Pagode originated in the early ’80s as a festive, fun, highly danceable subgenre of samba that has come to be associated–not always favorably–with lighthearted pop….

The Arpa Llanera is essential to llanero music of Venezuela, the songs of ranchers from the Venezuela plains….

Meet All Around This World’s friend Angi, who is cooking one of Venezuela's favorite foods -- AREPAS….!

As we visit Venezuela in music class this week we absolutely must tip our hat to El Sistema, Venezuela’s extraordinary music education program…..

Prince Koloni (Page de Prince Koloni) is a musician from Stoelmanseiland, Suriname, who performs reggae, kaseko, bigi pokoe and aléké music. Here we see him jamming aléké-skle with his band, Fondering.

Kaseko is Suriname’s own Caribbean dance music that arose from a local genre called Bigi Pokoe which sounds whole lot like New Orleans dance-hall jazz…..

Let’s start our musical week in The Guianas with De Draver Boys from Suriname…. And why not?

There are SO MANY KINDS OF VIDEOS you can contribute to the Cultural Appreciation Project, All Around This World’s ambitous 2024 effort to collect 1000 culture-celebrating videos to raise money to seed a fund to support traditional musicians….

There are SO MANY KINDS OF VIDEOS you can contribute to the Cultural Apprciation Project, All Around This World’s ambitous 2024 effort to collect 1000 culture-celebrating videos to raise money to seed our fund to support traditional musicians….

Samba is more than just a form of Brazilian music or dance, more than just a way of celebrating Brazil's favorite holiday time, Carnival...it’s even more than just a way of life. The word “samba,” goes one of the many legends of the term’s origins, comes from an Angolan language and means: “to pray….”

A song from Suriname that All Around This World finds fascinating is "Wan Boto," which celebrates the coastal nation's culture of boats and making a living from the sea….

One of our favorite tracks on All Around This World: Latin America is "Our Story May Be Sad," as recorded by Garifuna musician James Lovell. The song is our adaptation of the opening lines of a narrative Garifuna musical presentation (as captured on a Smithsonian Folkways field recording) in which the narrator informs the audience that the piece to come is going to be a sad one...but, in true Garifuna form, we will envelop the struggle in laughter and joy. Enjoy the track on Bandcamp.

This is All Around This World's friend Maricela who lives in Medellin Colombia and dances Cumbia. Cumbia originated on Colombia’s Caribbean coast as a ritual courtship dance of enslaved Africans, eventually developing into a glorious social dance and, today, in nightclubs and backyard dance parties everywhere around the Latin world. Follow Marciela on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, at @entredos_danzacolombiana.

Meet our friend Jordan, a musician from Cuenca, Ecuador, who introduces us to Pasillo, the so-called 'rhythm of Ecuador." Pasillo is a Spanish-influenced music popular in Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Panama, often with a feel similar to the Viennese waltz. It’s a romantic music, often performed on a guitar or chrango, that accompanies an equally romantic dance.

Candombe is Afro-Uruguayan music that originated with enslaved Africans who arrived in Uruguay starting in the mid 1700s. “Candombe” was the generic name for their dances; the Africans called their drums, and the place they gathered to perform their music, “tangó….”

This week we learn to dance the basic steps of Tango with our partners Marcelo Solis and Mimi Mehaouchi from Escuela de Tango de Buenos Aires (http://www.escuelatangoba.com).

In class this week we dance the Cueca, Chile's "national dance," with the help of Chilean dancer Orietta Sess. In our dance lesson video, Orietta invites other members of the Seattle-based Chilean dance group, Los Rebeldes de las Cueca, to demonstrate the moves she teaches -- Clap, Brush, and Tap! -- as they pair in to "roosters" and "chickens," cheerfully circling each other a they swirl white scarves.

This week in All Around This World’s livecast online classes we embark on a several month journey around Latin America. We will parade through Rio in a Samba bloco, adventure down the Amazon in a tip-prone canoe, play Garifuna drums to dance-away our sorrows and croon like Mexican mariachis. Join us!

This summer Jay is taking All Around This World on tour to India! Jay is currently teaching to kids and and playing concerts for families at schools in several Indian cities -- New Delhi, Indore, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Kanpur and Lucknow. Watch this space for Indian songs, dancing, food -- well, pictures of food -- and FUN!

Danish pop music has often been strong, and Denmark has often been a serious competitor in the Eurovision continent-wide song contest. Denmark has even won the main prize twice.