Skank - Brazilian contemporary music

Skank (pronounce like Skãk) is a Brazilian multi-style pop/rock band from southeastern Brazil, from Belo Horizonte. They were formed in 1991 and have since then released 9 albums (this figure includes the '06 release 'Carrossel'). They can easily be named one of the best selling Brazilian acts still producing music.

Skank - Dois Rios
I am still wondering why this is the first Brazilian act to be featured on here.
I don't know an answer. Brazil is definitely an interesting place musically. And I am already listening to a lot from Brazil, but more classics like Seu Jorge etc. anyway, I won't bore you with that. Here's another video below (it's a bit tricky to get to see some Skank stuff on youtube because of their name obviously)

Skank - Uma Canção é pra Isso
Their official website is not very interesting.

Fanfare Ciocărlia - Brass sounds from Romania

Fanfare Ciocarlia is a Gipsy brass ensemble from Romania. The band is very famous, has toured every continent and lately won the BBC World Music Award for Europe in 2006.
Following the links given you will encounter some sound samples, and here's another one. Below is the video clip for Manea Cu Voca.

For additional information see the wikipedia article

Mahmoud Ahmed - Ethiopian Rock

Another great classic off the Ethiopiques series. Ethiopian music is really the best promoted one from Africa. I'm glad that with the French label they get quite some audience. I didn't post for some days that was because of christmas. Now I want to feature Mahmoud Ahmed in one post only for him. Born in 1941 in Addis Ababa, he's one of the most important musicians, having been featured in 3 Ethiopiques volumes already. (6, 7 and 19). Here's a video of him performing in Paris, I think it is. He grew old over the years making music but he didn't lose his energy :)

Little Kazakh music jukebox

here

ละอองฟอง (La-Ong-Fong) - More Thai pop

La-Ong-Fong is a Thai pop band, formed in 1994. It seems, though, they have practised two years until finally releasing their first album "Volume 1" in 1996.
In their official Biography they claim they have been influenced by Swedish pop.
I don't know, judge for yourself.

พรู (Pru) - Thai pop

Enjoy Pru from Bangkok and sing along thanks to latin translit. Check out their website.

Trivia: Pru won the MTV Asia Music Awards 2002

Frank Boeijen - 80s pop from the Netherlands...yeah

Don't you think I only put "normal" music up here :)
I love this song, and I am not ashamed!
Think of it what you want, it's a classic!
"Zwart Wit" by Frank Boeijen.
And the song is about a serious issue, btw. It's about the murder on Kerwin Duinmeijer for race hate in Amsterdam.
That's why the lyrics go: "denk niet zwart wit", don't think in black and white, "maar in de kleur van je hart" but in the colour of your heart. :)

Laïs - Belgian folk pop

Lais is part two of this days presenation of music from Belgium. Their myspace has got some samples. Read about them on their official website.

Eva de Roovere - Flemish pop

I am really happy about this more recent discovery. Eva de Roovere. As some of you might know, unfortunately it's not particularly easy to find good music in Dutch (except for Nederhop). Most young bands in Dutch-speaking Belgium and especially in the Netherlands clearly prefer the English language for whatsoever reasons. This trend is stronger in the Netherlands than in Belgium in my opinion, I want to praise Belgium as a highly creative place with many new bands. (DAAU from Antwerp)

Having already lent her voice for some other smaller projects (Kleine Blote Liedjes, Kadril, Oblomow...) she has now started a solo project with that very album you can listen to on her website.

Pierre Lapointe - Quebec Pop

Pierre Lapointe is a Canadian singer from Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. That I labeled his music pop is not meant to be contemptous in any way. Most of the music here presented is pop more or less. The world still has got to come to terms with this label. Pop can be anything. And this Pierre Lapointe is really an interesting appearance. He won two Félix Awards in a row (2005/2006). The two albums he's released so far are a self titled one and "dans la forêt des mal-aimés". The latter one is which one I've just got so far but I'm completely in love with it :)
The atmosphere to it is fascinating, a bit gloomy of a sound to it when you're listening to it and then the lyrics..
Here's a song off his first album:

"tel un seul homme"
yeah, watching that video you can understand why Wikipedia says about him: "Lapointe has created the persona of an egotistical dandy on stage, [...]"
But it's good. By the way, there's two more videos to watch on his website. His website sucks, but that's just because he's so popular. Big artists very rarely have got good websites. Anyway, at least some music is streamable to get a first impression.

Timpuri Noi - Industrial Rock from Romania

Timpuri Noi are a classic Romanian rock formation playing what could very well also be considered "industrial" rock. They have been formed already in 1981, that means in the Ceauşescu era. For obvious reasons they had to remain in the underground until 1991. Their lyrics were considered "subversive" and incidentally also their name is a pure sarcasm: New Times. That was how the time after the Marxist Socialist revolution was called in the Eastern Bloc. However there are also other voices saying that the name could also be a reference to either a central Bucharest metro station or to the Charly Chaplin movie of 1936 "New Times".

After their time in the underground however the band became unarguably one of the or the Romanian act of the early nineties. That makes it one of the classic Romanian rock groups.

Trivia: Timpuri Noi is the Romanian band that claims to have performed the most live concerts (over 150). Within Romania this is considered special as most singers choose to lip sync.


"Namol" (Lyrics/Versuri)
Check Videoclipuri on their website for more.

Omul cu Sobolani - Romanian rock

Omul cu Sobolani are a medium popular rock group from Romania.
The band consists of Kaizer, Mihnos, Nucu and Amariei.

Omul cu Sobolani - Moksha

Dorm cu ingerii din nou
Dorm dïn nou

Omul cu Sobolani - Ajutor

Ajutor,ajutor,
Nu ma mai pot uita la televizor
Lasa ca imi fac eu televiziunea mea
Iar tu te vei putea uita la ea.

Siavash Ghomayshi - Pop from the Diaspora

Siavash Ghomayshi (in Persian: سیاوش قمیشی) is a Persian singer, songwriter and composer. Having been born in Ahvaz, he left Iran in 1979 and is now residing in California.

Milad


Jazire


His official website has got an English language version and allows you to listen to all of his albums online (stream).

Ethiopian music online streams

As you most likely already know, the Ethiopian music scene is actually very diverse. I already feel very bad to have labelled all stuff from Africa with one tag. I don't know. I don't particularly like it anymore either but I will keep it, have mercy with my stupid western perspective. Anyway, this post is about some online streams. Check addislive.com and have a listen to whatever you like to. There's 10 channels (.m3u) plus one for new releases. It's pretty amazing. I will just list the channels here accompanied by the description (artists or style) given on that site.

Channel 01
Ambassel, Antchi hoye lene, Bati, Tizita, Wey Arada & more.
Channel 02
Aster Aweke, Gigi, Kuku Sebsebe, Fekereaddis Nekatebeb, Bitsat Seyoum, Hamelmal Abate, Netsanet Mellese, Hana Shenkute, Abonesh Adnew, Hebist Tiruneh, Tigist Bekele, Chachi Tadesse, Monica Sisay, Haymanot Girma, Tsedenia G/Markos, Kidist Ayalew, Martha Ashagari, Tigist Afework, Zeritu Kebede & more
Channel 03
Tilahun Gessesse,Bezunesh Bekele, Mahmoud Ahmed Alemayehu Eshete, Hirut Bekele, Muluken Melese, Tamrat Mola, Bahita Gebre Hiwot, Melkamu Tebeje, Ayalew Mesfin, Menelik Wossenachew, Teshome Mitiku
Channel 04
Muluken Melese, Neway Debebe, Ephrem Tamiru, Theodros Tadesse, Tsehaye Yohannes, Aregahegn Werash, Yirdaw Tenaw, Gosayie Tesfaye, Abinet Agonafir, Teddy Afro, Shewandagne Hailu, Dawit Mellesse, Tamrat Desta, Tibebu Workyie, Gedion Daniel, Mesfin Abebe, Desalegn Melku, Elias Tebabel, Gerawork Nekatibeb, Haileyesus Girma, Haileye Taddesse, Henock Mehari, Henok Abebe, Jonny Ragga, Michael Belayneh & more
Channel 05
Azmari, Cultural, Eskesta, Ethnic, Traditional
Bahiru Kegne, Shambel Belayneh, Rahel Yohannes, Genet Masresha, Gezachewu Teshome, Semahgn Belew, Yehunie Belay, Manalemosh Dibo, Setegn Atanaw,Gete Aneley, Mesrak Kebede, Chalachew Ashenafi, Endeshaw Kelemwork, Etenesh Wase, Tigabu Chernet, Eelizabeth Meshesha & more
Channel 06
Tigrigna
Modern & Traditional
Kiros Alemayehu, Seyoum Alemseged, Sofia Atsebaha, Reshan Gebre, Letay Mesfin, Haggos G/Hiwot, Berhane Haile, Yayne Abay, Abraham Gebere Medhin, Negesti Hayelom & more
Channel 07
Afan Oromo
Modern & Traditional
Ali Birra, Gabii Eda'oo, Getachew H/Mariam & more
Channel 08
Instrumental: Modern & Traditional
Mulatu Astatke, Ibex Band, Ethio Stars, Daniel Wolde Gabriel, Girma Wolde Michael, Elias Negash, Yared Tefera, Theodros Mitiku, Girma Moges, Yedenekachew Wolde, Tsegaye Hailu & more
Channel 09
Kirar, Masenqo & Begenna
Various Azmaris, Alemu Aga, Mary Armeday, Kassa Tessema, Asnaketch Worku Seleshi Demisse (Gash Abera Molla) & more
Channel 10
Rare Music
Tribal, Urban, Traditional Children's Songs & more
Channel 11
New Releases

Finnishing this post with a video.

Hirut Demeqe - Tey Atbelegn (url)

Padi - Indonesian rock

Yea, we stay in Indonesia for now and devote ourselves to this band. Going under the name Padi and as a comment on youtube puts it "...like coldplay -- indon version". Yeah, I can agree on that. I like them! Nice melodic tunes as far as I know, I have just begun discovering their repertoire myself, too!

Padi - Ternyata cinta
Videos
Official web
mp3s streaming

Inul Daratista - Indonesian Pop

Inul Daratista is an artist from Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia, that interprets the Indonesian music style dangdut (Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music which is partly derived from Arab, Indian, and Malay folk music. It developed beginning in the 1970s among working class Muslim youth, but especially since the late 1990s has reached a broader following in Indonesia.) in a way that made her nation-wide famous in Indonesia. Her dance moves seem to have been a little too seksi ("suggestive") that some conservatives in the society called for a ban and was the reason to draft some anti-pornography laws (which according to wikipedia have not yet been passed, though). Well anyway, controversy is always good. And I really wonder that I haven't written about her before, cause it's really a must. One of the highlights of this blog. Highly fascinating..

goyang inul.mp3
goyang dombret.mp3
a whole lot of other Indonesian/Malaysian songs (dangdut and others)

Bratři Orffové - Czech Electronica

Bratři Orffové is a nice neofolk/electronica band coming from a small town in the North-East of the Czech Rep., Krno. They just released their debut album (Bingriwingri) in this very year 2006 and became one of the biggest discoveries within the Czech scene of the year.
You can watch some videos of TV interviews etc. and some previews of songs on their official website, but I recommend you go to their myspace to watch the splendid video "Na hadím ocase" or listen to some other songs in full length, sadly download function is disabled. But there's one full mp3 download for you here nevertheless:
Tunel.mp3
This artist is a recommendation of Hedvika.

Update: embedded video (same as on myspace)

Smola a Hrušky

Smola a Hrušky is a band from the Slovak Republic which I'm really into recently. The music they play is sort of Ska-like sometimes Reggea upbeat merged with poppy melodies to make the music really positive joyful catchy tunes!
I love them, ľúbim ich!!

"Hit" (.wmv)
All videos and mp3s available completely free at their website's multimedia section. Enjoy it!

Budoár Staré Dámy

Budoár Staré Dámy is a Czech rock band from the second biggest town in the Czech Republic, from Brno.
Really worth trying. Melodic rock. There's some catchy tunes!

"Stříbrná svatba" (.wmv)
more samples and downloads on the website

Револвер - "Space rock" from Russia

"Марс-Марс, я - Плутон"
Revolver is an interesting group again. Call their music whatever you want. If it's not your cup of tea then so be it. But. Hey! It's not boring. I'd label them as some sort of strange psychedelic electronic pop rock. If that label doesn't crack you up yet, what does? Try them! There's a good amount of mp3s on their webpage. Although it seems some links are (temporarily?) broken, but, well, try yourself. You're the clicker champ! Additionally to the songs there's also visual data!

Троллейбус №5
If you can't access mp3s on their official website due to broken links or other problems I provide you with two links to songs of them now here.
15 роботов на тарелку марсианина
Марс-Марс, я - Плутон

Tartu Popi ja Roki Instituut - Pop newcomer from Estonia

The Tartu Pop and Rock Institute is a new pop group from Estonia. Doing some research online it seems they got relatively famous through SOMA.FM, an online web radio. Cyrus Farivar mentions this in his blog. I haven't found a website of these guys but I found some mp3 material online so I thought that's just as good and I have to show it to you! Here's some songs (full length) off their Madise margikogu album.

Маша и медведи - Russian Rock

The band маша и медведи is finally again a great example of how good and loveable Russian rock can be. They produce great rock music with a wonderful female lead singer voice and what makes them so amable is that --in good Russian tradition-- they offer all their songs on their webpage to be downloaded for free! That's music that is produced for you! Made to be listened to! For the love of music! Rock on!

בית הבובות Beit Habubot

Unfortunately there's not much online for this band from Israel--that means I haven't found any mp3s downloadable for free-- but at least youtube makes it possible to give you a little impression of this band.
Below the song סיגפו/Sigapo

Vypsaná fiXa, Tata Bojs - Czech rock

Tata Bojs was founded in Prague already in 1988. From then on they recorded 8 albums in total.

Tata bojs - tanečnice
Youtube playlist for more videos
http://www.tatabojs.cz/ The webpage is very well equipped with videos and music.

Vypsaná fiXa is a Czech rock band founded in 1994 in Pardubice, their original music is sort of punk rock with surrealist texts which are said to be the business of lead singer Márdi.

Vypsaná fixa - Mažoretka
More Vypsaná fiXa on youtube

Terroristene - Norwegian Reggae

Yay. There's this Norwegian reggae band and guess what they even sing in Norwegian.
"Oh that's nice", you will say, "but they're probably too small to ever get the chance to listen to some songs".
But NO.
They have a lot of songs and two videos on their website, completely free.
Enjoy Terroristene :]

Zanzibár - Pop Rock from Hungary

Just some nice pop rock from Hungary.
Here's the band Zanzibar.


Vagyom rad

I actually like this video more, but it's a bit more "controversial" than the first one and I didn't want to scare someone away :p
You can listen to quite some songs on their homepage.


Az igazi nevem

Tajik music part two

Featured a site about Tajik music in a previous post already. The reason for this new post is a project at Indiana University of the Centre for Languages of the Central Asia Region:
Click here and then on the left on music. There's some Tajik songs streaming in a flash applet and the good thing is it's with lyrics and you can just click on the words in Tajik to see the translation in English, very comfortable. It's fun to listen to the songs like that!

Alumiinium, Sinu Sädelev Sõber - Estonian Fusion

This band is from Estonia. They have been founded in 1994 and have from then on released two albums. They have never given any concerts, they just produce music in the studio. I find this music really nice, relaxing. I would describe it as chillout-pop with pleasant vocals. It's hard to find English info on this band but I will show you what the Estonian wikipedia is writing about them: Alumiinium, Sinu Sädelev Sõber on Eesti ansambel, mis viljeleb elektrooniliste ja naturaalinstrumentide sümbioosi tulemusel loodud futu, kitarrirocki, uusromantika ja gooti sugemetega popmuusikat, mida bänd ise on iseloomustanud väljendiga alumiinium-pop.
My knowledge of Estonian is unfortunately restricted to international loanwords (;)) so I would say they are an ensemble that produces music in a symbiosis of natural instruments, guitar music and electronic stuff which in the end sounds like romantic pop music. :]
Check their webpage, then -- MUUSIKA and click your way through to some mp3s (which are there, my word on it).
There's also a video.
Enjoy!

Las Ultrasónicas - Persian Rock

Found out about this band of 4 girls from Mexico recently.
Had to feature them here cause I saw their video "descocada", which is really a must see. I then thought they must be fairly well known, but there are only 500 scrabbles on last.fm, so I thought it's good to post about them. Below the afore-mentioned video.

watch more stuff on youtube.com

Thåström - Swedish Punk

Sven Joakim Thåström (born March 20, 1957), as an artist known as Thåström, is one of Sweden's best known punk rock musician.

Thåström grew up in Högdalen and Rågsved, working class suburbs south of Stockholm, where he during 1977-1982 was the lead singer of punk band Ebba Grön. During a break with Ebba Grön (due to that the bassplayer had to serve time in jail which unofficially was the end of Ebba Grön in 1983) he became the leader of Rymdimperiet, later renamed Imperiet, with rock music inspired by the 80s sound. Imperiet also recorded an album with some of their songs translated to English, to try on the international market. (wiki)
I have highlighted Ebba Grön and Imperiet, cause that's bands you should really know if you want to get into Swedish music. Ebba Grön is THE Swedish word for Punk Rock. It's like Black Flag or whatever, a true classic. And Imperiet has got a cool sound to it, too. A bit 80s. However this guys solo carreer is worth mentioning, I thought!
His website is really lame (So I don't mention it here!). It's really a bit like that: the further West you go, the more "Western" musicians are the pickier are they about their "products". It's a shame! If they really love their stuff why don't they show it. If they really enjoyed making people happy with music, why don't they share their work. Ugh! But well, you know how to get music, don't you! :]

Ebi - Persian classic

I am not sure if I have presented Googoosh on this blog. I think I must have, but if not, browse wiki and see for yourself, I might post something later. But this time EBI. I think we can compare them. They both left Iran after the Islamic Revolution (correct me if I am wrong), having been very famous there for their music before and then continued to produce music in exile. The video above is a classic, there's also newer stuff on youtube, but I don't like it so much.
However here is another video of a performance of him being a bit older ;) :]

Los Cafres and Gondwana

Reggae group from Argentina. If you like that you might also want to try out a band named Gondwanda from Chile; they split up some time ago, but that doesn't make the music they produced any worse later off, does it?
Below a video by Gondwana "Felicidad"

Gor Mkhitarian - Armenian Folk

Gor Mkhitarian is the lead guitarist of the popular Armenian band "Lav Eli". He has in 2001 begun with a solo carrer and has since then released 3 albums. I will cite hetq.nm.ru to describe his music: "In his music, Mkhitarian makes a case for writing the next chapter in Armenia's rich musical history by updating the sound and feel of the classic Armenian folk song. But what has made Mkhitarian a favorite in Armenia is his uncanny ability to combine unique songwriting ability with stunning modern arrangements of Armenian folk music."
Check out his web site and cdbaby for samples, links to samples respectively.
There's also English language tracks on the albums ;)


Wherever (it's in Armenian despite the English title)

Мумий Тролль - Russian Rock

Mumiy Troll (Мумий Тролль [ˈmumʲij ˈtrɔlʲ]) is a Russian rock group, founded in 1984 in Vladivostok by linguist Ilia Lagutenko (Илья Лагутенко).
more youtube videos
wikipedia article
mp3s from the newest album (official website)
official website

Chinese.. yea.. what is this? :D

I found this neat clip on youtube by chance.
Some people just can't tag their clips right.
I have no idea what this is. But I enjoyed to watch it, maybe you do, too?
And if anyone knows who's singing here, please comment ;)

Pinhani - Turkish rock

They're quite nice. This is the song "beni al".
You can download three songs on their web sitesi:
İstanbul'da
Hele Bi Gel
Dön Bak Dünyaya

Tajik music

Some mp3s

Arsenal and Stereo Total - Similar Bands from Different Countries

I will present these two bands in one post cause they have relatively much in common.
Point one is they don't restrict themselves on one language. Point two, neither do they restrict themselves on two languages. But enjoy singing in quite a broad range. Arsenal for example is from Belgium but they sing in Chinese, Portuguese, French and English. Berlin-based Stereo Total feature songs from Japanese over Turkish to French, German and of course English. While the latter band might be perceived as quite more "strange" by most as their lyrics are pretty bizarre. I still thought there would be nothing wrong about comparing them like I did here, haha. :)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy them a bit, Youtube of course features many songs and videos again, and for the case of Arsenal they also provide you with downloads for most of their songs on their webpage.


Arsenal - Longee


Stereo Total - Ich bin nackt

Turkmen music

Browsing the Turkmenistan section of Neweurasia.net, I found an article on Turkmen music linking to the site turkmens.com where you can download loads of Turkmen stuff completely free. It's not only music, but browsing this site you could find something more interesting including some videos. Thanks to the neweurasia.net guys for this.

Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro - Japanese Jazz

Well they make instrumental music. Funk, or whatever you wish to call it. I think I could mention them here nevertheless. They are from Japan. Let's not start the nut picking :)
Here's a flyer of the show where they performed in the video below:

Yes it's all very English but let's not argue, just enjoy them. Aren't they weird/strange? :)

Kazakh artist: "Urker"

That's the song "Tugan Elim", which is among many others available completely free on the official website:
urker.kz
mp3s
and videos
Interview with Urker at neweurasia.net

Abeba Lakew

Abby Lakew - Achawtegn
taken from this album
Just browse youtube, there's a whole lot of more songs by her.
Here's another good one:

"Egnalaye"
Isn't it a great cover song? Awesome :)

Syriac Music Database

Syriac is a Semitic language currently spoken by 1.5 million people throughout the Middle East. Although most speakers are bilingual these days, modern technology is allowing Syraic speakers to promote themselves through newspapers and music.

I hope some of you enjoy this eventually. :)

Kapela Ze Wsi Warszawa / Electro folk

Polish artists merge traditional folk music with electronic tunes and create this formidable new diverse music you can watch and listen to below.


"Żurawie PV"

The band fits perfectly to this blog. As they write in their About Us page of their homepage
"Warsaw Village Band is a result of response against narrow-mindness and surrounding us mass-culture, which in fact leads to destruction of human dignity. The band is a radical turn to sources in search of musical inspirations and immemorial virtues. It is also an exploration of folklore and archaic sounds of our ancestors and our instincts. Moreover it's inexhaustible source of fun, joy and spontaneity."

Some songs have English titles but actually do feature Polish lyrics.

On their homepage they present one song which can be downloaded for free:
Download "The Owl" here.

Big thanks from me (and everybody who likes this!) to our Polish reader Fiedor who wrote me an email recommending more unknown Polish artists of which this is one. Some more are to come at a later point maybe!

Good music? Russia delivers... (Markscheider Kunst, Skal'pel)

First band to be presented is: Markscheider Kunst from Saint Petersburg in Russia. Yes, I don't like Myspace either, but check theirs. Do it for the music, you can download some songs there, and they're really great, I don't just say it. They play some sort of funky Russian ska :)
You should also pay their official website a visit; would get you to watch some splendid videos in the media section.

Second band is Skalpel; not hard to figure out they also play some sort of ska. So if that's a style you like, no way you wouldn't want to check them out.
(if you are doing web-research on them beware of name similarities with some Polish jazz band)

The Skalpel . Prazdnik
myspace site

Kurdish music..

Rewsani - zewiyen edabe
You can just browse through catalogues like this(kr/tr/de) to find some good artists and try them out. I quite like this song above. Another one I like is the song Dar Hejiroke (Fig Tree) by Aynur (taken from her album: Kece Kurdan (Kurdish Girl))

mp3s here (psst ;) )

Tuvan throat singing punk rock :)

Yat-Kha (yenisei punk)
Tuvan throat singing merged with slow, folk/blues arrangements, and a dark tinge of difficult-listening art-rock.

below a video of a live performance in Berlin


winner of bbc award for world music in the category pacific/asia

Great collection of Ethiopian artists..

Abraham G/medhin

It's just awesome I won't bore you with stupid text, just follow the links on this page and enjoy :)
Amharic is just beautiful

The Idan Raichel Project - A Singer with Two Countries

On the two albums the songs are mainly in Hebrew, some in Aramaic but also feature parts of other languages like the one above features Hindi for example.
They are definitely worth to be tried out.
http://www.idanraichelproject.com/en/

India: Yesudas

Yesudas is a great Indian musician/vocalist who has made songs in several Indian languages (Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu..). He is also greatly participating in the Bollywood film scene producing background music, etc.
Hindi songs
Tamil songs
Malayalam songs
Kannada songs
Telugu songs
Enjoy :)

Esma Redzepova

Esma Redzepova is a Macedonian-born vocalist, songwriter, and humanitarian. She shares Muslim, Jewish, and Roma roots. During her life she has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Mangava tut"
www.esma.com.mk

Mali: Toumani Diabaté

Toumani Diabaté (born August 10, 1965) is a Malian kora player who has gained international acclaim for his music. He is considered by many to be the world's finest kora player. He is a versatile performer, being equally at home with the traditional music of Mali as well as with cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles. He comes from a long family tradition of kora players including his father, Sidiki Diabaté, who recorded the first ever kora album in 1970.

Diabaté live at Sziget Festival (Hungary)
More music here, fly feature.

Nitin Sawhney - Mutlicultural Music from England

Nitin Sawhney (born in England) is an English musician of Indian descent. His critically-acclaimed work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often presents themes such as multiculturalism, politics and spirituality. The video below in in Hindi, although Sawhney sings in many languages.


Koyal


Related artists:
Trilok Gurtu
Nusrat Fatih Ali Khan
Talvin Singh

Swiss Hip-Hop/Rock: SAD und Züri West

I think it's got quite a distinct sound from German standard, that's also one of the reasons why I'm posting this. Züri West and SAD - Senseremix:

Punjabi dance; popular music, bhangra

Bhangra (Punjabi: ਭੰਗੜਾ, بھنگڑا, bhaṅgṛā) is both a lively dance which is from the region of Punjab, now divided between North India and Pakistan, and the musical accompaniment to the dance. A variety of popular music, also called bhangra, has developed from these traditions and has a keen youth following around the world.

Bhangra is a fusion of music, singing and the beat of the dhol drum, a single stringed instrument called the iktar (ektara), the tumbi and an instrument reminiscent of an enlarged pair of tongs called chimta. The accompanying songs are small couplets written in the Punjabi language called bolis. They relate to harvest celebration, love, patriotism or current social issues.

Today the word bhangra is more associated with the style of dance pop music derived from the above mentioned musical accompaniment. The dhol's smaller cousin, the dholaki, is sometimes used instead of or in addition to the dhol. Additional percussion, including tabla, is frequently used in bhangra.

Below now is just a typical example of how this looks in modern pop culture.
Song by Sabar Koti.

Wir sind Helden - German Pop

I've posted only little about Germany so far, cause being from Germany myself my main interest lies in different foreign music, but this band had to be mentioned at one point or another. I think it's the best pop music in German we have right now: Wir sind Helden.
You can find quite a lot of their video clips online on youtube as usual, but you might also want to check out their website (DE/FR/EN).


"Von hier an blind"

Μιχάλης Εμιρλής - Greek rock/pop

Mixalis Emirlis - H pipa tis eirinis

I really had to add this clip :)

Finnish Rock music Apulanta

Apulanta - Viivakoodit

You should really give them a try.

Finnish Hip Hop

One of the more famous Finnish hip hop artists is Elastinen (Kimmo Ilpo Juhani Laiho. Together with Iso H he forms Fintelligens. He released also an album on his own. Here's one song by him: Syljen.

Malaysian Rock: Y2K (Yes to capitalism ;) )

I like them very much, they're good and funny :)
Here's another song: "Lara"
http://www.myspace.com/yes2kapitalism

Nikos Vertis - Greek Pop

Nikos Vertis - Pame Psyhi Mou




Nikos Vertis - Poia Esy

Seryoga - Russian folk pop (hip hop)

Seryoga - Chernyj Bumer

Seryoga (real name Russian: Сергей Васильевич Пархоменко, Sergej Vasil'evič Parhomenko; Belarusian: Сяргей Васільевіч Пархоменка, Siarhiej Vasiljevič Parchomienka, born 1976) is a next generation Russian language musician with growing popularity in urban areas.

Born in Gomel, Belarus growing up in tough neighborhood he is mixing a unique combination of Russian folk music (chastushki) that features fast pronunciation of lyrics with modern lyrics appealing to youth and beats — he quickly rose on the Russian charts with his first single Чёрный Бумер (Chyorny Bumer Black BMW). Initially having background in boxing, he decided to express discontent of growing up in poor neighborhood and life hardships through his art. When he first appeared on Russian MTV, he was branded the "Slavic Eminem". But his true rise to fame came when he got nation-wide recognition in the Russian Factory of Stars television program where many other new generation Russian pop musicians are coming from. He currently works and resides in Kiev, Ukraine.
from wikipedia

Chris Chameleon - Afrikaans Pop

HEEL MOOI!
Very well-sounding pop from South-Africa, in my opinion.
You can browse musiek.co.za for more artists.

Rubén Rada - Candombe Music from Uruguay

This is about the music style called Candombe. It's what emerged from the bantu sounds etc from Africa melting with european-style sounds and tango etc in Uruguay. Rubén Rada is one of the heroes of this music.
Check out his homepage as linked above and this song right below as a little pretaste:

Music in kreyòl ayisyen

This is the great Haitian artist Emeline Michel.
There used to be a great page (which you can btw still use to get to know some Haitian artists) where you could download many Haitian songs as mp3s including one of Emeline Michel. Unfortunately this site seems to be down now. The only place to hear some samples is this place where you can get some real audio format files and this one where .wma files are downloadable.

Singaporean Music

Singapore, just as neighbouring Malaysia, is an ethnically highly diverse place with many different cultures coming together. Their music therefore is also an pottpourrie of different sounds: tamil, chinese, malay, etc..
This day's post is about one of the main figures of pop rock music in Singapore: Ramli Sarip; often referred to as "Papa Rock" in Singapore. He sings in Malay.
Here's his song "Panah Beracun" as a little pretaste and then below many sites where you can download music or watch other videos! :)


Music in the real audio format
Songs and videos linked to from his website
Songs in MP3 format

Kargo, Manga, Aylin Aslım...

Aylin Aslım - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


"4 gün 4 gece"


Kargo and Manga "Bog^azici"


Kargo - Renklerin ic,inde

Adalet Şükürov - Music from Azerbaijan

Qartal (Esger Mahnisi)


Another video:
Sən elə, mən belə (mpg)

Mp3s:
A complete discography on his official website
adaletshukurov.com/music

Azeri music: Röyə

Download Röyə and other Azeri artists here
Some more songs and lyrics (and occasionally mp3) here

Kiosk and O-Hum - Persian/Iranian Rock

Kiosk - Roozmaregi

O-Hum - Darvish
Furthermore you might also want to check out this page about the rock music scene of Iran :)
There's really much to discover! Have an ear ;-)

Bhutanese Music

A big free repertoire of Bhutanese music is here.
:)

Duman - Turkish Grunge

Duman are the Turkish response to Seattle grunge rock.
They became famous in 2002 when they covered Turkish
music legend Sezen Aksu's hit her şeyi yak (burn everything).
--> Link

There's some more little gimmicks on their website.

Also try their other song bu akşam (This night)
...içerim ben bu akşam... (I drink this night)

Urgabe and other Basque Rock

Urgabe - Ametsak
More songs

-----Plus: another Band,
Duo Deno
All thanks to Desiree ;)

Di Pravinho - Welsh Rock/Ska

Lettres et Chiffres


Di-Pravinho..
Hear a bit on their myspace site:
http://www.myspace.com/pravs
Website: http://www.dipravinho.tk/
Weblog: http://helbananas.blogspot.com/
BBC portrait: Welsh / English

South African band singing in Xhosa

South Africa-based band features one song in Xhosa on their webpage:
http://www.freshlyground.com/albumns.php
Click here to watch the video "Nomvula"
The other songs are also quite nice, I will mention this here, although they're mostly in English ;) (Thanks go to Ulven for mentioning this band)

QUECHUA :---))) Uchpa from Peru

Just one song...

stumbled about this crazy Russian song, when browsing some language ressources (thanks expug)
i'd lie if i told you i'd know more about the group or the like, but i like it, so show it here.
here are more songs (seems to be an album)
(anyone know the name of the group or more music please leave a comment)

Warning: KITSCH

And another song from this movie:


Sorry, I know it's terribly kitschy :| (but so beautiful ;) )

Mongolian music special :o)

1) Haranga a rock/pop band; 3 songs:
"on jiluud"
"hair min"
"xaluun setgel"

2) Tatar a Hip Hop artist; 1 song of my choice:
"Gantsaaraa"
(I don't like his other music too much)

3) As we remember this is a special about Mongolia, we cannot forget to mention its traditional music, the famous throat singing. Sundui and Gereltsogt are the artists for this. If you are interested in Mongolian throat singing (Khöömi) here is a nice site for you: info

Under Byen - Danish Post-Rock

When talking of Danish music one should never forget Under Byen :--)
Here's a nice video from youtube.com


Another great song...



You can find some free downloadable files on their official web site:
underbyen.dk

Hvid Sjokolade - Danish Hip Hop

"Kaffe & Kage"... I don't know why people always say Danish sounds ugly.. I think it sounds similar to Dutch sometimes and I like both... hvidsjokolade.dk

Hungarian Rock...

This one is an old classic...


More contemporary: Akosh-


And finally quite experimental stuff here: Masfel.

Ethiopian music...

If you like this song ( I love the language, it sounds so beautiful! --> Amharic!!!), feel free to dive a little into the Ethiopian music scene. addislive.com
addisgiftshop.com

Swahili music...

Try this site!
:--)

Eyal Golan...

Popular music from Israel... this song is really nice, if I'd be a girl I'd have fallen in love =)
I also recommend another song: Elohai (my God)

Clueso

Clueso.....

Sinsemilia

French pop...

Hopalong Knut - Norwegian Ska-Rock

Skalariak - Rock from Basque Country

Get some free mp3s and a downloadable video here
Plus all videos at youtube here

Banda Bassotti

Italian Ska-Rock band
Quite a few free downloads on this site

And a cover song here:

HaDag Nachash (הדג נחש) - Israeli Hiphop

HaDag Nachash is an Israeli Hip Hop band, famous for their song Shirat Hasticker in which every line sung actually depicts a slogan from one of the many bumper stickers on the cars in Israel which often contain more or less "political" slogans. The song as a whole so "creates an" atmosphere "of angry irony", to quote the wikipedia article of the song.
Listen to the bumper sticker song here and check out their website here.
:-)

Elefante - Mexican Rock

Elefante offer a nice repertoire of straight rock/pop.
Watch the video of their single mentirosa at youtube.com.
They have it on their own website, too, but in low quality and in .rm format only.

Traband

Czech rock music. The Klezhmer influence makes this band special.
No need to understand Czech to enjoy their music.
And they have all songs downloadable on their homepage.
See here

Do you want text?

Asking myself whether I should write some extra information about the bands or whether you'd prefer just to have the link to the media. I created this blog because of the music. Not that someone would get annoyed by my writing . There are enough blogs where people give their daily rantings. This one should not be such.
I think these stupid comments à la "awesome band from here", "great band from there" cannot successfully be avoided. I'm just a stupid human, too, afterall, Beg your pardon :-)

Noir Désir - French Rock

Simply awesome French rock band this time, ..presenting you my favourite song:
le vent nous portera

Also visit their official page -><-

Les Vulgaires Machins - Punk Rock from Québec

la chasse est ouverte

the only video I could find, I think they don't even exist anymore, but you should definitely get some albums!

Los Autenticos Decadentes - Argentinian Rock

como me voy a olvidar
el murguero
los piratas

I am sorry for the bad quality, but that is all I could find. They don't offer downloads on their official page unfortunately, and I am not allowed to upload mp3s ;)
But I think you know how you can get the music covered here :)

ДДТ - Contemporary Russian Rock

DDT is among the biggest contemporary Russian rock bands.
Having had the biggest success in the late 80s and early 90s the music is still good :)
Get a first impression with "Belaya Reka"
If you liked that one, you might try with some other song ****
Visit their official webpage here ddt.ru

Astrud - Vivid Pop from Spain:

A funny band from Madrid, Spain.

"hay un hombre en espana"

Enjoy the video.

Khmer music from the States

A band making music in the tradition of some great Khmer psych rock heroes of the 70s (like Sin Sisamouth, Pan Ron, etc.)
Situated in California.
Here a new cover song: Sni Bong

Post-It and Lucie - Czech Rock

From the Czech republic: Post-It
Post-It - Post-It (video)
Post-It - Ideál (video)
:-)
And some other band: Lucie
videos here

Dungen - Swedish Alternative with Psychedelic Influences

Dungen are from Sweden and play an interesting mixture of alternative rock with psychedelic influences. You should definitely try them out! :-)

Official webpage: here

The video "Panda" @ youtube: here

Terminaator - Estonian Rock

You thought Vanilla Ninja were everything Estonia had to offer?
How wrong :-)
There's more in this nice little Baltic state:
Terminaator is the first of Estonian rock groups to be introduced here.
Enjoy their webpage: terminaator.ee

Lange Frans & Baas B - Dutch Hip Hop

yes, it exists! hip hop in the dutch language. this hip hop duo is from diemen, north holland in the netherlands. recently got quite popular in the netherlands. i have two links to songs with video @youtube for you:

"ik wacht al zo lang"

"het land van"