comwealth: Canada: Postcard from Newfoundland
Generations of musicians have found inspiration from their landscape, their fishing traditions and island life in Newfoundland. This lively music session recorded in St. John's, Newfoundland's capital...
View Articlecomwealth: Lesotho- Mosito Lehata
Mosito Lehata, 100 and 200 metre sprinter, is the fastest man in Lesotho and is the current holder of the country's record for the 100 metres. Mosito's chosen artist is Lesotho saxophonist Bhudaza with...
View Articlecomwealth: South Africa
Every Sunday morning, townships across South Africa vibrate to the sound and colour of traditional gospel services. The Holy Ethiopian Catholic Church of Zion gather in Soweto to sing songs which blend...
View Articlecomwealth: The Bahamas- Chris Brown
Bahamian 400m sprinter and triple Olympic medallist, Chris Brown, talks about junkanoo, the music of the annual street parades that resonates with all Bahamians. This music, deeply rooted in the...
View ArticleBarbados
The music of Barbados is a curious hybrid of British culture and African rhythms dating back to plantation days, and their strong Calypso song is an aural newspaper of modern life on the island. Wayne...
View ArticleMauritius- Christianne Legentil
Christianne Legentil did Mauritius proud by reaching the quarter finals of the 52kg women's Judo category at the London Olympics, despite coming from an island just 18 kilometres long in the middle of...
View ArticleNamibia
In the Namibian bush, close to the Botswana border, two San families share their musical traditions. As one of southern Africa's oldest peoples, the San are proud of a way of life that is dying out. We...
View ArticleTanzania: Suleman Nyambui Mujaya
Suleman Nyambui Mujaya struck silver for Tanzania in the 3000 metres steeplechase at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. He stayed in sport and is now General Secretary of Athletic Tanzania. His chosen artist...
View ArticleAustralia
Mark Atkins is regarded as one of Australia's finest virtuoso didgeridoo players and is recognized internationally for his collaborations with some of the world's leading musicians, including Led...
View ArticleAntigua and Barbuda: Kasheem Colbourne
Up and coming 200m and 400m sprinter Kasheem Colbourne expresses through his music choice his deep pride in the beauty of his country. 'Antigua' by Rupert Blaize conjures up paradise-like images of...
View ArticleBotswana
In Botswana, each tribe has their own identifiable style of music. The Balete Ditlhaka traditional group, based in Ramotswa village in the south of Botswana, is one of the last groups keeping Ditlhaka...
View ArticleSierra Leone: Hafsatu Kamara
Hafsatu Kamara is an up-and-coming sprinter who represented Sierra Leone at the 2013 African Senior Championships, and aims to do well at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Raised in Sierra Leone and...
View ArticleSt Lucia
St Lucia's leading traditional folk band Man May La Kay keep alive the traditional Kwadril music. Drawn originally from the French courtly Quadrille, this is a curious mix of African and European dance...
View ArticleBrunei: Maziah Mahusin
Sprinter Maziah Mahusin was the only female athlete representing her country at the London Olympics 2012; carrying the Bruneian flag at the Opening Ceremony is one of her proudest moments. Since then...
View ArticleRwanda
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, triggered by the assassination of the Rwandan President in April 1994, and continued for 100 days with an estimated death toll of more than...
View ArticlePakistan: Kiran Khan
Kiran Khan is one of Pakistan's first international female swimmers. She talks about the responsibilities and pressures of being a media celebrity and a role-model for other women, and the difficulties...
View ArticleTonga
A rare performance of music by the Lomipeau Collection, recorded in a church hall in the village of Lapaha, Tonga. Singer Alusa Falefa has been entrusted by Noble Kalaniuvalu Fotofili, the living heir...
View ArticleMaldives: Mueena Mohamed
Mueena Mohamed is the Number One table tennis player in Maldives. She chooses a song very familiar to her from her childhood, Minivan vayaa, and talks about the place of music in Maldivian culture, the...
View ArticleCyprus
The story of Cyprus's tumultuous past is told through its archaeological treasures, its dusty streets, its food and music. Michalis Tterlikkas was born and lived in the rural village of Kapouti in...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Ghana
Ghana has made quite an impact on the world music scene over the years, not least with Highlife music, perhaps the best known genre to emerge from this west African country - and the Anglo-Ghanaian...
View ArticleMalawi
In a music centre at the heart of Malawi's capital Lilongwe, 3 groups converge to demonstrate some of this country's rich music and culture. Waliko Makhala, respected musicologist and pioneer at Malawi...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Grenada
Writer Jacob Ross was short-listed for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize and in 2011 was awarded Grenada's highest award for his contribution to literature. His choice of Heritage Track- the 1960s...
View ArticleSolomon Islands
Bamboo grows all over the Solomon Islands and provides a perfect natural material for making musical instruments. The 13 piece Waurana Pan Pipe Ensemble makes full use of the bamboo which grows around...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Samoa
Sia Figiel is a novelist, painter and poet who won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Fiction (SE Asia/Pacific Region). Her choice of Heritage Track LOTA NU'U, sung here by the Samoa Teachers'...
View ArticleMalta
Extinct for over 200 years, the Maltese Lira can be heard along with a clutch or other rare instruments all played by Ruben Zahra.Plus recordings of Malta's traditional folk music, 'Ghana'.
View ArticleHeritage Track: Gambia
Gambian athlete, Suwaibou Sanneh, carries his country's music with him as he prepares for the 100 metres sprint in the USA. Music from Jaliba Kuyateh and The Kumareh Band.
View ArticleDominica
Music is a family affair in La Petite Souffriere, a tiny and remote village high in the hills of Dominica. Isma Alie still works as a farmer cultivating Bay Tree plantations for their oil but also...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Vanuatu
Vanuatu - which literally means freestanding - has only existed as an independent country since 1980. It has a population of less than quarter of a million, but despite that has a strong reputation for...
View ArticleKenya
Recorded at the African Heritage House outside Nairobi. Two generations of the Luo tribe perform the music of their people. Ayub Ogada has reached an international market as a world musician but here...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Nigeria
Nigeria has long been a powerhouse in terms of world music, with artists like Fela Kuti reaching audiences around the globe. Our Commonwealth athlete this week is US Olympian but has chosen to...
View ArticleHeritage track: Guyana
Writer and academic David Dabydeen is currently Guyana's ambassador to China. His Heritage Track is 'Not a Blade of Grass' by Dave Martins and the Tradewinds. For David the song prompts thoughts of...
View ArticleNew Zealand
Whiri Tu Aka are a 5-piece all-female Maori a capella group founded by producer/vocalist Mina Ripa. Best known for her work in the field of electronica and dance music, this project was inspired by the...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Papua New Guinea
Jeffry Feeger, Papua New Guinea's leading visual artist, chooses the song West Papua by George Telek to express the deep-rooted Melanesian heritage his people share with those across the border in the...
View ArticleSri Lanka
In Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, Vesak celebrations are underway for the birth and enlightenment of Lord Buddha. The streets are thronged with families and traffic all heading to the town centre,...
View ArticleUganda
Across the source of the Nile at Jinja and eastwards towards the Kenyan border lies the remote and rural Bigwala Village. The last surviving musicians of the Royal courts are the Akadinda players,...
View ArticleHeritgae Track: St. Kitts & Nevis
Athlete Jason Rogers (100m), living and training in Canada, chooses an example of the soca music so popular back home in the Caribbean islands of St Kitts and Nevis. Unstoppable Force by King Konris is...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Mozambique
Mozambique is something of an anomaly in terms of Commonwealth membership. It only became a member in 1995 and was never under British control. Instead the country was ruled by Portugal from 1505 until...
View ArticleMalaysia
In the capital of Malaysia's southernmost state of Johor, traditional Malay Ghazal and Zapin dance music is popular despite the country's race to modernity. We hear from On Jaafar and Shafie Bin Ahmad...
View ArticleSingapore
Singapore is home to a very senior group of 'waijiang' musicians originating from Chaozhou in southern China. Their waijiang style of playing was popular in pre-cultural revolutionary China but is now...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Tuvalu
Formerly known as the Ellice Islands, Tuvalu is a Pacific island nation situated between Hawaii and Australia. Its population of just 11,200 means it the third-least populous sovereign state in the...
View ArticleSeychelles
In the midst of the Seychelles Carnival, Latroupe Nasyonal Sesel, a ceilidh-style band of seven players and several young dancers are preparing their traditional music and dances for the celebrations....
View ArticleHeritage Track: St Vincent and the Grenadines
Writer and poet Philip Nanton chooses Credentials by Shake Keane, the well-known Vincentian jazz musician and poet, and explains how the story Shake tells encapsulates for him certain key aspects of...
View ArticleBangladesh
On a rooftop beside Gulshan lake, above the bells of tuk tuks and sounds of the call to prayer, a group of musicians have gathered in the late afternoon in Dhaka. Baby Dewan sings Bhatiyali songs of...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Kiribati
Kiribati is an archipelago of 33 islands in the central Pacific, with a population of just one hundred thousand people across more than a million square miles of Ocean. Formerly the Gilbert Islands,...
View ArticleZambia
Seven kilometres from the world heritage site of Victoria Falls, in the Southern Province lies the rural Mukuni village, the main village of the Mukuni Chiefdom. It was founded in the 13th century by...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Cameroon
Saxophonist Manu Dibango brought the sound of Cameroon to the world but also brought a bit of the world back into Cameroon, creating a glorious fusion of African Funk and Jazz. Weightlifter Vanatius...
View ArticleIndia
Kala Ramnath is one of the leading Hindustani musicians of her generation. Born into a dynasty of violin players who championed the instrument in Indian classical music in the 20th century, Kala has...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Nauru
Measuring eight square miles with a total coastline of eighteen and a half miles and a population of just over nine thousand, the Pacific island of Nauru is arguably the least populous actual sovereign...
View ArticleTrinidad and Tobago
Within these small Islands, steelpan orchestras are an integral part of daily life. The Pamberi pan yard on the outskirts of Port of Spain is a meeting place for the whole community whether they turn...
View ArticleHeritage Track: Belize
The Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia is a politician, lawyer and broadcaster. The only woman of the 31 members of Belize's House of Representatives, she is particularly interested in improving the rights...
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