Radio

Music of the World on KPFA on November 10, 2014. Chris Strachwitz joins me on the occasion of the release of Arhoolie’s “This Ain’t No Mouse Music,” a documentary about Chris and Arhoolie and their musicians. Chris is my guest and wild storyteller for the whole hour.

Sandy accompanied Dr. Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum and a dozen other women on a CIIS doctoral field research trip to Sardinia.  What they found was unbelievable.  Listen to the two hour show which was short-listed for a national documentary award and experience some of the excitement for yourself.  The food was spectacular, but the way people

Outer Atolls of French Polynesia 12/7/19 We did a show about the wonderful music of Polynesia and played some recordings I just made on a trip to the remote atolls of Rangiroa and Fakarava, a two day boat trip from Tahiti.  We got quite a response to the show with lots of phone calls and

Hi, everybody. On, Saturday June 17, 3-5pm Pacific, we did a  show about our recent trip to Corsica. We have some very interesting music that we recorded of polyphonic singing and in the second hour, some personal fav delights from the Summer of Love decade. www.kalw.org and 91.7 fm in San Francisco. The show is archived on

I’ll be doing a fund drive show with JoAnn Mar on Folk Music & Beyond Sept. 15 on KALW 91.7 in San Francisco from 3-5pm. We’ll encourage you to subscribe to our great public radio station by calling 800-525-9917 during our show. You can also go to kalw.org to help keep roots and folk music

Tune in on December 1, 2018 for two hours of my very favorite songs.  This will be, for sure,  an in-the-groove afternoon.  More to come between now and then, but just an early hint of what’s coming.  It’s really fun collecting all these songs…What would you play if you were playing all your favorites?

I guest host on KWMR fm’s The Celtic Universe.  Lyons Filmer invites me in and I play many of my favorite Tim O’Brien songs.  KWMR serves West Marin County and is located in beautiful Point Reyes Station near the Point Reyes National Sea Shore.    

KALW’s Folk Music & Beyond, 7/29/18 In a project that took over three years to record, we hear ancient songs and contemporary voices that have been brought together in Small Island Big Song. Having just performed at SXSW, the musicians are touring Europe and points west. In our first hour, we hear this ambitious musical

On KALW’s Folk Music & Beyond show, 3-5pm in San Francisco on 91.7 fm and KALW.org, we hear some legendary radio broadcasts from Shreveport, LA from 1948 just restored by the Bear Family in Germany, (Johnny Cash, Kitty Wells, George Jones, etc.). Also some rootsy new releases by the likes of Bettye Lavette, Willie Nelson,

American Epic:  The First Time American Heard Itself. March 3, 2018 KALW Folk Music & Beyond Sandy MIranda   American Epic is a BBC/PBS joint project led by award-winning Director Bernard MacMahon, Producer Allison McGourty, and Musician Duke Erikson about the first recordings of roots music in the United States during the 1920s and 30s–and

Wake the Dead was born in 2000 when three veteran Celtic performers who shared a love for the Grateful Dead experienced a joint flash of inspiration and began weaving the two seemingly alien musical genres into something new and immediately appealing. Singer-fiddler-mandolinist Danny Carnahan, singer-mandolinist Paul Kotapish, and Celtic harper Maureen Brennan assembled a septet

I have always loved Paul Simon, after he went solo way back when.  After Bob Dylan got the Nobel Prize in Literature recently, I began to think about who the great lyricists really are.  We just lost Leonard Cohen, and of course he was #2 after Bob.  But I really think Paul Simon sits in

The first hour of this week’s Folk Music & Beyond, we feature evocative new music from women.  First, the new release from Spanish artist Ana Alcaide.  Her new album, Legend, is inspired by legends and mythologies of women and feminine beings from Spain, Europe, and diverse places around the world.  Ana is the first to

We love them so much.  Willie Nelson just celebrated his 83rd birthday, and Merle Haggard just left us for the Highway Man Heaven in the Sky. Tune into KALW FM, local public radio in San Francisco, www.kalw.org on June 4, 2016 from 3-5pm for a romp through their song books.

Today we have a real treat–a live performance recorded on March 6 at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley.  Ledward Kaapana, George Kahumoku, Jr., and Jeff Peterson will play the best of the best in traditional and contemporary Hawaiian music. They are in the final week of a national tour, as we make this recording. 

Today we had the grand pleasure of hosting Chris to celebrate his birthday.  I asked him to bring in his favorite music, including the songs that set him on a course that brought Arhoolie Records, now 50 years old, into being.  We had a great time in the studio, and many fans called in and

In the 3-4 pm hour,  we’ll feature music from Italy, from whence we just returned. From 4-5 pm, we feature a live recording of the very down home, all woman Cajun band, The Magnolia Sisters, at the Ashkenaz in Berkeley on April 1, 2011.  We air a full hour of their performance, and you can

Bela Fleck / Spirit Song; Salam Aleikum; Chant / Throw Down Your Heart: Africa Sessions, Part 2.  Unreleased tracks / Acoustic Planet Jolly Boys / Never Find a Lover Like Me / Beer Joint & Tailoring / First Warning 1991 Jolly Boys featuring Albert Minott / The Passenger; I Fought the Law; Ring of Fire

The first major show on Balinese art, music, culture, and performance is currently on display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco until September, 2011. I Made Surya is the son of a Balinese temple priest and an old friend.  He is a superb mask carver, dancer, and specialist on all things Balinese.  Judy

This week, KALW fm in San Francisco turned 70 years old.  The first station west of the Mississippi to broadcast National Public Radio and the BBC has much to be proud of.  Today, we listen to music from the early 1940s and late 1930s, as well as some great tunes from other eras. Take The

Today we air our live recording of this great band.  We caught them at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on October 28, 2010.  After two weeks of editing, we got their permission to air the first 13 songs from this sold out show…the opening concert of their first tour in fifteen years.  These are

An update on the state of music and culture in Louisiana from someone who leads world class (and world famous) music tours down there every year…..Thanks to Nancy Covey for bringing the stories and music, JoAnn Mar for engineering, Rob Robinett for keeping track of it all, Vernon for some of the content, and Kevin

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Solstice, or another kind of holiday at this time of year, one thing is for sure.  This is the time, throughout history, when people have always gathered together to share food, tell stories, and celebrate the shortest day of the year–and the subsequent beginning of the return of the light and

Watch a video of Babatunde performing on Sandy’s program Babatunde Olatunji in the KPFA studios, July 9, 1997, hosted and produced by Sandy Miranda. The full video is 90 minutes of interview and performance.