A thread to chat and share recommendations for "world" music. Now, obviously defining world music is a bit of a fruitless endeavour, but roughly it could encompass any music not from the "Western" (another useless phrase) world, and / or any music not sung in English and / or any music created using non-Western structures or instruments. It's next to impossible to define, and there's plenty of music that you could consider World Music. I don't want to be a stickler in this thread, so if you think it fits, please post it!
Some artists that I like. By no means an all-encompassing or thorough list, I no doubt have gaps in my knowledge, so please post some of your favourites here too! The descriptions are crap, but should give you a general idea of the sound! Not embedding Youtube links because I don't want to slow things down, but the "Listen" button should take you to hear a song! Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan A Pakistani Qawalli musician, with a voice like you wouldn't believe! Recommended Album; Musst Musst Listen Ravi Shankar An Indian sitarist, made what would be considered Hindu Classical Music. Recommended Album; Portrait of Genius Listen Ananda Shankar Ravi's nephew, and like his uncle a fantastic sitarist, but blended with a strong Western influence. Recommended Album; A Life in Music Listen Tinariwen A blues-y, rocky band from Mali. Fantastic guitar players. Recommended Album; Aman Iman: Water is Life Listen Jorge Ben A Brazilian samba/soul/funk/jazz musician. Recommended Album; Africa Brasil Listen Gal Costa A Brazilian soul/pop/psychedelic musician. Recommended Album; Gal Costa Listen Omar Souleyman A Syrian musician who plays music known as Dabke. Recommended Album; Bahdeni Nami Listen Ibeyi Two sisters from Cuba / France, who sing in a mixture of English and Yoruba. Recommended Album; Ibeyi Listen Ladysmith Black Mambazo A South African vocal group, famous in particular for working with Paul Simon on Graceland. Recommended Album; Shaka Zulu Listen Ahmed A group from the Maldives who blend their own traditional music with 60s/70s rock and psychedelia influences. Recommended Album; Dhaalu Raa Listen Fela Kuti An Afrobeat musician from Nigeria. His son, Femi Kuti, is also well worth a listen. Recommended Album; London Scene Listen
D'aww, thank you! Is there anybody you'd recommend that isn't on the list above? If you haven't heard it, I'd really recommend either Ibeyi or Nusrat for you if you haven't heard them yet, too! And I miss Craig too, I still hold out the tiniest bit of hope that he'll transfer over to this site. He'd absolutely boss this thread!
I don't know if they're essential or anything but I might throw on Ali Farka Toure, Lokua Kanza or Os Mutantes And does French music count because Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour
The song from the movie Timbuktu. Good movie, song is amazing. (Fatouma Diawara is from Mali). and another lovely track by her:
I don't know the bolded two, so excited to listen! Big fan of Jacques Brel as well, should maybe have included him above. Those songs are awesome, great find, PD!
So today I listened to a group called Lakou Mizik, from Haiti. An ensemble group that formed following the devastation of the earthquake in 2010, and it's utterly joyous and life-affirming. Their debut album is out tomorrow, named Wa Di Yo, but you can find several singles on Youtube or around elsewhere! Well worth hearing, for fans of happiness and joy. Wa Di Yo, by Lakou Mizik Big bio below, if you're interested.
Seeing as you mentioned Charles Aznavour, do you have a recommendation for a decent place to start with him? His discography is pretty unwieldy, to say the least. Is there a compilation, or a "real" album that you like particularly?
Listened to this today; Compilation of Nigerian "rock" music from 1972 - 1977. Rock isn't a particularly great term for it, it's plenty soulful and funky. It's a pretty fascinating listen, some of the artists are clearly hugely indebted to 60s Psychedelia and Garage Rock, but they're putting their own slant on it. Sometimes it's pretty raw stuff, but there's a lot of joy here and experimentation. I've tried Googling a few of the artists and there's not a lot out there about them, so it's pretty rare / obscure stuff! You can purchase the MP3s here; Rappcats » Wake Up You! The Rise and Fall of Nigerian Rock, 1972-1977 Vol. 1 Or you can send me a PM for free.
Blues-y stuff, and he fucking kills it on guitar. Lush production too. Hugely recommended! Listen to it on Spotify here; Review: Bombino, 'Azel' You can also listen to his previous album, Nomad, on youtube;
Tony Allen is a highly-regarded Nigerian drummer, and one of the pioneers of afrobeat with his work with Fela Kuti in the 70s. He's had a long career since then, spanning 50 years. This album above is from 2009 and it is the first solo thing I've heard of his, though I like Fela Kuti's stuff, which he played on. Like a lot of afrobeat, it's a joyous lively affair, full of energy and soul throughout. My knowledge of drumming is minimal but I think @Meerkat might find a lot to enjoy here!
Victor Deme was a blues musician from Burkino Faso, who sadly died last year of malaria. He released two albums, the self-titled one above, and one called Delli. He has an exceptional voice, full of power and emotion. The guitar work is hugely impressive, and there is some really cool percussion elements to it. He straddles a few genres, blues isn't exactly the best description, there's bits of flamenco and soul and jazz in there too. I would recommend it, it's a lovely listen!
Can't think of another thread to talk about this (tried BNM thread) but has anyone listened to the Elza Soares album? It got BNM from p4k. I listened to it for the first time last night and it absolutely blew my mind. P4K's review is one of their better pieces this year too Elza Soares: A Mulher do Fim do Mundo (The Woman at the End of the World) Album Review | Pitchfork
Added to the radar. For all my intended musical open-mindedness, I still always do poorly with world music
Heard Caetano Veloso's debut. I can't say I like it as much as Jorge Ben or the Gal Costa album I've heard, but it's pretty excellent. It's also fascinating to read about the cultural baggage around it
Has anyone heard Księżyc? They're a Polish band that mix music with A-G theatre. Hard to really define their music, it's somewhere between traditional songs, choral music, horror soundtrack, and highly experimental. I saw them play an Unsound event with GAS last night and they blew me away. Totally stole the show. Also seeing Ibeyi on Tuesday and pretty excited about that. Still haven't heard their first album, but the new one is great.