WMI PLUS At Home Library
WMI PLUS At Home experiences bring music from around the world into the comfort of your home. Renowned artists share their lives, instruments, and stories from their personal environments, bringing an intimacy and uniqueness to each event. These talks are led by fellow musicians, journalists, and ethnomusicologists.
WMI PLUS At Home events are supported by a grant from Con Edison and by world music lovers like you. We thank you!


Composer, Percussionist, and Author Adam Rudolph with Journalist Piotr Orlov
Adam and Piotr chatted about Adam’s many collaborations with artists including Don Cherry and Yusuuf Lateef that started with the WMI legacy series of the late 1980s / early 1990s called Improvisations, which Adam will reboot for our 2022-2023 Season launch event that will feature some of the original artists from the series along with next generation improvisational artists.
Garifuna Culture with Aurelio Martinez and Jessica Swanston Baker
Aurelio Martinez is a musical artist, activist, and Cultural Ambassador of the Garifuna nation. The Garifuna are people of Amerindian and West African descent, living along the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Aurelio sat down with Jessica Swanston Baker, an Associate Professor and ethnomusicologist, to share music and explore Garifuna culture.
Sound Healing with Yungchen Lhamo and Jamshied Sharifi
Award-winning Tibetan singer/songwriter Yungchen Lhamo explores sound healing with her friend and record producer Jamshied Sharifi. Yunchen’s most recent album “Awakening” (Six Degrees Records), delves into the relevance of compassion-based spirituality to our modern-day, interdependent lives.
Changüí The Sound of Guantânamo with Gianluca Tramontana and Arturo O’Farrill
Music producer and journalist Gianluca Tramontana joins Grammy Award-winning composer, pianist, educator and founder of the Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance Arturo O’Farrill, for an exploration of changüí – a rarely documented folk music from the Guantánamo region of Cuba, where Tramontana spent several months capturing the music of changüiseros. Those recordings have been released on Petaluma Records.
Azam Ali and Derek Beres
Iranian-born composer, vocalist, and musician Azam Ali sits down with author, media expert, and artist Derek Beres to discuss her journey from Iran to India and the US, her musical path and influences including her work with NIYAZ, and her passion for poetry.
Merima Ključo and Jelena Milušić
A special Valentine’s Day WMI PLUS At Home with Bosnian-born duo accordionist Merima Ključo and vocalist Jelena Milušić who joined us from their home in Sarajevo, where they shared romantic music and stories from their collaboration album, Lume – a collection of international love songs, with additional original compositions by Ključo.
Eileen Ivers with Paul Keating
Grammy Award winner Eileen Ivers, called “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin” by The New York Times, shares tunes and chats with Irish Voice columnist Paul Keating about her musical training and upbringing in The Bronx (“the 33rd county of Ireland”), her memories of visiting and playing in Ireland, her experience touring with Riverdance, and the challenges of innovating while honoring musical traditions.
Alsarah (Alsarah and the Nubatones)
A special WMI PLUS At Home with Alsarah – singer/songwriter, founder of Alsarah and the Nubatones, and self-proclaimed practitioner of East African retro-pop, who chats with her sister and fellow band member Nahid as she prepares a Sudanese meal. The conversation is followed by a Q&A with attendees (contains adult language).
Daymé Arocena with Ned Sublette
With her captivating charisma and radiant spirit, Daymé Arocena effortlessly blends traditional Santerían chant, jazz stylings, contemporary R&B influences, and Afro-Cuban rhythmic complexity for audiences worldwide. Her passion for the musical traditions of her homeland is boundless – “reigniting the Cuban soundtrack wherever she plays” (NPR). She sat down with award-winning music writer and artist Ned Sublette for this At Home conversation.
Lokua Kanza with Banning Eyre
Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo and now based in Paris, Lokua Kanza is an exceptionally gifted multi-instrumentalist who sings in several languages. His most recent album released in 2021 entitled Moko, meaning “one” in Lingala, celebrates Lokua’s return to the stage after an 11-year hiatus. He shares music and talks with Banning Eyre (Afropop Worldwide) about his prolific career.
Natu Camara with Darek Mazzone
Multi-lingual Guinean artist Natu Camara shared music and joined Darek Mazzone (host of “Wo’ Pop” on KEXP Radio) for a conversation about using music as a means to build cultural bridges and to promote the empowerment of women and girls.
Leyla McCalla with Mike Block
Haitian-American Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Leyla McCalla (Carolina Chocolate Drops, Our Native Daughters) sits down with Grammy Award-winning cellist Mike Block (Silkroad Ensemble) to share songs and chat about her path from cello to banjo and finding her voice, her musical influences, and the inspiration she derives from her Haitian legacy.
Ballaké Sissoko with Banning Eyre
Malian kora master and Griot Ballaké Sissoko joins WMI from his home studio in France for an At Home conversation in which he shares music and chats with Banning Eyre (Afropop Worldwide) about his many collaborations including his most recent album Djourou, as well as the history and cultural significance of the kora.
Arturo O’Farrill with Philip Klint
Grammy Award-winning pianist, composer and educator Arturo O’Farrill — leader of the “first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz” (The New York Times) and son of the late, great Cuban composer Chico O’Farrill, shares music and talks with Emmy Award-winning journalist Philip Klint (NY1 Noticias) about the evolution of latin jazz, and his travels to Cuba and Mexico.
Dobet Gnahoré with Jacob Edgar (Cumbancha)
Dobet Gnahoré is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter and musician from Côte d’Ivoire, and one of the freshest talents to emerge in African music in the last few decades. She sings in seven languages and embraces many musical styles. Dobet is joined in conversation by Cumbancha label President and ethnomusicologist, Jacob Edgar, as she shares songs from her new album, Couleur, which will be released on Cumbancha.
WMI PLUS At Home with Sonny (Riyaaz Qawwali) and Asad Ali Jafri (South Asia Institute)
Sonny, Artistic Director and singer of the ethnically and spiritually diverse group Riyaaz Qawwali, one of the only musical ensembles of its kind in the United States, is joined in conversation by South Asia Institute Executive Director, Asad Ali Jafri, as they explore the past, present, and future of this devotional music tradition.
WMI PLUS At Home with Las Cafeteras and Juan Díes (Sones de México)
Members of Las Cafeteras, a celebrated Chicano band out of East L.A. known for their joyous, multi-faceted blend of the folkloric Son Jarocho music of Veracruz with hip-hop, zapateado dance, and incisive social consciousness, discuss their music, instruments, and their commitment to social justice in a conversation with Juan Diaz, a fellow musician and educator from the band Sones De México.
WMI PLUS At Home with Simon Shaheen and Wanees Zarour
This At Home session features a conversation between internationally acclaimed musician, composer, and educator Simon Shaheen with fellow Palestinian musician and educator Wanees Zarour. Shaheen, a virtuoso on both the oud and violin, talks about his extensive musical journey in promoting Arab music in its many forms, and the joys of bringing down musical walls.
WMI PLUS At Home with Anoushka Shankar and Priya Darshini
Join world-renowned Grammy Award-nominated composer and sitarist Anoushka Shankar in an intimate conversation with her friend and fellow Grammy Award-nominated musician Priya Darshini. Anoushka shares music and stories about her career and continuing her family’s musical legacy. Anoushka has recorded and released over 15 albums as a solo artist in addition to the collaborations with her late father, sitar master Ravi Shankar.
WMI PLUS At Home with Foday Musa Suso and Emily Bishton
Longtime World Music Institute friend and internationally renowned Gambian kora player, Foday Musa Suso joins Emily Bishton in a conversation about Suso’s music, his instrument, the 21-stringed kora from West Africa. Suso shares music and talks about his autobiography, “A Village Griot Boy and the World”, which Bishton co-authored, followed by a Q&A with attendees.