Commonwealth Connections

Nigeria has long been a powerhouse in terms of world music, with artists like Fela Kuti reaching audiences around the globe. Our Commonwealth athlete this week is US Olympian but has chosen to represent Nigeria because her father was born there. And Regina George's choice of music is also very much within the family. The chosen track is "Sweet Sherry" by Eddy Okonta

Recorded at the African Heritage House outside Nairobi. Two generations of the Luo tribe perform the music of their people. Ayub Ogada has reached an international market as a world musician but here he returns to his acoustic roots and the ancient nyatiti lyre. This is the instrument of the Luo people and he has evolved a softer, gentler sound' to which he adds his distinctive soft sweet voice. In contrast, The Sega Sega Band, play Benga music, the style that is at the root of Kenyan pop music from the 60s to the present day. The melodies and rhythms are shaped by the tuning of the nyatiti harp and orutu, (a single string fiddle) but they have modernised the music to create uptempo dance music and transferred the musical lines to the modern guitar.

Vanuatu - which literally means freestanding - has only existed as an independent country since 1980. It has a population of less than quarter of a million, but despite that has a strong reputation for table tennis, especially in the shape of Anolyn Lulu whose chosen song is "Freedom" by Vanuatu's Vanessa Quai, as she explained from her island home.

Music is a family affair in La Petite Souffriere, a tiny and remote village high in the hills of Dominica. Isma Alie still works as a farmer cultivating Bay Tree plantations for their oil but also happens to be the island's greatest accordion player. With his son James and grandson Jackson, he keeps alive the traditional Jing-ping music of Dominica for community dances and celebrations.

Gambian athlete, Suwaibou Sanneh, carries his country's music with him as he prepares for the 100 metres sprint in the USA. Music from Jaliba Kuyateh and The Kumareh Band.

Extinct for over 200 years, the Maltese Lira can be heard along with a clutch or other rare instruments all played by Ruben Zahra.Plus recordings of Malta's traditional folk music, 'Ghana'.

Sia Figiel is a novelist, painter and poet who won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Fiction (SE Asia/Pacific Region). Her choice of Heritage Track LOTA NU'U, sung here by the Samoa Teachers' Choir, evokes deep emotions not only in her, but in many Samoans across the world, and is almost an unofficial national anthem, dissolving boundaries and bringing them, and all Pacific peoples, together as children of the great ocean, Moana.

Bamboo grows all over the Solomon Islands and provides a perfect natural material for making musical instruments. The 13 piece Waurana Pan Pipe Ensemble makes full use of the bamboo which grows around them to create their joyful, life-affirming sound. Hear the musicians talk about the history of this form of music making and enjoy a special session which captures a raw, hi-energy performance recorded at the Solomon Islands Broadcasting studios in the capital city of Honiara.

Writer Jacob Ross was short-listed for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize and in 2011 was awarded Grenada's highest award for his contribution to literature. His choice of Heritage Track- the 1960s calypso Dan is the Man in the Van by The Mighty Sparrow- reminds him of growing up in Grenada and the schooling he received in what was then a British colony, full of nonsensical nursery rhymes and images of seasons unknown in the Caribbean. He paints a picture of Grenadians as being both laid-back and determined in their attitude to life, and nurturing high hopes as their star sprinter, Kirani James, heads for Glasgow this summer.

In a music centre at the heart of Malawi's capital Lilongwe, 3 groups converge to demonstrate some of this country's rich music and culture. Waliko Makhala, respected musicologist and pioneer at Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, introduces the Kang'oma Cultural Troupe. Teacher Nkathama Chavamagwede and singer Avelyn White play township jive and songs of social comment. Nyandoro & The Black Souls fill a small teaching room with the sounds of unashamedly traditional songs, and we hear how this music defines Malawi's heritage.

Ghana has made quite an impact on the world music scene over the years, not least with Highlife music, perhaps the best known genre to emerge from this west African country - and the Anglo-Ghanaian band Orchestra Jazira delighted audiences here in the UK in the eighties. But for weightlifter Alberta Ampomah, who represented Ghana in the London Olympics and at the Delhi Commonwealth Games and is currently training as a police officer in Accra, the times have clearly moved on. Song: "Life" by R2Bees

The story of Cyprus's tumultuous past is told through its archaeological treasures, its dusty streets, its food and music. Michalis Tterlikkas was born and lived in the rural village of Kapouti in northern Cyprus until the 1974 Turkish invasion. As a child, he was steeped in the folklore and music of Cyprus and shares with us his lifelong passion for traditional song. Meanwhile, the next generation of musicians is picking up the traditional baton, and a new vigour is brought to the music of Cyprus by the trio 'Monsieur Doumani', who perform on a Nicosia rooftop, overlooking the old city and the green line that divides a nation.

Mueena Mohamed is the Number One table tennis player in Maldives. She chooses a song very familiar to her from her childhood, Minivan vayaa, and talks about the place of music in Maldivian culture, the challenge of balancing high-level training with a job, and what it means to her to compete in her fourth Commonwealth Games.

A rare performance of music by the Lomipeau Collection, recorded in a church hall in the village of Lapaha, Tonga. Singer Alusa Falefa has been entrusted by Noble Kalaniuvalu Fotofili, the living heir to the Tu'i Tonga dynasty, to preserve this music. He leads a 30 strong vocal ensemble along with his son Soane Ngutukoula Tatuila Pusiaki, a practitioner of Tonga's most famous instrument the noseflute. This deeply moving form of music-making has been preserved since the 1800s, and Alusa's grandfather used to perform for Queen Salote of Tonga.

Kiran Khan is one of Pakistan's first international female swimmers. She talks about the responsibilities and pressures of being a media celebrity and a role-model for other women, and the difficulties of pursuing her chosen sport in a Muslim country. Her uplifting Heritage Track, 'Jazba-e-Junoon, to himmat na haar' by Ali Azmat, reflects the support she's received from her family, particularly her father, who always dreamed that his daughter should fulfill her dreams and become an inspiration to others.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, triggered by the assassination of the Rwandan President in April 1994, and continued for 100 days with an estimated death toll of more than half a million. Since then Rwanda has seen a remarkable transformation, and the capital Kigali is now a prosperous and thriving capital. Music has played its part in that transformation, and we hear first from Sophie Nzayisenga, who sings and plays the traditional stringed instrument, the inanga. She lost brothers and sisters in the conflict, surviving by hiding in the bush with her father for the hundred days. She's now involved in Rwanda's Cultural Upgrading Initiative, which seeks to promote harmony through traditional music. There is also a session with Gakondo, a traditional group which plays regular concerts at the Hotel Milles Collines, well known around the world as the former UN hotel which became a refuge during the genocide.

Sprinter Maziah Mahusin was the only female athlete representing her country at the London Olympics 2012; carrying the Bruneian flag at the Opening Ceremony is one of her proudest moments. Since then she's inspired many young girls to run; these days they turn up in crowds at her training sessions to run alongside her. Maziah chooses a track that reminds her of playing with her siblings as a child, Sebarkan ke Seantero dunia by Putri Norizah. She reflects on how far she's come in her career- and on what it's going to take to live up to the responsibility she now feels to keep training hard and make Bruneians yet more proud of her.

St Lucia's leading traditional folk band Man May La Kay keep alive the traditional Kwadril music. Drawn originally from the French courtly Quadrille, this is a curious mix of African and European dance styles introduced by the European plantation owners of an earlier era. Once a reminder of their colonial past, the Kwadril has become a national symbol of the people of St Lucia and this joyful music is the definitive Caribbean ceilidh.

Hafsatu Kamara is an up-and-coming sprinter who represented Sierra Leone at the 2013 African Senior Championships, and aims to do well at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Raised in Sierra Leone and the United States, she is well aware of the extremes life can throw at you, having been forced to leave Sierra Leone because of the outbreak of Civil War in the early nineties. Her choice of music is by Emmerson from his “Yesterday Betteh Pass Tiday?” album, a recording which provoked a tense political debate in Sierra Leone. This reggae song "Na for Balance” advises Sierra Leoneans to avoid physical confrontation.

In Botswana, each tribe has their own identifiable style of music. The Balete Ditlhaka traditional group, based in Ramotswa village in the south of Botswana, is one of the last groups keeping Ditlhaka music alive. Deputy Chief Kgosi Tsimane Mokgosi tells the stories of the Ditlhaka music, and the group's director and pipe tuner Sialala Mookestsi shares how he learnt Ditlhaka in the South African mines as a boy. In Botswana's capital Gaborone, a very different sound comes from inside a garden; Myzer Mathako plays his Mbira, moved by its spirit.