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It's a sad weekend for Waiheke Island with the loss of the long time resident and positive force Hera Mohns. Friends of the Street is a voluntary, community-based organisation which aims to help young islanders and which has the support of the police. Its core service is giving island youngsters out and about at night a free and safe ride home. Its co-ordinator is Hera Mohns. I dedicate the show to her and open with the Van Morrison classic "Into The Mystic". Have to play heaps from Berli based 17 Hippies. A song with Fredo from "Les Ogres de Barback" singing a duet with Kiki, the adventures with "Les Hurlements d'Léo" as "Hardcore Trobadors" and "Marlène", our little big hit in France... all those stories we share with our neigbours are beautiful, our friendship very much alive, as our love for France has always been. This compilation is a present to everything that has been connecting us these last 15 years. Merci a tous. ("17 Hippies chantent en français" is released in France by Buda Musique. From May 2013 the album will also be available online). - See more at: http://17hippies.de/en#sthash.t1C2GtHi.dpuf

Cold fronts rolling in. "Its business as usual in The Smokey Bandits house: bass lines come and go, trumpets sitting lazy in the living room, accordions and trombones melting around, congas, maracas and bongos arguing about the last Tarantinos film, flutes want to take the leadership, old-school Waltzes n Tangos drinking a big bottle of champagne, guitars and Rhodes sitting comfortably in the sofa watching (one more time) Smokey And The Bandit (their favorite film).

Enjoy

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It's a beautiful Mother's Day. Cloudless and perfect for drying the washing. When that's done there nothing better than the second volume in the series of 'Tropical Grooves & Afrofunk International' selections from the Paris DJs Soundsystem is the follow-up to the 'Dis Is Good For You' compilation from last year, one of Paris DJs' bestseller since the media morphed into a label (now releasing a new single or album every week!). This time artists were sent a mesmerizing Ben Hito artwork as a source of inspiration to submit tracks, with a hypnotic new direction towards the mystic, and music flowed from all over the world with a communicative enthousiasm...The compilation was cooked up by Paris DJs honcho Djouls with the help of co-founders Loik Dury and Grant Phabao, going through hundreds of songs and instrumentals in order to refine a full hour trip of messing-with-your-mind grooves. From the Afro Funk of Polyrhythmics or Phil Motion & The Easy LO-Fi, to the Afro-Latin sounds of Bixiga 70, Jungle Fire, EMEFE or Radio Citizen vs. Deela, from the Carribean Funk of Mop Mop to the Ethio-Jazz of Arat Kilo or Jungle By Night, From the Afro Psych of Goat to the Roots Reggae of Grant Phabao & The Silvertones, from the heavy funk of The Sidetones or The Grits to the Afro Dub of the International Ducks, this is a new tour de force in gathering the many colors of psychedelic funk & jazz from all over the globe! Soundway Records present Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970s & ‘80s - a treasure-trove of rare and unusual recordings from East Africa. Spread out over two CDs and one triple LP, Kenya Special is accompanied by detailed liner notes, original artwork and photographs.It follows on from Soundway’s much acclaimed African ‘Special’ series that to date has focused on the highlife and afrobeat output from 1970s Nigeria and Ghana......... and much much more

Gale warning in force for all areas. Waves may rise rapidly in squalls. Northwest 10 knots, rising to 20 knots gusting 30 knots early afternoon and to 25 knots gusting 35 knots early evening, and possibly gusting to 55 knots in squalls. Northwest rising to 40 knots gusting 60 knots late this evening. Take funk, soul, psychedelia and rumba, mix it up with a thick dose of heavy local rhythms and throw everything in a Benin grinder. The brew is then mixed up with hypnotic Farfisa solos, gritty guitar riffs, distorted bass lines, warm horns and the result, of exorcizing proportion, will lead to frenetic body movements. Some people bang their heads, others jerk their feet or feel an urgent need to get up and start shaking their hips. One thing is common, though, to everyone who submits their ears to a spinning record by the mighty Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou: you simply can't stand still. And this new compilation is proof of that - here are 14 funky tracks by the legendary ensemble from Benin that has been deemed as "West-Africa's best kept secret," or as the "The D.N.A. of voodoo groove". Thanks for tuning in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!