Afropop Worldwide

¡Globalquerque!, now in its 10th year, will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Sept. 19-20. Although we are on the opposite side of the country here in Brooklyn, we will be admiring the festival from afar and urge those who can make it to the Southwest to check it out. The stacked ¡Globalquerque! lineup this year includes son revivalists Afro-Cuban All Stars, whose leader Juan de Marcos was a founding member of Buena Vista Social Club, and Trinidad/Tobago's legendary singer Calypso Rose. Two veterans of Mali’s Festival au Désert are also appearing in Albuquerque--the French band Lo’Jo and Oumar Konaté, a guitarist who now lives in Bamako. Other highlights include Grammy-winning conjunto group Los Texmaniacs, the Colombian vallenato ensemble Rey Vallenato Beto Jamaica, and the native New Mexican mariachi group Los Primos. For a taste of the action that will be going down in Albuquerque, here’s a vintage video of Calypso Rose demonstrating why she won the Calypso Queen title for five straight years with a performance of her ‘80s hit, “Fire in Me Wire.”