Conference of the Birds Podcast
Weekly podcast of music from Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Middle-East, and Europe with an emphasis on cross-cultural exploration and experimentation. Hosted by Stephen Cope.
Conference of the Birds, 12-12-25
Note: new mailing address below...
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Ethiopian Harpsit/vocalist Alemu Aga; new out trio fro m Nizar Rohana; gulf pop from vocalist Abu Bakr Salem; vintage bop from Sam Jones; The Tokyo Gagaku Ensemble (Gagaku music); Nidaa Abou Mrad & Carole Samaha; from Mali:Toulou de Kankoré & Boumou Sangaré; Congolese rumba from Pepe Kallé; vintage high0-life from Celestine Ukwo and His Philosophers National; new music from, Zeena Parkins, Noura Mint Seymali, and Amir elSaffar; vocal raga from Rahif Khan; much, more....
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New York on...
Conference of the Birds, 12-6-26
Note: new mailing address below...
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: new music from Yusuf Mumin; Altin Gün from Turkey/Europe; also from Turkey: Aynur Doğan; Algerian vocalist Noura;Lebaense vocalist Asmahan; vintage Steve Lacy; pianist/ composer Yelena Eckemoff; new music from drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey; from Iraq: Md After Hussain & Paq; Mila Ayub from Java; also from java: Javasounds does dangdut; Babani Koné from Mali; Fode Baro from Guinea; Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre; Peter Mceachern Trio; much, more....
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New York on WRFI, 88.1 FM Ithaca/ 88.5 FM Odessa...
Conference of the Birds, 11-14-25
Note: new mailing address below...
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: new music from Arooj Aftab; vintage Najat Al Saghira; vintage bop from Coleman Hawkins; vocalists from Cape Verde: new Teofilo Chantre plus Jorge Humberto & Armando de Pina; Derek Bailey w. Cecil Taylor; Accra Quartet; neo-Yoruba/jazz from. Michelle Rosewoman; Sahroui vocalist Aziza Brahim; from Mali: Kemin Fanta, Coumba Sira Koïta; cante jondo from. "el Chocolate" ()Antonio Nuñez) & Paquita de Jerez; Jose Mauro & Antônio Neves (from Brazil); new music from Matt Mitchell & Sera Serpa; vintage Oliver Lake; much, more....
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights...
Conference of the Birds, 10-31-25
Note: new mailing address below...
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Cambodian music.x 2: Taam Ming Ensemble & Anh Hung; new music from Mali Obomsawin, Linda May Han Oh, Laura Ann Singh, & others; Shantung folk m music from China; thumri from Bhimsen Joshi; John Coltrane Quartet w. Dolphy et al. @ Village Vanguard; Turkish pop from Ali Riza Gültekin & Aynur Doğan; Ghanain/Congan highlife/soukous hybrid from Ondigui And Bota Tabansi International; soul/jazz from Doug Hammond & David Durrah et sl.; legendary Senegalese vocalist Omar Pene; also from Senegal: Mamadou Lamine Maiga & Ngatamaare; Ensemble Watmon Amone from Uganda; Ethiopian Oromo voca...
Conference of the Birds, 10-24-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Punjabi film music from Reshma; new Amir el Saffar; reek song from Stratos Pagioumitzıs, Stavros Kabanis & others; new music from saxophonist Nicole Glover & group; vintage Steve Lacy; Gulf singerAbu Bakr Salem; Egyptian music from Mohamed Taha & The Pyramids ; Ustad Mahwash (Afghani ghazal singer); raga from V. M. Byatt; Sufi music from Pakistan (Rabab Mangi); from Mali: Ami Koïta, M'Bady Kouyaté; Congolese rhumba from Bozi Bosiana;Yando Sister; much,. much, more....
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New York on WRFI, 88.1 FM Ithaca/ 88.5 FM Odessa;. and WORLDWIDE online via ou...
Conference of the Birds, 10-17-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Indonesian vocalist/experimenter Ubiet; Sri Mulat from Bali; New music from David Sanford Big Band; new song from Jeong Lim Yang; vintage rai from Nasro; Mayada el Henaway (legendary Egyptian vocalist); Arabic music from Morroca Abdou El Omari (w/ Naima Samih on vocals); Kabyle song from Chérif Kheddam; .Dopolarians; Hindustani vocalist Anuradha Kuber; Brazilian song from Sessa, Guiga de Ogum, and others; new Nancy Vieira; Joe Cuba; pianist Don Pullen solo; much,. much, more....
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New York on WRFI, 88.1 FM Ithaca/ 88.5 FM Odessa;. an...
Conference of the Birds, 10-10-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: new Amirtha Kidambi (Live); Mohamed Errebbaa & Tagna (gnawa jazz); Baluchi trance/healing music from Abdulrahman Surizehi; Elmo Hope at Riker's; latter-day Art Blakey; Nuyorican salsa from Roberto Roena; Venezuelan salsa from Federico Betancourt; vintage Billy Harper; Simon Nabatov, Ed Schuller, John Betsch & Arto Tuncboyaci swing Latin; samba from Jovelina Perla Negra & Leci Brandão; Moroccan vocalist Latifa Raafat; also from Morocco: Lemchaheb; film music from Tahira Syed; new Henry Threadgill; new Mary Halvorson; raga from sarod player Ashoke Roy; much,. much, more....
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New Yor...
Conference of the Birds, 10-3-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: new music from Sarathy Korwar & Upaj Collective; vintage bop from Duke Pearson; Brazilian vocalists Nara Leão & Fafá de Belém; Werther (also from Brazil); from Angola: Ruy Mingas; fado from João Braga; three decades worth of vibraphonists: Khan Jamal; Walt Dickerson; Patrcia Brennan; cha'abi from Dahmane el Harrache; Egyptian vocalist & composer Abdel Halim Hafez; dhrupad from Pt. Uday Bhawalkar; Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris conducts; pianist Paul Plimley w/ trio; and, of course,as ever, so much more....
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New York on WRFI, 88.1 FM Ithac...
Conference of the Birds, 9-12-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: BACK LIVE in studio, Friday night (after a year of remote broadcast, plus the six week haitus): cante jondo from El Cabrero; el Lebrijano; Jimenez Rejano & others; Fairuz; dhrupad singer Pandit Iran Nath; Albert Ayler; Henry Threadgill; new microtonal guitar improvisation from Lingyuan Yang; vintage Youisou n'Dour; Romanian Roma vocalist Romica Puceanu; Polly Panou from Greece; Karl Berger & friends in Turkey; music from Rajasthan; bardic song from Khorassan (Iran); vintage high-life from Vis-a-Vis; and, of course,as ever, so much more....
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New York on...
Conference of the Birds, 7-18-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Cheikh Tidiane Fall w/ Bobby Few et al.; bop from Johnny Griffin; post-bop from Charles Davis; Szilárd Mezei w/ Quartet; new compositions from Jason Kao Huang and large ensemble; Ethiopian pop, new & vintage, from Tilahun Gessesse, Afework Nigussie, Abyssinia Band; trombonist Craig Harris & Nation of Imagination (Turkish/expeirmental vocal jazz); new music from Ivo Perelman w. Matthew Shipp (duo) & Ivo Perelman w. Quartet; orchestral composition from Muhal Richard Abrams; ghazals from Tahira Syed & Ghulam Ali; Tian Niu (disco from South-East Asia); Peter Bruun, Søren Kjærgaard & Jonas Westergaardand; Greek vocal from Gerolykoi & Stella Haskill; and, o...
Conference of the Birds, 7-11-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Egyptian composer, conductor, old player, etc. Mohammed Abdel Wahab; Lebanese out player/vocalist Fayssal Al Massri; vintage Gulf Pop from young Rabeh Sager; Avreeayl Ra w/ trio live in Chicago; improvisation from Kaze w. vocalist Koichi Makigami; new piano trio from Myra Milford; vocalist Jeong Lim Yang; George Schuller's Circle Wide; Pakistani raga from Ustad Bade GHulam Ali Khan; Raza Ali Khan & Ustad Munawar Ali Khanand reprise & salute Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan; tappa performed live in Benares by Purnima Chaudhuri w. Ramesh Misra & Subhajyoti Guha; recent compositional post-bop from Yuriy Seredin w. Igor Osypov, Nasheet Waits...
Conference of the Birds, 7-4-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: new music from guitarist Lingyuan Yang; samba from Neguinho da Beija-Flor; Bossa from Da Silva Do Sul Et Son Ensemble; Bridgette Fontaine; Paul Dunmall Brass Project; new music from percussionist Dan Weiss; classical vocalist Hamid Al-Saadi from Iraq; Senegalse salsero Laba Sosseh w. Super Star de Dakar; American salsa from Hector Lavoe; Sonora Ponceñal; Roberto Roena w. Adalberto Santiago; vintage Congolese rumba from Orchestre Kara De Kinsahasa; vocalist Thandi Nuti w. Carlos Nino; Mark Masters reprises Sam Rivers; Sam Rivers does Sam Rivers; vocal raga from Parveen Sultana; ghazal from Iqbal Bano; Tunisian pop-jazz from Fatima...
Conference of the Birds, 6-27-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Fred Jackson (vintage bop); Olga Chung, Munir Bashir & Rabih Abou-Khalil (mid-eastern fusion); Columbian sound system culture from Wulomei; reed player Mikko Innnanen w. Organ trio; new music from guitarist/composer/improvisor Mary Halvorsen;Portugues fado from Maria José Silva; long form Sonny Fortune; James Brandon Lewis salutes Mahalia; Gulf vocalist Abu Bakr Salem; Kurdish ney trio (Trio Andalabi); vintage Peloponnesian Demotika from Anthe Alexandropoulou & her orchestra; Rosalia de Souza, Mart'nalia, Paula Lima (perf. Martinho da Vila) and Carmen Costa from Brazil; Bandha Maravilha (from Angola); Clément Janinet w. Adama Sidibe; West African musique authenticite from Orchestre R...
Conference of the Birds, 6-20-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Jewish music from Iraq (Hakki Obadia); Md After Hussain; Colombian Cumbia from Lisandro Meza; Papa Brandao Y Su Ejecutivos & more from Panama; piano trios from Paul Bley & Myra Melford; Daniel Carter, Roy S. Campbell Jr. & William Parker (I,.e, Other Dimensions in Music); vintage Fairuz; new guitar music from Ayman Fanous & Joe Morris; new music from Immanuel Wilkins; Lusophonia: Titina, Teofilo Chantre (from Cabo Verde), Adriana Calcanhotto, Elza Soares (from Brazil); Eastern European song from DakhaBrakha; African rock from Bikambi n'Kela; Gordon Koang (South Sudanese pop in exile); Faisal Abdullah (Khaliji song from Kuwait); Palestinian composer Tame...
Conference of the Birds, 6-13-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Vesna Pisaroviç (Croatian avant-jazz-folk vocals); Rodrigo Amado's Motion Trio; a Pakistani Khayal from Ustad Saami; Bulgarian vocal music from Stamatka Kirilova & Staro Selo; Balouchi benju maestro Abd-ur-Ramian Surizehi; William Parker Quartet w. Leena Conquest; Dennis Gonzalez Legacy Band; Greek songs from Gabriel Pantelides & Takis Vrakatselos; cante jondo from Duquende, Agujetas, Lebrijano (doing Romani); Ghanian Highlife from K. Frimpong; Nigerian pop from Nelly Uchendu; Algerian sax player Fred Khodja; Algerian Rai from Abdulrahmane Dealt; from Morocco: Abdelouahab Doukkali & Abderrahmane Djalti; so much, much more.
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New...
Conference of the Birds, 5-30-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Vintage Indian Film music x 2 (Shanta Apte & Suraiya); Hindustani vocalist Shubha Mudgal;Raga Shuddah Kalyan performed by Gangubai Hangal; new music from Chad Khoury; new music from Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson; Kyriakos Sfetsas vintage Greek fusion); jazz from UK: Elton Dean; Lucian Ban & Mat Maneri reprise (radically) George Enescu's famous Oedipe; Freedom Art Quartet (the name says it); Macedonian hard bop from Dusko Goykovich; neo-Rembetika from Dimitris Mystakidis and Kalafatis Kostas: Balkan song from Vidanka Djordjievska and Petranka Kostadinova; Albert Ayler reawakened by Jukka Orma, Pepa Päivinen, Dimitri Grechi Espinoza, Ville Rauhala & Simo Laihonenand; saxophonist Zoh Am...
Conference of the Birds, 5-16-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Vintage dance music from l'Orchestre Massako; vocalist Namassa Dioubate from Mali; also from Mali: early recording of the legendary Rail Band; vocalists Mariam Kouyate & Gaoussou Kouyate from Guinea; also from Guinea:the legendary Camayenne Sofa; new music from Pitch, Rhythm, & Consciousness; Toto Necessitè & Etoile du soir from Haïti; fado from Rute Soares; Susana Baca, Eva Ayallon from Peru; Abdel Gadir Salim from Sudan; salsa from Hector Lavoe, Salsa Suprema, others; poetry & song from Sera Serpa; post-bop fro,m Wilbur Ware; long piece of cha'abi from Kamel Bourdib; and (as always) so much, much more.
Catch...
Conference of the Birds, 5-9-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Qawma music from Hasan al-Ajami & Ahmed Ushaysh (Yemen); I. Wayan Sudiarsa Pacet w. Gamelan Suling Gita Samara (Bali); Lebanese vocalist Maya al Khaldi; recent compositions from Jen Shyu and David Leon (USA); trombonist/composer Joseph Daley; Kurdistani pop from De'Lori; Kai Winding & Curtis Fuller (more trombone); Tchangodei w. Itaru Oki & Kent Carter; the inimitable Lucha Reyes; bop from Dexter Gordon; jazz vocalists Mary La Rose & Marianne Solivan; Albert Ayler; Rajasthani music from Anwar Khan and others; Roma song from Trio Salvej; Bulgarian legend Ivo Papasov; Julio Benavente Diaz from Peru; and (as always) so much, much more...
Conference of the Birds, 5-2-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS:Persian piano improvisation from Morteza Mahjoubi; Angelica Sanchez & Marilyn Crispell (piano duo); piano trio: Landaeus - de Heney - Osgood; Eric Dolphy goes solo; Charles Mingus & group in Argentina; new music from cellist Violeta García w. Camilo Ángeles; Balinese pianist U Yee Nwe; new work from Jon Irabagon; Carnatic vocal work from Roopa Mahadevan; Tulipa Negra & Afrika Star (from Cabo Verde); salsa from Brooklyn Sounds; vintage Congolese rumba from l'Orchestra Bella Bella; and (as always) so much, much more.
Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New York on WRFI...
Conference of the Birds, 4-25-25
THIS WEEK's BIRDS: Blue Reality Quartet; Kash Killion & The Joel Futterman/Ike Levin Trio; Dorothy Ashby; Dewey Rodman w. Ed Blackwell (lots of new/avant jazz); Carnatic vocal work from S. Sowmya; Bhimsen Joshi (hindustani vocal); cante jondo from Enrique "El Extremeño"; Oula Baba Greek song); cha'abi from Akli Yahyaten, Dahmane el Harrache, & Boudjema el Ankis; bop from Elmo Hope (live at Rykers); compositionl jazz from Charles Bracken; brand new music from Jess Sa Bah; and (as always) so much, much more. (Encore mashup from March 2020, with a few new pieces mixed in...).
Catch the BIRDS l...
