Around the World in Ten Songs: Part 2

July 13, 2023 Album of the Month — Save the Date!

Jun 16, 2025

(Playlists and instructions for joining the discussion are at the end of this article.)

(Every month or so, over at The Riff, we host a discussion for music lovers. We do it over Zoom, and usually the focus is one album, picked by one of the participants. It’s a great chance to learn about new music, and for the host, a great chance to get the word out about a musical artist they think deserves more attention.

This July 13, we are changing things up a little. I have put together a “virtual album” of songs by artists from around the world—artists who in some cases are huge stars in their home countries, but barely known in the anglophone market. In other cases, they may be just emerging in their home markets. In either case, most of these artists are likely to be new for you.

Some of what follows is taken from previous articles I posted, including the intro to the first in this series. If you have read my earlier writings on the topic of barriers to entry for foreign artists, feel free to skip down to the section entitled “The Album”.)

The U.S. and U.K. function roughly as one music market, distinct from the rest of the world. We are the largest music market by dollars spent. Due to our influence, we have gotten used to the idea that we set the trends for the rest of the world. Plenty of us believe, without really questioning it, that our music, movies and pop culture are the only thing out there.

Nothing captures this obliviousness better than the behavior of the Grammy committees:

The Grammys Should Eliminate the “Global” Categories

Charles in San Francisco

March 30, 2023

Read full story

But we are just over 4% of the world’s population, 6% if we include the other anglophone countries; and collectively we make around 6% of the world’s music. Interestingly, the reason we are largely unaware of the other 94% is not just cultural chauvinism. It is also a result of official policy, at least here in the U.S.

Put simply, the U.S. movie, music (and sports) industries are protected monopolies. We actually have laws and regulations which protect these industries from foreign competition.

I wrote about this some time back, in case you want to know more:

Are You a Foreign Artist? You Are Officially Not Wanted Here.

Charles in San Francisco

April 4, 2023

Read full story

How the IRS Sticks It to Foreign Artists

Charles in San Francisco

April 12, 2023

Read full story

Fortunately, we now have ways to work around this. YouTube is the #1 way.

Does YouTube have issues? Certainly. But I am grateful it exists, because without it I would not know about most of the music I listen to today. The streaming services don’t work if you want to search for new stuff, because by their nature they are designed to feed you more of what you already know.

The Album

This month’s Album of the Month is a “virtual album” consisting of ten songs I think deserve to be heard. I have previously written about some of these artists, but unless you have been religiously reading my column, I’ll assume you haven’t seen most of those articles.

That doesn’t mean you haven’t heard of the artists. If you listen to music from all over the place, you may have run into some of them. And a couple of them did break out into the U.S. market.

This is the second time we have done this sort of “virtual album”. The first list was published in July, 2024 for the August 2024 Album of the Month session.

Save the Date! For The Riff’s Upcoming “Album” of the Month Discussion We’re Going On A World Tour.

Charles in San Francisco

July 13, 2024

Read full story

Ten was the number of songs the group agreed on last time, and it seemed to work. So I’ll stick with that.

There are songs here that are “western” in form and use of scales, and there is stuff based on completely different scales, rhythms and time signatures. Some of the vocalists do things you would rarely hear a western singer attempt.

What these all have in common is that they move me, in one way or another — because of the message, or the songwriting, or the way they sound, or all of the above. Most of these artists are on my regular playlists. It is my hope that you will find a few things here that scratch an itch you didn’t know you had.

They are listed in alphabetical order by the name of the artist, not my order of preference (I don’t like rank-listing songs anyway!)

In addition to the individual links to each song, I have provided both YouTube and Spotify playlists. Those are at the end of the article, along with the instructions for joining the discussion. I personally recommend the videos, because for a first exposure, the visuals give a lot of context about the artist that you might not get otherwise.

I’ve also provided links to the lyrics for most of these, whether or not they are performed in English. Some of them have embedded English lyrics.

OK, here goes!

Alien Weaponry (New Zealand): “Kai Tangata”

Alien Weaponry are a folk metal band from Auckland, New Zealand, formed in 2010 by two mixed-race (Dutch, Maori) brothers who were 8 and 10 years old at the time. The band consists of drummer Henry de Jong, guitarist Lewis de Jong and, since August 2020, bass player Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds, who replaced the original bassist. About half of their songs are written and performed in Maori.

Their style combines elements of mainstream heavy metal and nu-metal with Māori chants and drum beats. They sing about cultural conflict, the history of the colonial period, and present day generational misunderstandings, among other things.

They have already done a world tour including the U.S. and Europe, and played some of the largest metal festivals in the world while the younger brother was still a teenager.

This is their most famous music video: “Kai Tangata.” The song is about the arrival of Western firearms in New Zealand, and the ensuing havoc.

Lyrics:

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/kai-tangata-kai-tangata.html

Amr Diab (Egypt): “Tamally Ma’ak”

Amr Diab is sometimes called the “Arab Sinatra” or the “Egyptian Elvis”. He is a huge star throughout the Arabic-speaking world — and may be the biggest selling middle eastern recording artist of all time. He has released 35 albums to date and recorded songs for a lot of movie and TV scores.

Diab’s music is unapologetically sentimental, but he is a technically rigorous vocalist. He writes songs that blend middle-eastern and western scales, rhythms and song structures. He has a warm, romantic tone ideally suited to ballads. The result is something easily accessible to both audiences, as you will hear.

The most “middle eastern” aspect of his sound is his use of melisma — the rapid shifting of notes in a single phrase that is rarely used in Western singing. (It is different from yodeling, which involves flipping rapidly between head and chest voice.)

“Tamally Ma’ak” is one of Diab’s biggest crossover hits. Released in 1999, it became popular in the European club scene and is frequently included in various “world music” compilations. The title means “Always With You”.

Lyrics:

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/tamally-maak-always-you.html

Anna von Hausswolff (Sweden): “Funeral for my Future Children”

Von Hausswolff was born and raised in Sweden, daughter of a prominent radical performance artist who once simulated being burned alive in a bathtub. She is petite, blonde, cheerful--and obsessed with darkness. Something about parental influences?

She studied architecture in college, but apparently found the acoustics of churches more interesting than their physical splendor. She released her first album, “Singing from the Grave” (of course) in 2010, and has released four more studio albums and a live album since then.

Von Hausswolff composes a kind of atmospheric doom pop, and performs it on pipe organs. Yes, actual church organs the size of small houses. In actual churches.

Her work has been described as gothic, apocalyptic, post-shoe-gaze, magical, ethereal, sludge, death metal, and lots of other things. Her song titles include “Ugly and Vengeful” and “Funeral for my Future Children”. You get the picture.

Some of her early performances were in Catholic churches, before the Church freaked out and banned her. So, what did she do to provoke such spasms of intolerance? If you ask me, nothing. But since then, all of her gigs have been in Protestant churches or in regular concert venues.

With her bright, clear soprano soaring over all the gloom and doom, she often gets compared to Kate Bush and Yma Sumac. Except when she shrieks. Then she sounds like a tormented soul. Maybe that’s why the clerics have their cassocks in a twist.

Lyrics:

https://genius.com/Anna-von-hausswolff-funeral-for-my-future-children-lyrics

If you know someone you think would be interested, please share!

Aurora (Norway): “The Seed”

Aurora grew up in Western Norway, in a small town on a fjord surrounded by trees and rivers. She found an old piano in her parents’ attic and taught herself to play some of the songs she had heard on the radio.

Her influences include Leonard Cohen and Enya. She began composing songs when she was nine, without any intention of performing them for the public. She imagined herself as a dancer or perhaps a doctor.

After one of her songs was performed at a school event, someone posted a video of it without her permission, leading to her being contacted by a major music label. She does not affect any cute hypocrisy — she is quite happy that millions hear her music. She has dedicated herself to getting the message out that we must save our planet. But she is most comfortable with isolation and quiet, and long walks in the forest.

This song is based on a Native American proverb about greed and what it is costing us.

(Lyrics in English)

Bloodywood (India) “Ari Ari”

I stumbled across Bloodywood in 2019, when their song “Machi Bhasad” went viral. Part of me wondered if it was parody — the video alternated between playing it straight and playing it for laughs. I dug a little and found out that in fact the band had started off as two guys making metal parodies of Bollywood songs.

But “Machi Bhasad” was too polished a production to be a mere gag. Turns out I had caught them just as they were transitioning into a serious band, fueled by their viral success, which still shocks even them. They went from being two pranksters trolling India’s movie industry, to touring the world and playing big rock festivals in Europe and the U.S.

With that success has some a sense of responsibility. A lot of their songs now have a social commentary angle. They have linked themselves to various charities that work to relieve some of the ongoing poverty-related suffering in India.

This song is actually a cover of an Indian folk song. They reworked the lyrics to focus on the value of unity across religious, ethnic and cultural differences. It is particularly cogent in a time when the Indian Prime Minister is deliberately stoking racial and religious hatred — sound weirdly familiar?

The mix has western rock instrumentation up front, with Indian instruments providing a constant chiming, droning backdrop and occasional drum fills. It was recorded when the band still consisted of the two founders, working with a variety of guests. Raoul Kerr, the guest singer/rapper in this video, would join the band full time shortly after.

Lyrics:

https://genius.com/Bloodywood-ari-ari-lyrics

Bridear (Japan): “Brave New World Revisited”

Founded in 2011, Bridear are one of the mainstays of the second wave of all-female metal bands in Japan. They have undergone a few lineup changes, and experimented with various styles, dabbling in progressive and pop. They always come back to their metal roots.

They have the quintessential twin leads and technical rhythm section. This song features their second lineup:

Kimi — vocals
Haru — bass, growls/metal vocals
Misaki — Guitar, audience left
Ayumi — Guitar, audience right
Natsumi — Drums

I saw them live at a festival in London just after this lineup came together, and while they weren’t the headliner, they stole the show.

In “Brave New World Revisited” I think they’ve got a bona fide progressive rock masterpiece. It has multiple chapters and gorgeous composition. The song was written during the pandemic, and is an exhortation to rise above the fear of death and isolation.

This performance is not only a tour-de-force for the band, but for each of the five members. I’m especially in awe of Ayumi (guitar stage left, plus acoustic guitars) and Natsumi (drums).

This performance is not only a tour-de-force for the band, but for each of the five members. I’m particularly impressed with the work of Ayumi (guitar stage left, plus acoustic guitars) and Natsumi (drums).

Lyrics:

https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/25170395/158785799

(Sung in English, with subtitles available)

Heilung (Norway, Denmark, Germany): “Krigsgaldr” (“War Chant”)

The members of Heilung hail from Germany, Norway and Denmark. They are:

Kai Uwe Faust – vocals (2014–present)
Christopher Juul – music, production (2014–present)
Maria Franz – vocals (2015–present)

They record and tour with large ensembles of supporting musicians.

Their concept is to re-create bronze-age music as it might have sounded, based on evidence from archaeological digs and bits of pre-Christian musical tradition still found in parts of Europe. They play bones, animal-hide drums, gongs, horns (yes, that’s a rams’ horn), and modern instruments. They sing in Proto-Germanic and Proto-Norse (languages reconstructed by linguistics experts from modern languages, as well as in Old Norse, German, and English.

A lot of their songs are about our ties to nature and the world we live in. We know that most pre-industrial societies worshipped nature and the universe in one way or another. Many cultures today still have a personal relationship with the natural world. Some Westerners laugh at that sort of thing, calling it “primitive”, but it looks like the joke may be on us.

This song is an invocation meant to protect a village from imminent invasion by a hostile tribe.

Lyrics:

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/krigsgaldr-war-chant.html

Jinjer (Ukraine) (“Vortex”)

Jinjer are one of my favorite currently active bands, probably in my top five. They are a Ukrainian group formed in 2008. Their instrumental foundation is a simple power-trio format (drums, bass, guitar), but they bring a rare level of musicianship, something akin to mid-1970’s King Crimson.

Personnel:
Tatiana Shmayluk (Vocals)
Roman Ibramkhalilov (Guitar)
Eugene Abdukhanov (Bass)
Vladislav Ulasevich (Drums)

They play a dense tapestry of bass and guitar leads over jazz-infused drumming. Their vocal lines are hard to describe, you just have to witness them. Their blend of rock, jazz, metal and classical elements defies any concept of genre.

The core group (vocals, guitar, bass) have been stable since shortly after they formed (there was a male vocalist for a short time before Tatiana joined). They have had five drummers, and the impressive thing is that all of them were adept at playing this sort of complex and unpredictable music. Ulasevich is, in my estimation, one of the best rock drummers working today.

“Vortex” is one of their more recent videos, released just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It’s a bit eerie how prescient it feels now. The band were in the middle of an international tour when Russia attacked, and immediately cancelled the rest of the tour to go back and do volunteer work to support the Ukrainian troops.

They are once again touring. President Zelenksy is said personally to have urged them to head back out as cultural ambassadors — certainly a better use of their talents.

Lyrics:

https://genius.com/Jinjer-vortex-lyrics

Oum (Morocco): “Taragalte”

This artist was suggested to me by a Moroccan friend and colleague. Turned out to be a great recommendation. I am hoping to see her live on my next trip there.

Oum El Ghaït Benessahraoui grew up in Marrakech, surrounded by both Moroccan and Western music. Ironically, she began her performing career largely focusing on Western pop, gospel and soul, even venturing into hip-hop.

However, after a stint in Paris in her early 20’s, she returned to Morocco and rediscovered local and traditional music. She is now one of Morocco’s biggest recording artists, and also tours internationally.

She developed a style and repertoire that combines genres and cultures. I’ve heard only a small part of her catalogue, but so far no two songs sound the same. The big attraction is her powerful, agile voice, which leaps up and down octaves with seeming ease.

This song is a mesmerizing mix of Arabic and Western meters and polyrhythms — trying to count measures is above my pay grade.

Lyrics (partially in English):

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/taragalte-taragalte.html

Meesha Shafi (Pakistan): “Dasht-e-Tanhai”

Meesha Shafi has had an eclectic career, as a singer, actress, model and reality-show judge. She made several appearances on Coke Studios Pakistan, at one point having the single most viewed performance in the show’s history.

(Coke Studios is an ongoing, highly successful music project that operates in several countries including Brazil, Pakistan and India. It is sponsored by Coca-Cola with local partners in each country. It mainly features emerging artists, often in cross-cultural collaborations.)

The song featured here is a ghazal (an ancient poetry form) which has been set to music. From the Poetry Foundation website:

Originally an Arabic verse form dealing with loss and romantic love… Consisting of syntactically and grammatically complete couplets, the form also has an intricate rhyme scheme. Each couplet ends on the same word or phrase (the radif), and is preceded by the couplet’s rhyming word (the qafia, which appears twice in the first couplet)…In the Persian tradition, each couplet was of the same meter and length, and the subject matter included both erotic longing and religious belief or mysticism.

Shafi shifts fluidly between minor and augmented scales, while the orchestra shift between minor and major. She sings the first two verses essentially a capella, creating a dark, almost bereft sensation. Then the band come in, and the feeling gradually changes to one of celebration.

The song is unabashedly erotic. Performing something like this can get you killed in Pakistan — it happened to another participant in the series.

The video includes subtitled lyrics, but it’s also worth listening to without them. It may be the most beautiful thing on this list. I think it’s the perfect way to end.