Kokoroko’s set for World Cafe made heartbeats bounce

Right away, when we listened to Kokoroko‘s music in our weekly World Cafe meeting, we knew we had to get them in to record a live session.

The London-based septet, led by bandleaders Sheila Maurice-Grey and Onome Edgeworth, fill the stage with instruments and energy. On their latest album, Tuff Times Never Last, they weave grooves that you can’t not dance to, with Maurice-Grey acting as a kind of conductor for both the band and the audience.

The new record is a vibrant collage of influences, which you’ll hear all about in this session, along with their live performances.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.