• Salvant’s ability to sing in multiple languages is, in part, due to her being the child of a French mother and Haitian father. She began classical piano studies at 5, sang in a children’s choir at 8, and started classical voice lessons as a teenager. She emerged with a vocal range and talent that one might expect from a performer with significantly more life experience. Yet this old soul, who generally surrounds herself with performers in their 30s, brings a layered depth to her music that comes from historical research and an ability to unearth forgotten songs and make them her own. The story of Mélusine has a common theme of imagining women as witches, mermaids and other transformative creatures from Greek mythology. It conjures a European folklore legend sung in French, Occitan and Haitian Creole, with her own compositions, and selections dating from the 12th Century. She uses these songs and stories in part to convey a character she often plays in her work - an intelligent coquette who is more interested in playing with men’s affection than seeking it out. - Lisa Sahulka
         
  • "With advanced degrees in musical performance and voice, and captured by the culture, spirituality and music of Candomblé, Bahia-born Irma Ferreira began a profound investigation of her Afro-Brazilian roots...  (her) first solo album release, Ém Cantos de Orisá, bears the fruit of her investigation, borrowing both chants and melodies from Candomblé’s trove of devotional works. The chants have a more liturgical sound, while the songs suggest more secular themes. Pronounced percussion, typically expressive of the the more bellicose orisás, such as Sango, the spirit of thunder and lightning, and Ogúm, the warrior lord of iron and steel, yields to a more melody driven sound in Ferreira’s interpretations. The instrumentation, a blend of Western and Afro Brazilian, provides a felicitous, understated backdrop for her vocals." - RootsWorld
  • Omar Sosa and Paolo Fresu have a three album trilogy, Eros and Alma, and now their latest, Food, takes on another layer of their cross cultural musical exploration. What elevates Omar Sosa's playing is that his improvisational muse is grounded by the clave and montuno of Afro-Cuban music. Sosa may go farther afield but he always comes back to the invisible scaffolding of Cuban music. These parameters are joyous constraints that make him so interesting to listen to. Paolo Fresu is an Italian trumpeter from Sardinia Italy, who is often compared to the moody atmospheres Miles Davis and Chet Baker conjured. On Food, Sosa and Fresu have created a beautiful album that channels the joy of food, the communal table life, and also the implications of climate change, in an emotional and intimate album. Read Lisa Sahulka's review and listen.
         
  • Sarah Aroeste - Monastir The album "reveals a panoply of styles, sounds, languages and vocalists, all impeccably arranged and produced." - Andrew Cronshaw in his review in RootsWorld Ladino singer/songwriter, author and activist Sarah Aroeste reconnects with the legacy of her Sephardic homeland of Monastir, a Balkan city at the commercial crossroads between Turkey and Western Europe in what is now North Macedonia. For centuries, this Jewish community flourished alongside its neighbors, enjoying a unique history with its own customs, religious observances, linguistic patterns, and songs, until it was destroyed by the Nazis in 1943. The predominantly Macedonian Orthodox and Muslim population of Monastir/Bitola welcomed Aroeste to help her record 10 songs that give an inside look into the life of Jewish Monastir before WWII wiped it out. From kantikas to romances, and from centuries-old melodies to originals, each song in this album has a story, told by over thirty singers and musicians from Israel, Macedonia, Spain, Germany and the USA.
  • The music on this collection- recorded during the 1970s and early 1980s, arguably Nigeria’s most musically fertile and innovative period- is highlife getting a much needed makeover. Like the bigger names from eastern Igboland such as Celestine Ukwu, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, or Ali Chukwuma, Alhaji Waziri Oshomah and his bands de-emphasized the jazzy swing and large horn sections of highlife’s outdated past, and instead, brought local rhythms to the foreground, allowing electric guitars and keyboards to drive languorous, unhurried melodies for extended grooves. Luaka Bop’s latest in its 'World Spirituality Classics' series demonstrates Waziri’s leisurely approach with a collection of 7 songs anywhere from 8 to 17 minutes long.
  • Aire posts Magos Herrera at the summit of her creativity and her agency. For the first time she holds the reins of vocalist, lyricist, composer, co-arranger, and executive producer, even artistic director, crafting, with an impressive supporting cast, a work all her own. Among the A-list players to join her are: Jacques Morelenbaum; Gonzalo Grau; Diego Schissi; Dori Caymmi; and her frequent collaborators, the Knights... Aire is a wide-ranging album musically, serving especially well Herrera’s luxuriant voice. And it is a thoughtful and thought-provoking work, a ballet of sound that closes the gap between elegance and feeling. - Carolina Amoruso in RootsWorld Magazine
  • Courtesy of Colorblends Bridgeport & Amsterdam- Spring Loaded Daffodil Bulb Package with 75 bulbs per bag. Several different varieties in a spectrum of colors with varying bloom times. The bulbs will be shipped free via FedEx to your house. Plant in the fall season for blooms next Spring. Every year they will return to greet you in the Spring!
  • WPKN Record Logo Cork Turntable Mat
  • Donate $100 and get a $50 Gift Certificate to Good News Restaurant and Bar

    Award-winning Farm-to-Table Restaurant 694 Main St S, Woodbury, CT 06798

    Carole Peck began her love affair with food 30 years ago, graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 1973. Pioneering a then male-dominated profession, she grew to her now distinguished reputation. After graduation, Peck worked as the executive chef at many restaurants, resorts, and clubs from Cape Cod to Hilton Head to Austin to Miami and New York City. Along the way she continually gained recognition and professional acclaim. She settled in Litchfield County in 1983.
    • The Good News Restaurant and Bar is a generous in-kind supporter of WPKN! They donate hundreds of dollars in gift certificates to support us without asking for anything in return.
    • Farm-to-table restaurant that loves dishes that are simple and complex at the same time-simple in their purity and appeal, but rendered complex by the prismatic flavor profiles they offer, and the nuances of sensory delight.
    • Good News Restaurant and Bar is rated one of the ‘Top Restaurants in the U.S.’ It has won numerous awards and critical acclaim over the last 20 years.
    • New York Times bestseller books states “it’s a one of the top 1000 places to visit in the US and Canada before you die. Combine this with an atmosphere of comfort and sophistication – original artwork by the best up-and-coming artists in the region scattered around for your viewing pleasure, creating a truly perfect setting.”
    • Reservations are required on Fridays & Saturdays
    • They also support Ukraine! To date, they’ve raised $56,000, they match dollar for dollar. Visit their website to make a donation.
  • A practical and comprehensive guide to surviving the greatest disaster of our time, from New York Times bestselling self-help author and beloved CBS Sunday Morning science and technology correspondent David Pogue. You might not realize it, but we’re already living through the beginnings of climate chaos. In Arizona, laborers now start their day at 3 a.m. because it’s too hot to work past noon. Chinese investors are snapping up real estate in Canada. Millennials have evacuation plans. Moguls are building bunkers. Retirees in Miami are moving inland. In How to Prepare for Climate Change, bestselling self-help author David Pogue offers sensible, deeply researched advice for how the rest of us should start to ready ourselves for the years ahead. Pogue walks readers through what to grow, what to eat, how to build, how to insure, where to invest, how to prepare your children and pets, and even where to consider relocating when the time comes. (Two areas of the country, in particular, have the requisite cool temperatures, good hospitals, reliable access to water, and resilient infrastructure to serve as climate havens in the years ahead.) He also provides wise tips for managing your anxiety, as well as action plans for riding out every climate catastrophe, from superstorms and wildfires to ticks and epidemics. Timely and enlightening, How to Prepare for Climate Change is an indispensable guide for anyone who read The Uninhabitable Earth or The Sixth Extinction and wants to know how to make smart choices for the upheaval ahead.
  • Award-winning journalist and CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir draws on his years of immersive travel and reporting to share the best ideas and stories of hope and positivity from the people and communities around the world who are thriving in the wake of climate change, and what we can learn from them to build a more promising future.

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