Great footage of Puerto-Rican housewives favourite Joe Valle on television in Puerto Rico laying down some heavy big-band Plena – Que Rico!

During a recent visit to Paris Guillaume Le Roux met up with Hugo to eat some amazing cheese and listen to music. Guillaume runs two websites, one for music and one for food, with some top recommendations on hidden places to eat in Paris!

716 Music blog

716 Food and culture blog

Fedor Hüneke runs the Konpa.info website – an amazing online resource for Haitian music that covers thousands of releases and artists working over the past fifty years.  The website is a rare resource that opens up a world of amazing music that often does not get the exposure it deserves.  Fedor had a chat with the people from the Klymaxx website – check it out below and thanks Fedor for all your hard work!

Check out the website here

Q: How did the idea to create konpa.info emerge?
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A 1973 live performance from Congolese legends Trio Madjesi celebrating Congo’s first appearance in the World cup. The band show off their musical prowess and their keepy-uppy skills to a killer rumba backing!

Amazing (if a bit grainy) footage of Salif Keita and Les Ambassadeurs performing the classic ‘Mandjou’ on Malian television in 1979/80 – check it out!

Hide and Genki from the excellent Soul Bonanza website have recently put up a great Latin/Caribbean mix from the intrepid DJ Papito – check it out on their site here! They have a great selection of mixes and other bits and bobs to check out on the website and are spearheading the way in promoting Tropical music in Japan -

highly recommended!

Great footage of Nigerian singer Sonny Okosun as he works on his 1979 album “power to the people”

As a taster for a forthcoming mix of deep highlife (that should be on the site next week), we’ve put one of our favourite highlife tracks up to whet your appetite!

Although a bit crackly, this outstandingly beautiful slice of deep highlife from the Eastern Minstrels has been on constant repeat at Sofrito HQ recently – deep, hypnotic and powerful – please check it out here and enjoy! Perfect listening as the days are getting longer and the weather’s getting warmer….

Eastern Minstrels de Prestige Entertainers – Ugo Nwata Gbagburu (originally released on Philips Nigeria, 1974)