From rootsy, copperbelt guitarists to electric guitar dance styles like kalindula, to roadside skiffle, and now, a powerful new wave of RandB, Zam-raga, and rap, Zambia offers a rich and generally overlooked world of popular music. This program will delve deeply into the history with hot combos of the past like The Big Gold Six and Emmanuel Mulemena, as well as sample the fruits of Zambia's current musical renaissance with acts like Black Muntu, JK and Danny. We'll get the inside line from Chisha Folotiya our man at the country's top pop label, Mondo Music. Also insights from producer and Zambian music compiler, Michael Baird.

Zap Mama, led by Marie Daulne, is a force to be reckoned with. Their fierce vocal power and poise is always delivered with a sense of theatrical whimsy. Zap Mama deliver a brilliant set at the Melkweg Club in Amsterdam followed by Black Umfolosi, the powerful 12-man group from Zimbabwe. Other a capela wonders include Cuba's Vocal Sampling with an impressive percussion sound, all done through vocals.

With new visa fees, a weak dollar, and the decline of the CD business, it's not easy for foreign musicians to mount a successful U.S. tour these days. And yet they keep on coming! On this program we catch up with an exciting collection of hearty, traveling Afropop musicians. We'll hear insights, memories and fabulous music from Emmanuel Jal, Chiwoniso, Umalali and The Garifuna All-Stars, Lobi Traore, Joep Pelt, and more.

We make a grand swing through southern Africa, stopping at musical hot spots in Jo'burg, Harare, Antananarivo and Maputo. We'll hear timbila maestro, Vinenzio Mbande, in Mozambique, two of the ebullient dance bands--Leonard Dembo and the Four Brothers--from happier times in Zimbabwe, our live recording of S.A. jazzers the Elite Swingsters in Jo'burg, and more.

We go to New York City for the annual globalFEST concert marathon, the biggest one day global music extravaganza in the country, to take in some choice concerts by: Fallou Dieng, a rising star of Senegalese mbalax; 84-year-old Dominican son maestro Puerto Plata; master accordionist Chango Spasiuk playing Argentina's chamamandeacute; style; and others. Plus we hear some of our favorite new projects by major artists such as Orchestre Baobab, Toumani Diabatandeacute; and other landmark African releases for 2008.

The "Black Pacific" is a term coined by our guide, ethnomusicologist Heidi Carolyn Feldman. She describes the circumstance of African descendants displaced not only from their ancestral homes in Africa, but also from the Atlantic coast nations where their enslaved ancestors were originally brought. This Hip Deep edition explores the sonically vibrant realm of Afro-Peruvian music, a young genre identification that has flourished since the 1950s and has now produced artists of international renown, such as singer Susana Baca, and the black folkloric company Peru Negro. The music is sensuous and deeply beautiful, and represents fascinating and little-understood history. We will hear from Juan Morillo, who represents Peru Negro, from Susana Baca, and from other artists and community scholars Feldman has worked with during her extensive research of this topic. Also assisting on this program will be Indiana University ethnomusicologist Javier F. León, whose work concentrates on new developments in Afro-Peruvian music.

Our August dance party continues with a new twist. Georges invites us into his home where he's cooking n'dolandeacute;, the national dish back home in Cameroon. And of course what's cooking without cooking music?! We'll be swinging to tunes from Kinshasa, San Juan, New York City, Paris, Lagos, Addis Ababa, and beyond.

Don't stop. The dance party continues with soukous Congo style, soukous Dar es Salaam style, Ricardo Lemvo with Congo-meets-Latin in Los Angeles, Hugh Masekela's update of his smash hit "Grazing In the Grass," Manu Chao's anti-globalista jump-up, Vieux Farka Tourandeacute;, Daddy Yankee's massive reggaeton, and more.

August is a flat out dance party marathon on Afropop Worldwide. We'll groove for three weeks in a row, starting with handpicked gems from summer dance parties past. Get ready for a fast-paced set sure to make your heart smile and your hips swivel. Featured artists include a Papa Wemba classic from a 1996 set, Eddie Palmieri at the heart of the New York salsa scene, the African-Latin boundary breakers Africando (featuring Guinea's Sekouba "Bambino" Diabate on soaring vocals), Cheb Mami hotting up the Arab music scene in Paris in 2001, the late great S.A. diva Brenda Fassie in her final year (2003), Magic System's mega-hit "Premier Gaou" (which became the soundtrack for much of West Africa), and Cheik Lo groovin' on peace and love, and more!

Longtime Afropop Worldwide correspondent Ned Sublette joins host Georges Collinet, as we talk to guest New Orleans DJ T.R. Johnson on the ground in the Crescent City, where the music goes on every night. We'll get an check at how this great American music city is doing in the summer of 2008. We'll hear music by Dr. John, Dr. Michael White, Terence Blanchard, Brother Tyrone, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Dumpstaphunk, and more.

Competition between communities of Indian and African descent has been a mainstay of politics and culture in the former British colonies of Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana. This rivalry plays out in institutions from the University of the West Indies to the West Indies cricket team, and of course, popular music. At the time of Trinidad's Independence, the Afro-Caribbean political elite of the day sought to enshrine calypso as the country's national music, but new genres have emerged, from the steel-pan jazz and calypso of the 1960s to soca and its successor, chutney-soca, which for the first time in the 1980s fully integrated Indian and African influences in a local popular music. This Hip Deep edition explores all of these styles, and also the music of diaspora communities in the U.S. and the U.K.. Ethnomusicologist Peter Manuel of the City University of New York shares his ground-breaking research on Indo-Caribbean music in all of its geographic and social contexts. His music and insights reveal a fascinating, overlooked story of hybrid Caribbean culture.

Our two-part special on summer festivals continues with highlights from the Sfinks Festival near Antwerp, Belgium in summer high season. This annual three day Afropop and world music extravaganza has a soft spot in its heart for Brazilian music, and today we'll hear from the edgy artist Pedro Luis and his roots rock band. Also featured is Mbulu from Mozambique with their updated, multi-generational version of marabenta music. Ghana checks in with classic, joyful highlife from the African Highlife All-Stars. And many other acts will grace your ears, from main stage concerts, to informal acoustic performances backstage.

Ever since 2003, when the current U.S. administration shut the door to any cultural exchange with Cuba (including allowing Cuban artists to tour the U.S.), it's been almost impossible to get a flesh and blood experience of this musically vibrant island. From back in the day when Afropop did annual research in Cuba, we remember the sounds and distinct musical spaces from our recordings of the classic son group, Los Tainos--live in Havana--a birthday celebration for the Afro-Cuban orisha San Lazaro (better known as Babalu Aye), the Tumba Francesa of Guantanamo, and others. Plus tasty classic tracks from Elio Revandeacute;, Dan Den, Benny Morandeacute;, and others.

Nothing beats a beautiful summer day for enjoying Afropop live. We have recorded many magical moments of Afropop artists in concert at summer festivals around the U.S. and Africa. Today, we present the best of the best to you.

We start in the Indian Ocean port town of Mombasa to hear the one-of-a-kind taarab music of the Swahili people that combines African, Arab and Indian influences. Featured are top stars such as Maulidi Juma and Musical Party. We also drop in on one of the raucous women-only wedding parties. Then it's south to Tanga, on the Tanzanian coast, to hear Golden Star and Zahira Swale. And we wind up on the famed island of Zanzibar to enjoy Culture Musical Club and the irreplaceable 90-something Bi Kidude.

There's a lot of fantastic music being made by Brazilian artists living in the United States. For sure, they have a large audience: it's estimated that over one million Brazilians have immigrated here over the past 25 years and there are sizeable Brazilian communities in cities all over the U.S. And that's not to mention the ever-growing legions of non-Brazilian fans of samba, capoeira, forró, bossa nova, choro, Brazilian jazz and other styles that are so important to U.S musical life. We'll hear many of the best Brazilian musicians living here: Jorge Alabandeacute;, master candomblandeacute; drummer and the godfather of many U.S.-based samba schools; Bebel Gilberto, daughter of bossa pioneer João Gilberto; singers Liliana Araújo, Katia Moraes, Luciana Souza, and Claudia Villela ; the quirky percussionist Cyro Baptista; the women's choir Brazilian Voices; capoeira master João Grande; the Assad Family; and one of the truly pioneering Brazilian musicians in the U.S., Sergio Mendes. They all have fascinating stories to tell. We'll listen to them in concert, visit with them in their homes, and hear songs from their records produced in the United States. New York University's widely published Professor of Music Jason Stanyek will be our co-host.

In our next installment of our "shout out" series, where we talk with leading deejays in Africa and Latin America about what's rocking their country's airwaves and dance floors, we're going to Colombia and Cuba. Banda la Republica, Colombiafrica the Mystic Orchestra, Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco, Gente de Zona and more are featured. Noted author Ned Sublette is our producer.

Beginning in 1815, under Shaka Zulu, the Zulus began a campaign of conquest that would subsume so many other groups that today, the Zulu are South Africa's largest ethnic population, numbering at least six-million. Ethnomusicologist Louise Meintjes, author of Sounds of Africa! Making Music Zulu in a South African Studio writes that the Zulu reputation for courage and style has given them "empowering significance as a defiant, self possessed, royal, and artful African people." This program will trace the rise of Zulu musical identity. We'll hear from Umzansi Zulu Dancers; Lahlumlenze, guitar picking maskanda stars Phuzekhemisi, Bhekumuzi, and today's top seller, Shwi No Mthekala, as well as mbaqanga stars, Isigqi Sesimanje and others. This is a story of musical innovation and virtuosity: how local musicians absorbed American fingerstyle guitar, Afrikaans concertina, the marching bass drum of the British imperialists, the backing vocals of soft soul, and made from these new elements thoroughly "Zulu" sounds. Banning Eyre.

The best African music festivals--in terms of ambiance and fantastic artists not yet known on the international world music festival circuit--are in Africa. We go to some of our favorite festivals in Stonetown Zanzibar, New York City, Detroit, Dakar Senegal, Fes Morocco, Recife Brazil, and others to enjoy concert highlights and to soak up the scene.

The summer season is always the best time to catch touring Afropop and Latin stars. As always, in this 2008 edition of our annual summer concerts program, we pick our favorites so you can plan your summer around when these artists come to your town. Seun Kuti and Egypt '80 from Nigeria, Vieux Farka Tourandeacute; from Mali, Bajofondo and others. We'll check in with some of our favorite free summer music festivals--Central Park SummerStage, Celebrate Brooklyn, Detroit's Concert of Colors, Nuits d'Afrique in Montreal and more.