Malawi Mouse Boys on stage at WOMAD Taranaki 2015 Photo: Michael Flynn, used with permission.
An interview with and live performance from Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - a seven piece band from Puglia in the south-east of Italy. Their fusion of traditional pizzaca music has been their passport to the global Festival circuit. Led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mauro Durante, whose father Rina founded the band in 1975, the band mixes tradition with experimentation- from rousing dance to introspective ballads.
Recorded live on the TSB Bowl Stage by Radio NZ National, mixed by Jason McClelland.
Also, a live performance from the Malawi Mouse Boys. As childhood friends, they sold barbecued field mice on sticks as snacks to travellers in rural Africa. Now, Malawi Mouse Boys have the world mesmerised by their sweet, soulful singing. While the group name pays homage to their childhood job, their music pays homage to God through a peculiarly African interpretation of gospel music.
The group – which comprises vocalists Zondiwe Kachingwe, Jameson Lufeyo, Laurence Mpombe, Alfred Gavana (also guitar), Nelson Muligo (lead guitar) and Patrick Muhondo (bass), with Gerard Haju (drums) and Austine Banda (guitar) – was discovered and originally recorded on the clay ground outside their hut by Grammy award-winning producer Ian Brennan, famed for his work with artists as diverse as Tinariwen, Lucinda Williams and Richard Thompson.
Recorded live on the Brooklands Stage by Radio NZ National, mixed by Simon Gooding.
Programme produced and presented by Trevor Reekie; engineered by Jeremy Ansell; executive Producer John Pilley.
