Seattle World Beat is a production of downtown-Seattle massage therapist Larry Swanson. This website is a very personal look at the Seattle world music and dance community. I’m an unabashed fan of most of the people, groups, and venues mentioned here, so don’t expect much objectivity.
If you’re curious about the photos across the top of each page, that’s a somewhat random set of pictures focusing on African musicians in Seattle (or who have visited). From left to right: Thione Diop, Baba Olatunji, Thierno Diop, Kane Mathis, Ahkeenu Musa, Mohammed Shaibu, Kaori Oto (with The People’s Rhythm Party), me with Famoudou Konate (up in Vancouver), and Frank Anderson. I’ll rotate some other images through later on to represent folks in the Latin, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, and other Seattle world communities.
The intention and scope of this website is very clear in my head, and I’ll do my best to articulate my intentions here and to behave with integrity, but I also reserve the right to be capricious and whimsical in my selection of content for this site. My taste tends to favor African, Afro-beat, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Celtic, Balkan, world-beat fusion, and shows like Stomp, but if you want to turn me on to some other culture, I’m all ears (but very busy, so please don’t be put off if I’m not super-responsive).
If you have comments or questions about this website, please feel free to e-mail me.