The Occurrence - Category: Music

A collection of islands off the east coast of Africa, Comoros combines Arabic, Malaysian, indigenous African and French cultures. Its history is a harried one, with a former coup leader recently elected to president and...

“Colombia is magical realism,” claims the tourism website of the South American country. Referring to the enchanted literature of Gabriel García Márquez, the slogan suggests a land beyond the peripheral. One might equate Colombia with...

How does the world’s most populous nation – with one of the most stringent Internet censorship policies – nurture a music scene? Like most creatives, these artists defy convention (and sometimes laws) to have their...

Slender as this South American country is, Chile has a robust, diverse music scene. Coupled with its pre-Colombian traditions, Spanish influence and modern flare, its cavalcade of dances and instruments makes for a most vibrant...

Chad is a land-locked country in Africa that has absorbed and adopted a prism of cultural influences. The population is predominately Sunni Muslim, with pockets of Christianity and animism contributing to the soul of their...

French, Latin and Pygmy influences make up the structure of Central African Republic's music scene. Dulcet sounds are hammered out on the balafon, a xylophone relative made from animal horns and skin. Dances borrow from the cha-cha and merengue, kicking...

  Releasing an album full of covers is almost a rite of passage in the music world. Some groups have built entire careers off reinterpreting classics (Vitamin String Quartet, for example). Dustin Kensrue of screamo staples...

To be honest, we’d never heard of Cape Verde (now Cabo Verde) before this feature. But its history is intriguing. Largely uninhabited until the 15th Century, the archipelago west of Senegal became a Portuguese hub...