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Travel Music Buzz 4
Travel Music Buzz – The Richest Man in Babylon by Thievery Corporation
What inspires you when you travel? When you return from a travel experience in Costa Rica, do you recall the Samba music? Can you still feel the Apsara music you experienced in Cambodia?
Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, the duo behind Washington, DC world music group Thievery Corporation, find inspiration for their music in every place and everything. In any of the group’s albums or even individual songs, you may hear lyrics in English, Portuguese, French, Spanish or even Persian. Thievery Corporation’s list of guest musicians is a musical melting pot of popular artists such as Perry Farrell and David Byrne, and world musicians from Iceland, Jamaica and France, just to name a few. Rest assured, you can expect to hear a variety of musical styles every time you pop a Thievery Corporation record in, from reggae to bossa nova, Middle Eastern to Brazilian, all with a chill, down-tempo groove.
The Richest Man in Babylon represents Thievery Corporation in all the foot-tapping and booty-shaking glory they’ve become known for. It’s a more accessible version of their previous efforts that combines myriad cultural elements with familiar beats and danceable grooves. Despite its accessibility, Babylon also brings out their DC roots. That is, their music begins to take a more political stance on songs like “State of the Union” as well as on the title track.
Clear in its political statements yet contagious with its grooves, maybe what The Richest Man in Babylon really does is show us the collective attitude of those who reside in the places we intrepid travelers yearn for. These beats would fit in equally well in a sweltering beachside club in Kingston, a bohemian backpacker lounge in Budapest or an open-air Maqha in Amman.
