In a past life, before developing software, I was a musician. The two have a lot in common actually: recursive pattern, rhythm, syntax, meter. I suppose most developers don’t think of code this way, but I do. It needs to look as good to humans as it does to machines. When I took over development of Swiftriver and I was looking for a theme to weave through all of our releases, it was natural to default to what I love: music.

Each release of Swift River will carry the name of a style of African music. The release schedule appears below. I think it’s fitting to able to pay homage the music around me in this way and it actually serves as a starting point for people looking to be exposed new styles of music that they may not already know. The first version of Swift, an early Alpha, will be available on March 31st, 2010 and there will be regular updates and iterations to follow. If you’re interested in how Swift River verifies and filters the crowd, visit us here.

Alpha Releases
0.0.0 Rumba (Release Date: March 31st, 2010)
0.1.0 Apala
0.2.0 Batuque
0.3.0 Benga
0.4.0 Bikutsi
0.5.0 Cape Jazz
0.6.0 Chimurenga
0.7.0 Fuji
0.8.0 Harare
0.9.0 Jit

Beta Releases
1.0.0 Jùjú (August 1st, 2010)
1.1.0 Kizomba
1.2.0 Kuduro
1.3.0 Kwaito
1.4.0 Kwela
1.5.0 Makossa
1.6.0 Malouf
1.7.0 Maloya
1.8.0 Marrabenta
1.9.0 Museve
2.0.0 Mbalax

Non-Beta and Beyond
2.1.0 Mbaqanga
2.2.0 Mbube
2.3.0 Morna
2.4.0 Palm
2.5.0 Raï
2.6.0 Sakara
2.7.0 Sega
2.8.0 Soukous
2.9.0 Taarab
3.0.0 Zouk

Ouagadougou Drummer Photo by Babasteve