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Mavis Staples
Few people embody the feminist adage “the personal is political” more than Mavis Staples.
Style: Gospel
By Chris Heim
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Bebo Valdés
In 88 years, Valdés has gone from house bandleader and innovator to expat lounge player to a Grammy-winning elder statesman.
Style: Latin jazz
By Lissette Corsa
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Pete Seeger
He’s 87 now, but Pete Seeger remains as relevant as ever. The folk music icon enjoyed renewed visibility in 2006 as the inspiration for Bruce Springsteen’s We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.
Style: Folk
By Jim Bessman
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Steel Pulse
Few and far between are the bands named for race horses, especially bands that have won Grammy awards and created political stirs with their music. But Steel Pulse has never run with the pack.
Style: Reggae
By Chris Nickson
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Umm Kulthum
When she died in 1975, four million people lined the streets of Cairo for her funeral. Her name was Umm Kulthum, and she was the greatest Arabic singer of the 20th Century.
Style: Arabic
By Chris Nickson
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Lord Kitchener
Some people think of calypso as a light musical form. In Trinidad, however, it’s serious business, especially at Carnival time. It’s a musical style that boasts its own great names, and they don’t come any bigger than Lord Kitchener.
Style: Calypso
By Chris Nickson
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Franco
The nickname “Sorcerer of the Guitar” fits Franco like a glove. His imaginative, lightning-fast fretwork helped shape Congolese rumba into its recognizable form.
Style: Afro-Cuban
By Chris Nickson
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Ray Barretto
Few musicians can boast a career as varied, lengthy and influential as Ray Barretto.
Style: Latin
By Tom Pryor
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Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades has expanded a musical genre, acted, gained an advanced degree in international law, and run for the presidency of his homeland.
Style: Latin
By Chris Nickson
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Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N’Dour’s journey began in 1959, in Dakar, Senegal. He ultimately evolved into one of the most gifted and beloved innovators of African music.
Style: Afropop
By Dan Rosenberg
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Vicente Fernandez
Though his shoe-polish mustache and UFO-sized sombrero may seem risible, Vicente Fernandez’s voice is no joke. It’s a near operatic instrument.
Style: Ranchera
By Mark Schwartz
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Tito Puente
For many, the late great timbalero, composer and bandleader Tito Puente was the public face of Latin music in America. Like Count Basie or Duke Ellington, he was more than a musician, he was a personality, a brand unto himself.
Style: Latin
By Eliseo Cardona
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Thomas Mapfumo
Thomas Mapfumo has not only combined music and politics throughout his career, he’s lived music and politics. He’s still Zimbabwe’s biggest-selling musician.
Style: Chimurenga
By Chris Nickson
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The Chieftains
The Chieftains are Paddy Moloney’s vision: music that moves the heart as much as the feet, music with integrity and passion, without boundary or limitation.
Style: Celtic
By Rob Huffman
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The Skatalites
It’s quite possible that no band that existed for a mere 18 months has had as much influence as the Skatalites. In some ways, the Skatalites are as much an idea as an entity, and certainly the instrumental high point of ska.
Style: Ska
By Chris Nickson
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Serge Gainsbourg
The legacy Serge Gainsbourg left has continued to grow. He put an iconoclastic, intellectual side into French music, spicing up a stew that was generally bland.
Style: French
By Chris Nickson
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