Even though I listened to a great deal of music all my life – I tend to believe that it was something more than the average – I still discover some excellent pieces of musical art in music from all over the world. This is probably why this blog contains posts about Hawaian music, African Jazz, Cuba’s most treasured band (twice), Gypsy Music and more. Â
Considering this, is easy to imagine the excitement I found when discovering this guide to world music published by The Independent. It features an excellent selection of some of the most beautiful pieces of world music which will help anyone discover something new to enjoy.
In briefing, the featured albums are:
Americas
- ’40 Temas Originales’ by Carlos Gardel – Argentina
- ‘Beleza Tropical’, compiled by David Byrne in 1987 – Brazil
- ‘The Buena Vista Social Club’ – Cuba
- ‘The Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener’ – Carribean
- ‘Grandes Exitos by Juan Luis Guerra’ – Dominican Republic
African Music
- ‘The History of Township Music’ – South Africa
- ‘Golden Afrique, Volume II’ – Congo
- ‘Golden Afrique, Volume I’ – West Africa
- ‘Immigrés’, by Youssou N’Dour – Senegal
- ‘Moffou’, by Salif Keita
Europe
- ‘Rumba Argelina’ by Radio Tarifa – Spain
- ‘Clandestino’, by Manu Chao
- ‘Musique des Tziganes de Roumanie’, by Taraf de Haïdouks – Romanian. The description of the album is impressive: “This record shook us all. These Gypsy guys from the Balkans are a group with a fiddle, a cimbalom, and lots of other stuff – they play at an unbelievable speed, and change gear at the same time. Exhilarating.”
- ‘Napoli Mediterranea’, by Pietra Montecorvino – Italy
- ‘The Art of Amalia’, Amalia Rodrigues – Portugal
Asia and Pacific
- ‘Musst Musst’, by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Pakistan
- ‘Lata Mangeshkar: The Legend’
- ‘The Very Best of the Far East’ – China
- ‘The Gabby Pahinui Hawaiian Band’ – Hawaii
- ‘The Rough Guide to the Music of Thailand’ – Thailand
Middle East
- ‘Khaled, Khaled’ – Algeria
- ‘Fairuz: The Lady and the Legend’ – Liban
- ‘Ilham al Madfai’ – Iraq
- ‘Yemenite Songs’ – Israel
- ‘Tea in Marrakesh’ – North Africa
A nice sample of the music played by Taraful Haiducilor can be found in this live performance video.
7 comments so far
Awesome post! I’ll enjoy a few new aural trails as I follow up on those leads. Probably starting with Taraf de Haïdouks since they have such a hot description (which sounds similar to how I hear people describe Besh o droM, who just f#*&ing blow the doors off…)
Clandestino is brilliant.
I’m surprised Trilok Gurtu didn’t make the list. Very surprised.
OMG!!!!! Given the fact that, although I enjoy a wide array of sounds and rythms, world music is my very favourite genre, you can imagine my satisfaction when reading your post!!!!!
Thanks a lot!
I know most of the artists featured here, but I still have more to discover. From the description, it looks like Yossou N’Dour’s album is a must!
I especially have to catch up on music from the Asia and Pacific region.
Too bad I can’t find the albums in Romania :(
All in all, the list is gorgeous! Beleza Tropical is awesome! It’s one of the 2 albums that made me fall in love with brazilian music a few years ago (the other one being Maria Bethania’s “Ambar”).
Other favourites of mine from the list include:
-Napoli Mediterranea by Pietra Montecorvino(I sooooo wanted to buy it while I was in Italy a few weeks ago, but couldn’t find it) -her voice is just fantastic!
-Clandestino – agree with Romerican :)
-Musst Musst
Oh, and I think Tea in Marrakesh is North African, not north American.
Thanks for the nice words :)
Paula, you were right, Tea in Marrakesh is North African, it was a typo. Now should be corrected.
I also had quite some trouble finding the albums in Romania, but the online shopping should work in this case
Referring to Europe: how about Greek music? Any advices?
For Greece music, a nice start can be the Putumayo compilation. You can find it here, with some samples to listen to and you can buy it easily: http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&ean=790248022529
I’ve just listen all the tracks.
This music is too slow (and sad) for my musical taste. I was especting to lo listen something with more rithm and joyful like Zorbas. :|
Any other advices?
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