Resilience, strength, trailblazer and frenetic. These are just some of the adjectives to describe the female musicians I’m playing on this week’s World Music Show (3/23). The “frenetic” one is an umbrella for the some of the great beats mixed in on the show.

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This week’s theme came about for a few reasons--the main one is because I was able to get a copy of the new CD by Taina Asili. And I’m so glad I did. She hasn’t been on my radar (which isn’t unusual, since I often miss many musicians) so I hadn’t heard any of her music before. Her new CD is called “Resilienca” and it’s primarily about how the people of Puerto Rico are strong and well, resilient after withstanding the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Asili is a Puerto Rican New Yorker who is a trailblazer when it comes to singing about social issues such as violence against women, immigration policies and the Trump presidency.

Ana Tijoux Hearing her got me thinking about some other powerful women in world music. So sprinkled throughout the show will be other female musicians who give strength, who are resilient and who are trailblazers in their own right.

Musicians such as Ceci Bastida, who besides being a great solo musician and activist for immigration rights, is also in the Morrissey (the Smiths) cover band Mexrrissey. Also included will be Ana Tijoux, Leni Stern, Gaby Moreno, Bebel Gilberto and the Brazilian singer Ceu. Each of these musicians have carved out their own unique portion on the world music pie chart.

Then there’s the all-female band Ladama. This four-piece band are made of Latin musicians from all over South America. Besides playing some really amazing music, this band puts on workshops to empower other women when they’re on tour. The workshops focus on social engagement, sound production and composition in a collaboration-based setting that includes children. Ladama is also working on their second album and to finance that, they’ve started a Kickstarter campaign.

LadamaA couple of other female trailblazers on the show this week include the legendary Carmen Miranda and Angelica Garcia. Two female musicians on a completely different spectrum of music and time. Miranda, in case you don’t know, was a Brazilian musician who appeared in early Hollywood movies in the 1940s with the stars of the day. However, she was often forced to wear a big basket of fruit on her head. That look became more of a caricature of herself and downplayed her actual musicianship and contributions to world music.

Angelica Garcia is a young musician based in Richmond who is already carving out a path that is uniquely her own. Channeling sounds that are reminiscent of Neil Young in some songs but then in other tracks sounding like no one else, Garcia has a voice and style that ensures that her career will be long and very unique. If you doubt me just check out the video for “Karma the Knife.” Garcia is working on her second album and when it’s done, she’s got an open invitation to come on the show to play some songs or just talk about her work or we could even just talk about food, either way I’ll be happy.

Angelica Garcia For the rest of the show, we’ll check out some frenetic Afrobeat sounds from Chicago Afrobeat Project (who got to work with the icon that is Tony Allen--co-founder of the Afrobeat sound), and Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra. Also in this same realm will be some classic highlife from a band called No.1 De No.1.

For new tracks, we’ll take our first dip into a new song by the guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela. Their new album “Mettavolution” just came out after a five year break between their last one. Mettavolution took them three years to make and it was worth the wait. They’re heading out tour and will be in Charlottesville and in Vienna (at Wolf Trap) in June.

Not to missed also with be a few 2-Tone tracks from The Selector and The English Beat, a song by the German band Okta Logue and cover of the Beatles “Blackbird” done Reggae style by The Paragons.

They’ll of course be more world beats mixed in the show, but you’ll just have to tune in. The World Music Show airs Saturday nights at 8pm WCVE Music, 93.1 & 107.3FM or you can stream the show via this website. You can also come back to see track listings of what I’m playing. Follow me on Twitter @wcveworldmusic and on Facebook at The World Music Show on WCVE.