World Cafe

All month, World Cafe invites listeners to discover the music of Havana, Cuba with the series Sense of Place.

"I always try to find art in everything I do, because I believe in music as a way of life. For me it's like a game, to mix everything I learn with my roots."

Southern rhythms have always been in Patterson Hood's blood. Born in Alabama as the son of David Hood, a bassist for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, young Patterson started writing songs at age 8.

Kelly Hogan is a professional backup singer who spends a lot of time on the road with her friends Neko Case, Jakob Dylan, Andrew Bird, Robyn Hitchcock and many others.

Chicago's Save the Clocktower formed in 2008 and kicked off its career in earnest the next year, when longtime friends Greg Newton (drums, vocals), Jimmy Shenk (keyboards) and Sean Paras (guitar/vocals) recorded their self-titled EP. In 2011, they released their first full-length album, Carousel, which is available as a free download on their Bandcamp page. Recently, a fourth member was added: bass player and older brother to Greg, Chris Newton.

The members of the inventive, experimental rock band Animal Collective first met in school in Baltimore County, Md. After collaborating throughout high school and college, they released their debut album as a group, Here Comes the Indian, in 2003. More studio albums followed, including the 2009 breakout Merriweather Post Pavilion.

In this installment of World Cafe's Latin Roots series, Raul Pacheco of the Grammy-winning band Ozomatli talks with host David Dye about how politics influence music. They've certainly affected Pacheco's music, as Ozomatli has been politically driven since its inception. The band's members started playing together 16 years ago, when they were working for the Peace and Justice Center of Los Angeles, and were asked to play for picketers during a strike.

Ozomatli is a genre-spanning, Grammy-winning band whose sound draws from Latin influences like salsa and cumbia, as well as hip-hop, rock, reggae and funk. Its many members are political activists who met while working with the Peace and Justice Center of Los Angeles; their first performance was for picketers during a strike.

Folk-rock singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge has been making music since she first picked up a guitar at the age of 8. Playing in country groups throughout her teens in her home state of Kansas, Etheridge went on to a hugely successful and decorated 25-year solo career — and won two Grammy Awards and an Oscar along the way.

Sometimes known as the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, the New York band Antibalas — which means "bulletproof" in Spanish — is a large group of talented musicians who play rhythm-intensive Afrobeat music. In a seven-year stretch, Antibalas has released four albums and withstood a five-year hiatus in which several members worked on the Broadway musical FELA!

Paul Simon's 1986 album Graceland marked an unprecedented intersection of music, culture and politics. In a conversation with World Cafe's David Dye — presented here in four parts — Simon speaks candidly about his legendary collaborations with South African musicians such as Joseph Shabalala and his vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.