Mon Rovîa — NPR Music Tiny Desk, Washington D.C., 2026

This concert, filmed live, features Mon Rovîa as part of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk series in Washington, D.C., for a session aired on September 1, 2026. Born in Liberia during the civil war and later adopted by an American family in Tennessee, the musician has developed a folk style he describes as Afro-Appalachian, where the ukulele and vocal harmonies meet instruments of the American tradition. The set gathers four songs, including ‘Bloodline’, which lends its name to his album, alongside ‘crooked the road.’, ‘Somewhere down in Georgia’ and ‘Heavy Foot’. Mon Rovîa is joined by a sizeable ensemble for the Tiny Desk format: guitar, bass, drums, pedal steel and banjo, violin and several voices, an instrumentation that underlines the folk roots and Appalachian colors of the project. NPR’s close capture, with no studio production, foregrounds the personal narrative running through the songs and the softness of his tone. Recorded in the offices of American public radio, this live performance offers a reading of a repertoire built around memory, exile and lineage.