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Dan Rosenberg: Music Journalist / Recording Producer
Afropop Worldwide: Tobago's #MeToo Trailblazer: Calypso Rose. For six decades Calypso Rose has been one of the Caribbean’s leading feminists and human rights advocates. Now, at the age of 78, she's touring the world with songs about sexual assault, workplace discrimination, and some thoughts on Donald Trump. In this report, Afropop correspondent Dan Rosenberg talks with Calypso Rose about using music as a weapon for social change, and how Rose collaborated with fashion designer Anya Ayoung Chee to transform "Leave Me Alone" into a political movement. 20-minute documentary, part of Afropop's 30th Anniversary. Listen HERE. (May, 2018)
Afropop Worldwide: The Voice of Protest - Betsayda Machado Sings Against Hunger in Venezuela. The songs of Betsayda Machado, the leading voice of Afro-Venezuelan music, address many of the most painful topics of daily life of her country: hunger, poverty, shortages of basic medicine, and deadly street riots – stemming from the current economic and political crisis in Venezuela. They talk about its consequences on a gut level: empty store shelves, and the devastation of parents unable to feed their children. Some in Venezuela who have spoken out have faced retribution, but that hasn’t deterred Betsayda Machado. 23-minute Afropop Closeup. Listen HERE. (January 2018)
Radio Report on CBC's The World This Weekend on how Tobago's Calypso Rose, and how her music has become a rallying cry to end unequal pay and sexual violence. Listen HERE. (January 2018)
Radio report on CBC's The World This Weekend on guitarist Vadim Kolpakov's amazing journey from Saratov Russia, to his musical collaboration with Madonna on using music to fight bigotry. Listen HERE. (November 2017)
Latest Episodes of Cafe International Radio heard on WCBN-FM (Ann Arbor, MI) KBOO-FM (Portland, OR), WRFI-FM (Ithaca, NY) WSFM (Asheville, NC), KUPR-FM (Albuquerque, NM) and other radio stations:
CAFE INTERNATIONAL: FATOUMATA DIAWARA discusses her new album, "Fenfo", the world's migrant crisis, women's rights in Mali and more (July 2018)
CAFE INTERNATIONAL: INTI-ILLIMANI, NANO STERN and 50 YEARS OF CHILEAN PROTEST MUSIC, featuring interviews with Jorge Coulon nd Nano Stern (December 2017)
CAFE INTERNATIONAL: ON THE 79th ANNIVERSARY OF KRISTALLNACHT: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF HOW RAINER LOTZ AND THE SEMER ENSEMBLE RESCUED MUSIC NEARLY DESTROYED BY THE GESTAPO - 44 minute special presentation on Canada's ClassicalFM (November 2017)
CAFE INTERNATIONAL: PLENA LIBRE AND THE MUSIC THAT IS SPEARHEADING PUERTO RICO'S RECOVERY (October 2017)
CAFE INTERNATIONAL: Anti-Fascist Klezmer, with guest DANIEL KAHN, on confronting white supremacists in Charlottesvile, the 99% and much more (September 2017)
CAFE INTERNATIONAL: DECONSTRUCTING VOCAL SAMPLING, with Rachel Faro, Rene Baños Pascual, and more (August 2017)
CAFE INTERNATIONAL VISITS YIDSTOCK (with guests Frank London, Eleanor Reissa, and Aaron Lansky) (July 2017)
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Latest in The Huffington Post:
21 BEST PICTURE WINNERS THE OSCARS GOT WRONG (March 8, 2017)
40 THAT THE GRAMMY AWARDS FORGOT: 2016's BEST ALBUMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD (Feb 17, 2017)
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Six Degrees Records released Yiddish Glory in 2018 - Listen to music and read the incredible story of how songs of World War II and the Holocaust were brought back to life.
Here is a short film about the project.
It is hard to believe that Yiddish Glory is finally reality. During World War II, ethnomusicologists in the Soviet Union risked their lives collecting songs of the Holocaust and Jewish soldiers in the Red Army. The songs detail the Holocaust as it happened, and often deal with revenge on a visceral level. There is even a song in the collection that was written by a 10-year-old orphan who lost his family in the Holocaust. Following the war, the researchers were arrested by Stalin, their work confiscated, and they died thinking these songs were lost forever. Miraculously, decades later, the collection was discovered in a former Soviet archive. The Yiddish Glory project, headed by Anna Shternshis with a team of virtuoso musicians from the worlds of folk, classical, jazz, Jewish and Roma music came together to reconstruct and record these songs. The project includes Psoy Korolenko, Sophie Milman, Russia's Trio Loyko (guitar, piano, guitar), Alexander Sevastian (accordion), Shalom Bard (clarinet), and David Buchbinder (trumpet). The story was covered extensively in The New Yorker, ABC News, NPR the CBC (radio here and article here), BBC World Service, the Globe and Mail, RFI (Radio France International), ORF (Austrian National Radio), Deutschland Radio (German Public Radio), ABC Australia, NRC (The Netherlands) and Haaretz. The world premiere was presented by Show One Productions in Januuary 2016 to a sold-out concert hall, and the ensemble was recently invited to perform live on Toronto's Classical 96.3 FM, and here is a fantastic video of the event:
Yiddish Glory live on TV/radio at Classical 96.3 FM
On August 28, 2018, Yiddish Glory performed in Toronto's Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music to a sold-out audience to open the 2018 Ashkenaz Festival.
Yiddish Glory debuted at #5 in April 2018 on World Music Charts Europe, received the "Top of the World" honour in Songlines Magazine (June 2018) and was nominated for "Best World Music Album" Preis de deutschen Schallplattenkritik (Prize of the German Record Critics) (Summer 2018)
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Biography:
As a journalist, I have travelled to over 40 countries, reporting on folk music from virtually every corner of the globe for radio programs including Afropop Worldwide, PRI's The World, The CBC's Global Village, NPR's Artbeat, and numerous publications such as The Times (UK), fRoots, Islands, Outpost, Global Rhythm, Sing Out!, Dirty Linen, The Detroit Metro Times, Tower-Pulse, The Huffington Post, and the Rough Guides.
Upon returning home, I'd often get calls and emails from readers and listeners saying, "Where can I find this music?" Much of it wasn't on iTunes, and virtually none of it was in stores, so I approached a number of record labels to begin releasing it on CD. Over the past 15 years, I have produced, written liner notes, or worked as executive producer on over 60 recordings (including over 40 CDs for the Rough Guide series). For more information, visit the "About Me" page, and to learn more about the Rough Guide to World Music series, visit World Music Network.
BAN THE (IMAGINARY) FLIGHTS (Featured on the homepage of the Huffington Post on Oct 21-22, 2014).
OTHER CDs:
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO ETHIOPIAN JAZZ (June 2016) Swinging Addis is thriving once again, with the distinctive ancient-sounding tones of Ethiopia blending with modern jazz interpretations to create a totally unmistakable fusion. From the legendary innovators Mulatu Astatke and Getatchew Mekuria to today’s new generation of artists, this Rough Guide celebrates this burgeoning and most captivating of musical scenes.
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO MUSIC WITHOUT FRONTIERS (Oct 7, 2014) A 2-CD set dedicated to music from stateless peoples. It features music from Kurdistan, Palestine, Tibet, Zanzibar, as well as the Roma, Garifuna, Basque and more and was released with the help of the UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization). Also available on iTunes.
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE MUSIC OF MALI (March 25, 2014) A 2-CD set featuring Bassekou Kouyate, Fatoumata Diawara, Oumou Sangare, Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabate, Samba Toure & more. Also available on iTunes.
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO VOODOO (Sept 24, 2013). A 2-CD set exploring Haitian Vodoo, Cuban Santeria, Brazilian Candomble, Trinidadian Shango, and more.
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO ARABIC REVOLUTIONARY MUSIC (March, 2013) is a 2-CD set devoted to music that galvanized the Arab Spring. Also available on iTunes.
