WGXC-FM
Transglobal Soundsystem: 20261103
90.7-FM in NY's Upper Hudson Valley and wgxc.org/listen everywhere
http://www.wgxc.org/
Hosted by Chris Stewart
"Transglobal Soundsystem" is a journey through global music, moving across traditions, cultures, and contemporary forms. Each program travels widely—from chicken scratch and Afro-Celt to electronic tango and South African gospel—drawing unexpected connections between sounds that emerge from very different places and histories.
The show brings together music from Japan, Brazil, Africa, Europe, and beyond, mixing roots-based traditions with modern and hybrid forms. Rather than focusing on genre or era, "Transglobal Soundsystem" follows rhythm, mood, and cultural exchange, highlighting how music evolves through migration, influence, and shared experience.At its core, the program is about listening without borders: tracing how local sounds become global, how ancient forms meet new technology, and how music continues to reflect work, ceremony, resistance, and celebration across the world.
Chris Stewart grew up in Aberdeen in the northeast of Scotland and began his working life at sixteen as an apprentice plumber. Over time he moved through a wide range of work: ironworker, fishing-boat deckhand, oil-rig worker, shiatsu practitioner, and tofu maker. These experiences grounded him in different ways of living and seeing the world, often far from conventional paths.
Travel has been a constant thread throughout his life. He spent extended time moving through Europe, India, Indonesia, Australia, Africa, Canada, and eventually the United States. Along the way, he encountered music not as a product but as something embedded in everyday life—played at work, at ceremonies, in kitchens, on streets, and in places of gathering. Listening became a way of understanding culture and connection.
That long engagement with music led him to radio almost by accident, when he filled in for a friend hosting a world music show. What began as a temporary role became a long-term practice. For 25 years, he hosted and shared global music on WRIU in Kingston, Rhode Island, developing an approach shaped by curiosity, respect, and deep listening.
"Transglobal Soundsystem" reflects a life shaped by movement, work, and sound.
Playlist:
- Pages Of Absence / Sunday Roast Jazz
- A Rìbhinn a Bheil Cuimhn' Agad / Arun Sood & Angeline Morrison
- Quemallama (feat. Rafael Guel Frias, Keyvan Chemirani, Abraham Mansfarroll & Tunde Jegede) / Diana Baroni, Ensemble Vedado & Ronald Martin Alonso
- J'ai un beau corps feat. Reel d'alouette / Galant, tu perds ton temps
- SADJONA / GAOUSSOU 'SOBRA' KOUYATE
- Postcoital Serenade / Sir Richard Bishop
- Caculator Funk / Func Focus
- Paradura / Paolo Angeli & Tenore Murales de Orgosolo
- Paris / The Chainsmokers
- Jina (feat. Kian Soltani) / Mahan Mirarab
- Burning in Lagos / Ibibio Sound Machine
- Peasants Revolt / Creekbed Carter Hogan
- Me Olvidaste / Son Rompe Pera & Trish Toledo
- Tí Mhichael Phaddy / Trá Pháidín
- Lets Dub It Up / Dee Sharp
- Natural Mystic / Bob Marley & The Wailers
- Hold Me Tight (Pulsedriver Remix Edit) / Addicted Craze
- Cramp Your Style / All The People
- The Mountain (feat. Dennis Hopper, Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Amaan Ali Bangash & Ayaan Ali Bangash) / Gorillaz
- Feels Like Home / Caamp
- Partita for 8 Singers: 4. Passacaglia / Roomful of Teeth & Brad Wells
- Blackbird / Martyn Bennett
- Return To Innocence / Enigma