Cesaria Evora (Cape Verde)
Cesaria Evora is everyone's favorite. Coming from the formerly Portuguese colonial islands of Cape Verde, off the northwest coast of Africa, she sings soulful songs which connect "the fado of Portugal to the choro of Brazil also extends to the morna and other musical forms of her native land. Now a whiskey-drinking, cigarette-puffing grandmother, Cesaria Evora has succeeded in exporting her tiny nation's sounds to Europe and the U.S, in recordings and live performances. You won't guess her habits or her age from her voice, soft and engaging as a large cloud in a sunny sky."
after Jeff Kaliss
Deep Forest
Boheme
Goran Bregovic (with Kayah)
"When's the last time you thought of the tuba as a cool instrument? Well, Bosnia composer Goran Bregovic certainly has--he made it the centerpiece of this stunning collection of music on which he and Polish singer Kayah collaborated. Here an exotic Eastern-tinged mix of old-world Polish folk, Byzantine and Yiddish sounds, and dance beats swirl together for a most original portrait of alternative Polish music. No wonder this release is Poland's biggest-selling album ever. Masterfully it emanates the haunting darkness of Eastern Europe with violin, oud, guitar, and tuba while travailing the border of the contemporary pop world. ... A wondrous album not to be missed." --Karen Karleski (www.amazon.com)
This
CD could serve as a good intro into Bregovic's world.
Sainkho (Tuva) Naked Spirit
Paradoxically, the best known region of Russia for music
lovers all over the world could be the distant republic of Tuva (could
you find it on the map?), thanks to artists such as Huun-Huur-Tu,
internationally known for their overtone throat singing. Of these
artists, I like Sainkho most.
Djivan Gasparyan (Armenia) Black Rock (with Michael Brook)
"Can a record be sensual, spiritual, sad happy, tender, dark and sweet at the same time? Yes, it can. And there is no best proof than Black Rock (1998) duduk master Djivan Gasparyan, and Canadian multiinstrumentist and experimentalist Michael Brook."
"Gasparyan
performs folk songs and melodies from Armenia's ancient Pagan and
Christian traditions using the duduk, one of the oldest wind
instruments in the world, dating back to Armenia's pre-Christian times.
He is the foremost living duduk virtuoso, having received four
Gold Medals in UNESCO's
world wide competitions. The mellow and haunting sound of the
duduk gained
international popularity after it was featured on Peter Gabriel's
soundtrack
to The Last Temptation of Christ. Gasparyan's exposure to
western
audiences escalated further after the film soundtracks of Gladiator,
The Russian House, and Storm and Sorrow
(cable
television production)."
Yma Sumac (Peru) Voice of the Xtabay
Born high in the Peruvian Andes, a direst descendant of the last of the Incan kings, Yma Sumac has become one of the biggest sensations of the music industry, "the five-octave queen of exotica". ... The combination of Sumac's extraordinary voice, her exotic, mysterious looks, and her stage personality made her a great hit for American audiences."
Cumbia (Colombia) The Rouge Guide to Cumbia
Cumbia is one of the great Latin rhythms and Colombia's
most popular dance music. The Rough Guide To Cumbia highlights
the golden age of this infectious dance rhythm, exploring its folkloric
roots in the
rural communities of Colombia's Caribbean coast, and
featuring tracks from the biggest cumbia stars.
Astor Piazzolla (Argentina) The Best Of
It's been said that Argentina has two national anthems - the official hymn and the tango. Forget the mannered ballroom-dancing image, tango is a real roots music: sometimes sleazy, sometimes elegant, but always sensuous, rhythmic and passionate. Astor Piazzolla is, not only the most renowned tango musician in the world but also, a composer chosen by internationally noted concert players, chamber groups, and symphonic orchestras. You'll never forget his haunting sound.
Various Artists (Brazil) Brazil Classics
David Byrne's groundbreaking 1989 compilation, BRAZIL CLASSICS 1, presented an entirely new vision of Brazilian pop. Culling together '70s and '80s tracks by avant-garde artists (Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso) as well as Afrocentric soulsters (Milton Nascimento, Jorge Ben), Byrne presented a polyglot pop that was as blithe as '60s bossa nova and as adventurous as his own work with the Talking Heads.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Pakistan) Night Song (with Michael Brook)
The
serene, moving Qawwali vocals of classically-trained Pakistani singer
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, combined with the music of Canadian ambient
composer Michael Brook produces an aural experience perhaps only
paralleled by the eyewitnessing of a faith healer at work, a miracle
birth, or a natural disaster in this present-day world. ...
Night Song makes a great companion to either
sudden revelation or a simple evening in the forest, under the stars.
Despite the down-to-earth lyrics about relationships and spiritual
cleanliness, the two artists make an obvious, pronounced effort to lead
one down a path of pure spiritual ecstasy.
Peter Gabriel Passion: Soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ
Peter Gabriel (known to many for his work in Genesis) is perhaps one of the most influential people in the field of world music. My personal interest in world music began with this album. I still recall the shock of listening to some of the tracks from this album for the first time. The best time to listen to it: when you study for a test.
Enigma Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
The
driving force behind Enigma is Romania-born Michael Cretu. Now he
lives on Ibiza Island, the rave dance music mecca -- can you locate
it? The project invented "gothic erotic" music, and made
religious chants popular. This third album is probably the most
ethnic and least "cheesy" of the four available so far. The best
time to listen to it: some Europeans find Enigma
to be the best music background for sex.
Delerium Karma
Karma is an unusual mix of worldbeat, new age, techno-folk and just good music. Consider putting Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance and Tori Amos into a studio with Enigma, Andreas Vollenweider and Jean-Michel Jarre, and you might get something like this. This is the kind of album you put on repeat mode for hours at a time and never grow tired of hearing. It cries out for sensual dancing, it screams for mood lighting. It's lush. It's electric. It's primal.
Delerium is, at its core, Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber, who wrote and performed the music. Joining them are lyricists/singers Kristy Thirsk, Camille Henderson, Sarah McLachlan and Jacqui Hunt, all of whom add potent vocals to the mix. There are several Latin and various native chants and other samples used in the blend, including a few from Dead Can Dance and the Baka Forest Pygmies.
This album defies categorization. But, ultimately, labels don't matter. Buy this one and enjoy the 11 tracks it provides purely for the sensual sound experience it creates. Buy another for a friend -- because when you loan it out, you might not see it again.
Tom Knapp
Bjork Homogenic
Bjork is from Iceland where she became popular for her work in Sugar Cubes. Now she lives mostly in London, the center of modern music (although she has been presented with an island by the government of Iceland). Her dance hits are great. But Homogenic -- it's special. The album was made on the most remote Andalusian edge of Europe (can you locate this province in Spain?) with musicians from Iceland. This uniquely powerful and fragile, complex and stylish, deep and naive, modern and ancient album was quite a fortunate discovery for me.
Amon Tobin Supermodified
A
native of Brazil living in Canada and elsewhere, Amon Tobin is
fantastic. "Quite
how Supermodified can be described in generic terms is
certainly tricky. Thank God. It's dark but without employing the dull
monotone formulas that have dragged drum and bass down. Funky, without
ever approaching 'easy' rhythms. The sound is spawned from a variety of
organic sources compressed into the crunching machinery of his studio
and ejected in painfully sharp rhythmic shards."
James Poletti
Dead Can Dance
Long, long before it was fashionable to acknowledge tribal and native beats, the mutations of which now come under the thoroughly unauspicious banner of 'world music', Dead Can Dance crafted fine, mesmerising orchestrations for the world to behold. Furthermore, and indelibly linked to the gothic sub-culture - brooding, pessimistic, fatalistic - their early, seemingly dark undertones formed the dominion of many of today's industrial merchants, though none seem to strive for the light that Dead Can Dance always celebrated amongst this ball of confusion.
Adam Connors
Brian Eno Thursday Afternoon
Brian Eno is from the UK, but recently was living for some relatively long time in St. Petersburg! He invented ambient music -- or popularized what was already in the air. I mean not ideas of other musicians but rather the noise, all the everyday sounds we take for granted. They are quite beautiful if presented by such a bright person as Brian Eno. He also helped many other musicians (e.g., Ultravox, U2) to find their own unique "sound". The best time to listen to it: while reading textbook for the next day class.
Cocteau Twins Garlands
There is something decadent, unhealthily mysterious about Cocteau Twins, their lyrics and fragile, ethereal female voices. They conquered my heart, though. Don't know why. I like their old stuff, e.g. Garlands and Pink Opaque (thanks to Karen for introduction!), and, selectively, parts of their last releases
Philip Glass Glassworks
My biggest discovery in America. In the end of this list I could be honest -- most of the titles on this list I am not listening to anymore. Not the case with Glass, I am never tired of his music. "Facades" from this CD is one of the best melodies ever written (imho).
Vladimir Vysotskii
Without doubt, Vysotskii was "the most famous Russian bard of the second half of the 20th century. His gruff voice and starkly, sometimes slyly, poetic lyrics have inspired two generations of Russians and are working their way into the young hearts of a third. The end of his life was also occupied by his second wife, Marina Vladi, a popular French actress of Russian descent." He
died in 1980 at the time of the Moscow Olympics. "The authorities did their best to constrain his popularity, but eventually erected a monument to him in Moscow, apparently contrary to his wishes. Whether the government did it well or clumsily, the point was made by an entire society as it mourned the death of their Shakespeare-with-a-guitar."
"Various theories trace the origins of bard
music to Soviet
prison camp songs, soldiers' ballads, prerevolutionary romances
and even the songs of the wandering minstrels of centuries
ago. Some bard songs even sound like American country
music, but by any measure, Russians are much more likely
than the average American to pick up a guitar and sing with
their friends, all of whom have
dozens, sometimes
hundreds of songs committed to memory. It's all part of the
seemingly infinite national capacity to recite verse."
Various Bards Pesni
Nashego Veka [Songs of Our Century]
"Songs of Our Century, a collection of bard classics performed by popular bards in chorus and with instrumentals, has topped Spice Girl knockoffs on the Russian pop charts and inspired knockoffs and pirated editions of its own. Helped by word of mouth, the first recording sold nearly 100,000 cassettes and CD's a month when it was released in early 1999, unheard of in Russia's struggling, payola-plagued pop music industry."
Alla Pugacheva
"Alla Pugacheva is the embodiment of success in the true Russian style. That is, success against all odds. And in that sense, Alla Pugacheva is the true Russian national legend in the full meaning of the word. Her album sales amount to about 200 million (!) copies. Her name has been given to an ocean liner in Finland, a brand of French perfume, a magazine (whose editor in chief is Alla herself) and a line of shoes (also designed by Alla) as well as many little girls all over Russia."
Sergey Kuryekhin Sparrow Oratorio
Sergey Kuryekhin (St. Petersburg) was greatly influenced by minimalist musicians like my favorite composer Philip Glass. Jazz, rock, classical, ambient -- Kuryekhin is comfortable with almost any kind of music. Ironic, gifted and mischievous, Kuryekhin was an immensely popular showman. His sudden, tragically premature death from a rare cause (heart cancer, I believe) elevated Kuryekhin to a cult status among many young art-minded Russians. (He was also a philosopher with interesting geopolitical concepts!) This could be the most cheerful and ingenious music on this list. The best time to listen to it: any time, especially on a sunny, cool and windy Saturday early afternoon, in an empty apartment with all the windows open.
Boris Grebenschikov and Aquarium Territory
"There is hardly a Russian in the world that hasn't heard of the legendary underground rock band Aquarium and its leader Boris Grebenshikov. During the 70s and 80s Aquarium created an entirely unique musical and social aesthetic. Influenced by a variety of music styles and cultures, the group's sound nevertheless remained recognizable - whether performing quiet love ballads, light dancing reggae or powerful rock-n-roll anthems. The 45-year-old singer-songwriter has released nearly 70 original albums over the course of his 26-year career." Territory (2000) is a compilation album designed not only for Russian listeners. This disk is eclectic and esoteric, as is usual for Aquarium. I personally prefer the simplicity and energy of Kino, the most popular rock-band of Russian teenagers of last generations.
Brat-2 Soundtrack
This soundtrack serves as a good overview of the current pop-rock music scene in Russia, with all its post-Soviet achievements and ideological constraints. Unlike during perestroika, however, the geography of Russian rock-music now is not limited to St. Petersburg, with the biggest stars coming from such distant areas as the Urals, Bashkortostan, the Far East, Ukraine and Moldova.
Messer fur Frau Muller Allo, Superman!
From Pulp Fiction to Pulp Music! Do you like all the trash music of the 60-90s -- Superman theme, TV soap operas music, computer game sounds, and the like? Influenced by Pizzicato Five and other modern pop-postmodernist artists, the two musicians from St. Petersburg have launched this project as an experimental revision of easy listening (lounge? chill-out?) music. Highly valued in Germany, these intelligent and ironic musicians have some following in Moscow and St. Petersburg too. They are very trendy artists these days.
Gogol Bordello
Nikolai Gogol, the band's namesake, was an ideological influence because he "smuggled" Russian culture into European literary society, which Gogol Bordello intends to do with their music in the English speaking world[3]." Gogol Bordello is a multi-ethnic Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of New York City that formed in 1999 and is known for its theatrical stage shows[1]. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music, as some of its members are immigrants from Eastern Europe. The band incorporates minor-key accordion and fiddle (and on some albums, saxophone) mixed with cabaret, punk, and dub as well as multiple languages. Phill Jupitus has described the band as "a bit like The Clash having a fight with The Pogues in Eastern Europe[1]," while Kenneth Partridge of The Hartford Courant described lead singer Eugene Hütz's voice as "somewhere between that of Borat and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog[2]."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogol_bordello
T.A.T.U. 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane
The controversial pop duo made history by becoming the first Russian act to top the British charts in Feb 2003 [and stay on top for 5 weeks]. It's not hard to see where the record company were headed with this - pretty young girls, dressed in school uniforms, kissing and groping each other at every opportunity. Britney Spears wore the same outfit for her debut single; why not spice it up a bit for the newcomers?
Luckily for t.A.T.u. they - along with bespectacled pop producer Trevor Horn - have managed to match the image with an equally attention-grabbing single. Big on the synth and bass and filled with repetitive but addictive hooks, 'All The Things She Said' suggests this Russian teen duo could have some longevity. Currently the biggest selling Eastern European group, t.A.T.u. might be something of a novelty act but, by the looks of it, they've got the record-buying public sussed.
Jodie Morris of http://www.dotmusic.com/reviews/Singles/January2003/reviews28033.asp