WFMU broadcasts live from Brooklyn this Saturday night May 17th, as Transpacific Sound Paradise sets up shop at Barbes from 6-9pm. Rob and Irene Trudel return to Barbes, the cozy music-lover's paradise at 376 9th Street (at 6th Ave.) in Park Slope, for another early evening of wall-to-wall music broadcast live on the radio, featuring Pistolera, Metrofolk, Yan Yalego, and more. As always the show is free and open to all, and if that's not enough, there will be free WFMU swag galore. (Read more)

This Saturday's players included a couple of Frenchmen: Yan Yalego, representing the Gallic wing of the global ukelele movement; and veteran pop crooner Thierry Stremler, who among his many musical undertakings recently contributed songwriting to an album by the iconic Francoise Hardy. To confuse things a bit, Minnesota guitarist Reynold Phillipsek will play a couple of pieces in the French jazz manouche style. Then things take an Eastern European turn with Metrofolk, local purveyors of traditional Hungarian tanchaz (dance-house) music. Finally it's back to this side of the Atlantic with Pistolera, the charismatic femme-centric Nuyo-Mexican conjunto who will close the broadcast with feisty cumbias, rancheras and other good things from south of the border via NYC.
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Another WFMU 50th Anniversary/Free Music Series show is happening! Lincoln Center's Out of Doors series in collaboration with WFMU brings over The Ex with legendary Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya on August 20th at Damrosch Park (West 62nd and Amsterdam) in NYC! More Ethio legends on the bill as well: singers Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete join the Either/Orchestra, and USA-via-Kenya Benga band Extra Golden kicks it off at 6pm. FREE to the public!! No tickets required. More info, sights and sounds on our blog.