Last week, Worldview was on the road, broadcasting from locations around the Midwest and lower Ontario to explore how global issues like water insecurity and Indigenous rights play out in Chicago’s own backyard. Throughout this week, we’ll be playing you selections of conversations we had that we didn’t get a chance to air while we were away.
We kicked off our trip in London, Ontario, where Sunfest, a world music festival started by a Guatemalan refugee, has become a landmark symbol of Canadian multiculturalism. While we were there, we met The Turbans, an international music collective integrating Romani, Klezmer and Balkan musical influences into their songs alongside healthy doses of jazz and South Asian instrumentation. They count members from Turkey, Bulgaria, Israel, Iran, Greece and England and have performed worldwide. Global Notes contributor and the host of Vocalo’s Beat Latino Catalina Maria Johnson was at Sunfest and talked to three of the group’s members about their work.
Here's a video of their meeting: