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Weaving La Fabri-K in America

The documentary "La Fabri-K: The Cuban Hip Hop Factory" follows the trajectory of a hip hop collective's inception in Havana through its tour of the U.S. We talk to the film's director, Lisandro Perez-Rey.

"La Fabri-K" screens this Saturday at 4:30 as part of the Habana/Harlem festival at the Harlem Stage.

More about the Habana/Harlem Festival

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CD Picks of the Week

Each week, the Soundcheck staff digs through their in-boxes for the best, catchiest, or strangest music they can find. Here are four chosen by guest host Siddhartha Mitter for the week of October 29.

Bettye LaVette, “Scene of the Crime”

Every once in a while a forgotten soul singer reappears from the mists of time with a chip on her shoulder and the kind of real-life stories of struggle and redemption that make the music truly "soul." Bettye LaVette came up in Detroit and had a couple of songs in the 1960s, then pretty much vanished. Now she’s back, with one album two years ago and another one just out called “Scene of the Crime.” She made this one in Muscle Shoals, Ala., with the amazing Southern rock band Drive By Truckers backing her up. So this isn’t some kind of retro soul revue, it’s real gritty American music straight from the heart.

"Scene of the Crime" is available for purchase at amazon.com

Amir El-Saffar, “Two Rivers”

“Two Rivers” is the name of the new record by the New York trumpeter Amir El-Saffar. The title refers to the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, but it could just as well mean jazz and classical Arabic maqam music, which flow together here in a beautiful and sophisticated mix. El-Saffar is Iraqi-American and he managed to spend time in Baghdad before the war studying Arabic instruments and vocals. He’s joined here by some prominent young jazz players like Nasheet Waits on drums and Rudresh Mahanthappa on alto sax. They’re making music from the world in a way only possible in New York.

"Two Rivers" is available for purchase at amazon.com

Extra Golden, “Hera Ma Nono”

Extra Golden is a collaboration between indie rock musicians from Washington D.C. and artists from Kenya who play benga, the pop music of East Africa. They came together when guitarist Ian Eagleson was doing musicology research in Nairobi a few years ago. But there's nothing academic about their music, with its swirling African dance rhythms and occasional interventions of jangly rock riffs or melancholy blues intonations. Extra Golden has had a lot to overcome, notably the death from HIV of their original Kenyan guitarist, Otieno Jagwasi. And on a recent tour, the African members were having trouble getting their U.S. visas to clear until they got help from the office of Senator Barack Obama. They wrote the song “Obama” to thank him.

"Hera Ma Nono" is available for purchase at amazon.com

Dee Dee Bridgewater, “Red Earth: A Malian Journey”

You might know Dee Dee Bridgewater as a singer of straight-ahead jazz, or from albums covering material like classic French songs, or as the host of a weekly jazz show on public radio. But Bridgewater’s heart is now in Africa and particularly in Mali, a country that she now regards as her spiritual home. Her new album gathers her regular trio with some of Mali’s most amazing traditional instrumentalists and also singing stars like Oumou Sangaré. There’s everything here from great new arrangements of jazz classics to Bridgewater singing and even scatting along with griot praise songs in the local language Bambara. And she says this African album is for her only the beginning.

"Red Earth: A Malian Jounrey" is available for purchase at amazon.com

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Au Revoir Simone

The all-girl, all-keyboard band Au Revoir Simone joins us to talk about their New York roots and their unexpected success in France. They play live in the Soundcheck studio.

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