2006 World Music Obituaries

The world music community lost many great members in 2006, both in the United States and around the world. Let's remember their legacies:

Katherine Dunham: This legendary dancer and choreographer was among the first people to bring Afro-Caribbean and African dancing to the stage in the United States, validating these folk dances (and the music that went along with them) as a form of high art. Read the full obituary for Katherine Dunham.

Hamza el Din: Hamza el Din brought the North African oud, a lute-like instrument, to international prominence with his many performances and scholarly writings. With his music, he brought international attention to the Nubian culture of Northern Africa and the Middle East.Read the full obituary for Hamza el Din.

Ali Farka Toure: Ali Farka Toure, from Mali, was a multiple Grammy winner whose guitar playing showed international audiences the clear and direct roots that American blues and R&B have in West Africa. He recorded many famous duets, and toured throughout the world extensively.

Desmond Dekker: Desmond Dekker was the first Jamaican artist to achieve international success, thanks to his 1968 hit song "Israelites". His success paved the way for the reggae and ska explosions that took place over the next few decades in the US and the UK. Read the full obituary for Desmond Dekker.

Jockey Shabalala: Jockey Shabalala, a founding member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, was the brother of LBM frontman Joseph Shabalala, and helped create the group's addictive signature sound. Read the full obituary for Jockey Shabalala.

Cheikha Rimitti: Cheikha Rimitti was a great force in Algerian Rai music, becoming both a progenitor of the style and a forceful voice for opening up discussions about women's rights and poverty in Algeria. Read the full obituary for Cheikha Rimitti.

Jabu Khanyile: Jabu Khanyile never achieved a great deal of success in the United States, but was one of the greatest and most beloved musicians in his home country of South Africa, winning dozens of awards and having a number of hit songs in Africa.

Andrea Parodi: Andrea Parodi was known in his early days as an Italian pop star, but later turned to the traditional music of Sardinia, an island off the coast of Italy. He brought the music to an international audience, and also re-popularized it among his fellow Sardinians.

U.J. Meaux: U.J. Meaux was a Cajun fiddle player who played every Saturday night for over a decade with Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys at La Poussiere, a tiny dancehall in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. Meaux was known for his cheerful disposition and his massive mental collection of obscure traditional Cajun fiddle tunes.

Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish: A legend in the world of North Indian classical music and Indian film music, Batish had a great deal of influence on the popularity of Indian music in the United States. He moved to the US in 1970 to teach at UC Santa Cruz, and he became a lifelong resident of the area, opening his own music school.

Michael O Domhnaill: Lead guitarist of the Bothy Band, O Domhnaill (pronounced O'Donnell) was a major force in the Irish traditional music revival that went hand-in-hand with the American Folk Revival.

Edwin Duhon: Duhon was the accordion player and founding member of the Cajun Swing band the Hackberry Ramblers, who, at the time of Duhon's death, held the record for the oldest continuously-performing band in the world. Edwin Duhon and fiddle player Luderin Darbonne formed the Hackberry Ramblers in 1933, and the band has had a number of scholarly articles, as well as a PBS documentary, written about their musical career.