Through the 1980s, the vast majority of people in China had never heard western music, save for John Denver, the Carpenters, and a few other artists included on the hand-picked list of songs sanctioned by the Communist Party. But in the late 90s, a mysterious man named Professor Ye made a discovery at a plastic recycling center in Heping.In episode 1 of Mixt ... Show More
Nov 28
Fela Kuti: Enter the Shrine
Our original host Jad Abumrad returns to share a new podcast series he’s just released. It’s all about Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musician who created a genre, then a movement, then tried to use his hypnotic beats to topple a military dictatorship. Jad tells us about the series and wh ... Show More
38m 12s
Oct 2020
An Indigenous Mixtape from Lima, Peru
Meet Liberato Kani, a hip hop artist in Lima, Peru—or as he says, “the Andean Bronx”. At his concerts, a typical call and response you hear is "Quechua es resistencia": Quechua is resistance. Though Quechua is spoken by nearly ten million people, Peru's native language is at risk ... Show More
46m 18s
Aug 2021
Daryl R. Ireland, "John Song: Modern Chinese Christianity and the Making of a New Man" (Baylor UP, 2020)
Dubbed the "Billy Sunday of China" for the staggering number of people he led to Christ, John Song has captured the imagination of generations of readers. His story, as it became popular in the West, possessed memorable, if not necessarily true, elements: Song was converted while ... Show More
1h 41m
Jul 2021
Giving voice to the voiceless with Ian Brennan, Alex Magaga, Van-Anh Vo and Gilbert Uwitonze
Producer Ian Brennan, Alex Magaga of the Tanzania Albinism Collective, Hanoi Masters musical director Van-Anh Vo and Rwandan folk musician Gilbert Uwitonze discuss how members of a community can intuitively start singing despite never having heard music before, accidents in the r ... Show More
29m 44s
Jan 2022
Musical collage with Mad Professor, Suzanne Ciani, Matthew E. White and Georgia Anne Muldrow
Mad Professor, Suzanne Ciani, Matthew E. White and Georgia Anne Muldrow discuss how listening to music lets you travel through time, packaging their work into album form, and which part of the music-making process they enjoy the most.Matthew E. White is a singer, songwriter, prod ... Show More
29m 57s
Oct 2021
'My studio is a mess', with Julien Baker, mxmtoon, Thao Nguyen and Quinn Christopherson
Julien Baker, mxmtoon, Thao Nguyen and Quinn Christopherson discuss how to separate work life and leisure time, learning to embrace being selfish, and failing at keeping your studio tidy,Julien Baker is one-third of the group boygenius, along with Grammy-nominated Phoebe Bridgers ... Show More
31m 37s