Declared Chilean musical heroes, Chico Trujillo has set South America on fire with his contagiously jovial cumbia chilombiana. Soaking the Columbian cumbia with large doses of rock, ska, folk and punk, spicing it up with boleros or burning romances, the Valparaiso band offers an energising fusion, full of tropical echoes and melodies that hit the spot. Their live shows hover between blazing performances and timeless Latino balls in an endless riot of brass. An explosive and festive cocktail to drink without moderation, best cure against gloom and magic potion for lovers of sizzling dance floors.

Grand master Kim Ju Hong incarnates the Samul-Nori excellence, this Korean musical tradition of the highest rank combining ancestral percussions, shamanic chants and its procession of acrobatic dances. Taking inspiration from ancient Korean minstrels, the performance weaves around mystical incantations a complex percussive canvas meshed with Oriental symbolism: the Jang-gu (double percussion) represents the rain, the Buk (a double skin drum) symbolises the clouds, the Jing (large gong) the wind and the Kkaewangwari (small gong) thunder. Spectacular echoes of the legendary Noreum Machi jousts where the best musicians battled for the honours of performing at a closing ceremony. A musical coronation….

With edgy groove and catchy verve, singer, guitarist and percussionist Natalie Pa’apa’a takes lead position at the prow of Blue King Brown flagship. Carrying with her a black music heritage the young Australian performs soul, reggae and afro melodies with striking charisma. Assisted by a scintillating rhythm section, her voice strikes out its flow calling for freedom of expression around the world. Activist and stage fire starter, she symbolises the emergence of the Southern Hemisphere urban-roots scene characterised by a burning live performance style. The illustrious Carlos Santana described her as: ‘the voice of the street and the band of the future. A precious compliment ringing like a promise…

A must-see artist in the Indian Ocean, Christine Salem has been writing for over a decade a contemporary chapter for Maloya, this music from the Reunion island, registered on UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list in 2009. Inhabited by the mystical energy of ancestral trances; the betwitching and energetic singer unearths, with a deep voice, her island’s buried roots, at the crossroad between Africa and the Indian sub-continent. With infinite melodic richness, her Creole language borrowing from Malagasy, Comorian, and Swahili, twirls to the most hypnotic compound rhythms, reaching the top of authentic Maloya. An ecstatic experience at the heart of the island mystery…

Led by a Samuraï squadron gathering Riccardo Tesi (Italy), Bruno Le Tron (France), Markku Lepistö (Finland), Didier Laloy (Belgium) et David Munnely (Ireland), this ambitious project revisits the diatonic accordion’s journey of the last 30 years. The instrument rings of all its tones, reveals the full extend of its facets and tints itself with the colours of all cultures. Beyond the button box, a universal link…The mix of all these elements creates a melodic inventiveness exploring intimate spaces or soaring élans calling for a dance. A true musical firework celebrating the diatonic accordion.

Since 1999, Istanbul Sazendeleri envigorates the classical oriental heritage, gathering together pieces from the 10th century with contemporary creations.
A leap made possible by an ensemble of prestigious artists such as Göksel Baktagir on kanoun (characteristic of Ottoman classical music), Yurdal Tokçan on oud, Selim Güler on kemenche, Emrullah Sengüller on cello and Bülent Elmas on percussions. And so the group sets off on a dreamlike epic journey linking jazz to the traditional repertoire, virtuoso leaps to the most expressive motifs, lyricism to the most elaborated makams. A journey at the origins of oriental music, expertly refreshed by the Bosphorus tumultuous currents.

Initiated and upheld by the most talented artists of Mayotte, Anjouan, Mohéli and Grandes Comores, this project drafts with finesse an original sonic map of these Indian Ocean islets. The ravishing voices of Diho, Maalesh, Triongazi nourish a musical panorama simmering with abundant harmonies and rhythms, veritable melting pot borrowing ingredients from chigoma, M’godro, Afro-Arabic music, folk or blues. A colourful and melodic symphony that lifts the veil on l’Afrique du Soleil Levant and its brilliant leaders of musical creation. Dive in the Comoros Archipelago’s warm currents for an up-close and personal performance.

The unexpected meeting of an accordion and a trombone player along the radiant tracks of Central Europe traditional music. From their welcoming caravan, Yves Beraud and Jean Lucas offer an exciting trip down festive and melancholic landscapes of the Klezmer heritage, rummaging an instant in the neighbouring Balkan, Greek, Macedonian or Serbian cultures. Supported by twirling Yiddish accents, this virtuoso mini brass band, vibrating with humanity, conjures up wandering, folk celebrations, the sorrows and poetic impulses of a music inspired by the street. A cheerful walk in the secular land of Klezmer folklore.

Loud-speaker for Somaliland, a country in the North East region of Somalia, self-proclaimed independent in 1991 but not recognised by the international community, Sahra Halgan, has an extraordinary destiny. Singer nurse amongst the war of independence freedom fighters, living in exile, Sahra revives the Somalian musical tradition by crossing it with West-African melodies. The Durban, Somaliland’s percussion, adorns her nomad songs and embraces her delicate yet powerful voice telling of war, peace, death or love. A sensitive heart undulating in vocal volutes and carrying on, with a modern touch, precious traditions of a people fighting.

Settled since the Middle Ages near Saintes Maries de la Mer in Camargue, the Gypsy community has, for many years, contributed to the richness of the Christmas and rural celebrations of traditional Provence with their cante flamenco.
Chants Sacrés Gitans en Provence explores this rich folk repertoire, revealing the extraordinary and ancestral intertwining of music with Andalusian, Catalan, Gypsy and Provençal voices that developed a patina after years of live performance.
Tchoune, Renat Sette or Gil Aniorte-Paz’s voices befriend Diego Lubrano’s flamenco guitar and Sara Moha’s graceful baile in a passionate delivery bearing witness to an ardent love of traditions. A sacred and festive visit paid to a rich and multi-facetted cultural heritage.

Sonic pyrotechnician and multi-instrumentalist, Fedayi Pacha has been setting electro-dub ablaze with Far-East music since 2003, linking the remote lands of India to the Balkan shores on a flying carpet woven with digital threads.
Stretching with languor to the sound of traditional acoustic instruments such as the saz, the duduk, tablas, the bendir or the derbouka, these atmospheric tracks retain the power of electro rhythms, with a faint echo of Jamaican or English dub, and make the richness of oriental music sparkles at its brightest.
An ethno-dub and Oriental ambient elixir with hypnotic properties and sweet fragrances. Spellbinding.