

6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 25, Bud Light World Music Stage In what has become the worst-kept secret since either the end of The Crying Game or last Sunday's revelation that the Flaming Lips are this year's Summerfest headliners, the lineup of April's Houston International Festival has been leaking all ... More >>

Tonight: Arrington de Dionyso, "The James Bond of Free Jazz," at Super Happy Fun Land

[Ed. Note: Stay tuned for an interview Rocks Off's Ray Cummings did with Mr. Dionyso.] www.myspace.com/arringtondedionyso​To say that Arrington de Dionysio is not for everyone is probably a pretty hefty understatement. If you're not prepared, your first listen to his enigmatic music is quite likel ... More >>

Tonight: Felabration! Salutes Afrobeat Father Fela Kuti at the Flat

​ Nigerian-born Fela Kuti's legacy lives on more than a decade after his untimely passing from AIDS in 1997. His unique fusion of jazz, funk, rock and his own native African sounds brought his continent's melodies to mainstream audiences in an unprecedented manner, thanks to his audacity and creat ... More >>

Artist of the Week: D.R.U.M., Who Will Not Be Challenging Moodafaruka to a Texas Death Match

Each Wednesday Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com.Caption TK​ D.R.U.M. is ar ... More >>

The National Acrobats of China

Web exclusive!

Fried Rice: In the Hot Seat with Zahira from Wild Moccasins

Zydepunks, with Blaggards

L.A.'s Dengue Fever Unites Cambodian Pop and American Rock

Both Sides Now

The Irish Tenors’ Christmas Special

The classical/pop trio makes its debut in Houston

Red Elvises

They’re a novelty — or are they?

Azul, Magos Herrera and Lila Downs

The Divinas concert

Sitar Star

Anoushka Shankar may soon be as famous as her dad -- but don't tell her that

Best Radio Station

Shakin' That Smart Ass

DJ /rupture's bombastic genre pastiche is incredibly cerebral, not to mention surprisingly fun to dance to

Project Row Houses Arts and Music Festival

Saturday and Sunday, October 12 and 13

Creative Interpretations

Vindication comes a year after "Agent 307" prevented Mahotella Queens from performing at I-Fest

Sacré Bleu Bayou!

France takes center stage at the Houston International Festival

Travail-less Travels

Putumayo and Rough Guide samplers offer up armchair adventures for jittery Americans

Playbill

L. Shankar and Zakir Hussain

Best African-Mexican Food Store

Mex-African Foods

Simon Shaheen & Qantara

Blue Flame (Ark 21)

Treasure Hunter

Chris Strachwitz's 40-year journey through ethnic music deserves an arhoolie of its own

Emerald Bayou

The Irish take center stage at the 2001 Houston International Fest

Tattoo Jew

The Klezmatics put a radical and progressive spin on traditional klezmer music

Pie in the Sky?

Rotation

Rotation

Rhythm Kings

D.R.U.M. not only wants the right sound, it wants the right spirit

African Electric

Try a Sample

Everything Festival

Static

Sound Check

A Cultural Question

Jewish Worlds is back after two years. It should have waited a third.

Madagascar Melody

Yiddish Yahoos

The Austin Klezmorim's clamorous eclecticism

The Horn of Africa

Trumpeter Hugh Masekela hears the beat of the music in the world