When Bob Marley decided to get up and stand up, championing love and unity from the pulpit of a tumultuous Jamaica, he probably never imagined his rude-boy image and Trenchtown tunes would become festive anthems for suburban American youth some 20 years later. Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer joi

Rebel, Reggae, Serene, Social revolution, Spiritual

Miriam Makeba unites blues, gospel, contemporary jazz, and folk with traditional Xhosa songs to make music that can truly be categorized as "World." After gaining international attention in the early 1950s for her performances in the film "Come Back, Africa" and the jazz opera "King Kong," Makeba was

African jazz

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is considered to be the greatest qawwal of his generation. Qawwali, the Sufi music of India and Pakistan, translates literally as "utterance," and it is an ecstatic, spiritual poetry married to music. The music serves to express mystical love and the longing for a union with the

Ecstatic, Ethereal, Indian classical music, Religious, Sublime

As a teenager, Cesaria Evora performed in bars in her native Mindelo, a town on São Vicente island -- known as Cape Verde's most cultured island. By the age of 20, she was the solo star of local radio stations. In her mid-40s, Evora finally left her island to break into the Paris scene, and releas

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