global hit

Chhom Nimol is the lead singer of the LA-based band Dengue Fever. She was born in Cambodia, but has been living in LA for the past decade or so. Now, after waiting 14 years, Nimol finally got her US citizenship and touring with the band just got a lot easier.

Music producer Ian Brennan set up a small recording studio at the Zomba Maximum Security Prison in Malawi and had the male and female inmates sing their own songs. Many of the tunes tell their stories of prison life.

Jason Hamacher is a punk rock drummer from Washington, DC, but he’s interesting in exploring new sounds of all kinds. That’s how he ended up recording Sufi singers in Aleppo, Syria, and preserving their songs before civil war destroyed the country.

Yuna Zarai didn’t make it too far on Malaysia’s version of American Idol, but that drove her to work harder on her music. Now she’s becoming a star, but is usually labeled the “singer in hijab” — something she wants to simply make normal.