Global Hit
A daily spotlight on international musical artists and trends. Created by host Marco Werman, the Global Hit features interviews with musicians, critics and deejays around the globe. Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes
Also view the archive of the music that you hear on air during The World's broadcast.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
May 18, 2016
CoCo Avenue is well-known to fans in LA's Koreatown. But Jenny Lyric and Jenna Rose are not Korean American; they're African American. And the duo are currently in Korea, wowing the crowds with their own brand of K-pop.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
May 06, 2016
In 1963 there was a trio called the Wailers that included Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston. Bob is gone. Peter Tosh was murdered in 1987. That leaves Bunny the last Wailer standing. And even though the Wailers folded a long time ago, Bunny keeps Wailer as his last name.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
April 30, 2016
In the fictional film "Radio Dreams," members of a rock band from Afghanistan want to jam with Metallica. The group, Kabul Dreams, is now based in San Francisco and is trying to find an audience in the US.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
April 26, 2016
Papa Wemba died earlier this week, after he collapsed on stage in Ivory Coast. The star, known as the king of Congolese rumba, was jailed in 2004 for smuggling Congolese people to Europe. Lubangi Muniania, a Congolese arts educator who knew Papa Wemba, explains Wemba's history.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
April 22, 2016
The world lost a music icon on Thursday with the news that legendary singer Prince died. The 57-year-old was found unresponsive at his studios in Minnesota. Grieving fans around the world visited makeshift memorials and city officials draped buildings in purple light.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
October 13, 2015
Updated
10/21/2015 - 12:15pm
Renata Flores, an indigenous Peruvian, is also an Internet sensation. That happened after a video of her singing a Michael Jackson hit went viral. Flores wasn't singing the song in English or Spanish. Instead, she sang it in her native tongue, Quechua.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
May 12, 2015
Updated
07/03/2015 - 3:45pm
A young girl from Afghanistan escaped being forced into marrying a man when she was 14 years old — by writing a rap song about it. The young rapper is now living and going to school in the US, and she’s still making music about social justice in Afghanistan.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
March 27, 2015
Updated
03/29/2015 - 7:30am
He's sold millions of albums in Europe and is an internet star. Kanye West and Lorde have collaborated with him, and President Obama has one of his CDs. He's Belgian hip hop artist Stromae, whose Rwandan father was killed in that nation's genocide and is now trying to make it in the US.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
March 30, 2015
During a wedding in Ireland last year, Father Ray Kelly stepped to the microphone and sang a version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." One attendee posted the performance on You Tube, and now Kelly has a record contract and his debut album has been released.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
December 16, 2015
GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to bar Muslims from the country. So take a listen to a few artists who the US would be missing out on if that were the case.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
October 29, 2015
April Peavey, the mastermind behind The World's taste in music, went to this year's World Music Expo held in Budapest. Here are some of her favorites from the festival.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
February 18, 2015
Bassist Nathan East has performed on more than 2,000 recordings and was one of the composers of the recent Daft Punk hit "Get Lucky." But what he really loves is playing on the road. The guitar East brings with him has been all over the world, and it has the stickers to prove it.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
November 19, 2013
Famed Renaissance artist Leonardo Da Vinci detailed a design for a new instrument in his Codex Altanticus. But it never moved beyond his sketchbook. Now, more than 500 years later Polish pianist Slawomir Zubrzycki has built and played the inventor's viola organista.
Arts, Culture & Media
PRI's The World
May 29, 2015
Updated
06/01/2015 - 3:15pm
Joey Alexander plays jazz piano like an old timer, but he's just 11. Now, he's going to headline the Newport Jazz Festival this summer. He lives in New York. But he was born far removed from New York's swinging jazz scene — on the Indonesian island of Bali.
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Arts, Culture & Media
Why this violinist wants to change the theme song to 'Game of Thrones'
PRI's The World
February 19, 2014
Updated
Acclaimed violinist Lara St. John is an avid fan of "Game of Thrones." But episode after episode, she got fed up with the theme song which features a digitized cello. She came up with a solution to re-record the cello part of the theme and give it to HBO producers, for free.
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Arts, Culture & Media
We remember some of the world's musicians who died in 2013. Can you?
PRI's The World
December 31, 2013
If you listened to this New Year's Eve edition of The World, perhaps you were able to name some of the 34 musicians who passed away in 2013, whose work we briefly excerpted. How many could you identify? Here are the answers.
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Arts, Culture & Media
10 Muslim musicians you should already be listening to
PRI's The World
December 16, 2015
GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to bar Muslims from the country. So take a listen to a few artists who the US would be missing out on if that were the case.
O Futebol [Chico Buarque]
Arts, Culture & Media
If you're waiting for the World Cup, try one of these Brazilian futebol songs to get by
PRI's The World
June 10, 2014
Brazil is known for both its star soccer players and rich history of world class musicians. Here's what happens when the two are put together: a collection of Brazilian songs about soccer.
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Arts, Culture & Media
Irish punk bands, and some punks in Ireland you should already be listening to
PRI's The World
March 17, 2016
Here are eight bands from Ireland, or inspired by, that you should jam out to this St. Patrick's Day.
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Arts, Culture & Media
Kate Bush fans from around the globe descend on a London pub
PRI's The World
September 25, 2014
Updated
Kate Bush fans from around the globe have picked a pub near the Hammersmith Apollo as a central meeting place. It's become a place to gather and share the excitement before catching one of the singer's sold-out shows, her first in 35 years.
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Arts, Culture & Media
Afghan rapper escaped teen marriage by singing about it
PRI's The World
May 12, 2015
Updated
A young girl from Afghanistan escaped being forced into marrying a man when she was 14 years old — by writing a rap song about it. The young rapper is now living and going to school in the US, and she’s still making music about social justice in Afghanistan.
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Arts, Culture & Media
The six-second drum solo that has been used a thousand times
PRI's The World
March 31, 2015
Musicians like Prodigy, Oasis, Jay-Z and Amy Winehouse have used the so-called "Amen break," a decades-old six-second drum solo from a soul band named The Winstons. But that widespread usage never brought the band much fame or money — until now.
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Arts, Culture & Media
Canadian folk phenom Basia Bulat performs from her new album 'Tall Tall Shadow'
PRI's The World
November 28, 2013
Canada's Basia Bulat sits down at the piano to play several songs and talk about her new album with The World's Aaron Schachter.
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Arts, Culture & Media
This musician has a half-billion video views. So who the hell is he?
PRI's The World
March 27, 2015
Updated
He's sold millions of albums in Europe and is an internet star. Kanye West and Lorde have collaborated with him, and President Obama has one of his CDs. He's Belgian hip hop artist Stromae, whose Rwandan father was killed in that nation's genocide and is now trying to make it in the US.