After a best mate of mine introduced me to Fela Kuti’s works I’ve been real interested in hearing music from other cultures you don’t hear much stuff from. Doesn’t have to be traditional music styles (love it when genres and cultures fuse together, like Masayoshi Takanaka taking influence from Brazilian music), but I’d love to hear that as well!
Ariesta Birawa Group
The Mongolian metal band The Hu fuse tradition instruments with metal styling and a badass attitude that Genghis would approve of
Also their name is great.
If you like The Hu check out Uuhai and Batzorig Vaanchig.
The Hu at this point might be more famous than the country they’re from (which to be fair, isn’t THAT obscure, but how often DO you think of Mongolia?)
And they will finally play their homeland for the first time since making it!
Ah yes the band that gave me tinnitus. Wonderful to see live just make sure you have earplugs and not get stuck by the crowd next to the speakers with two beers and a deaf sound engineer.
Loop Experience ones are good. Otherwise, tissue.
Thinking of Asian metal related music reminded me of Senyawa who are from Indonesia
Great band, on the more experimental side of things
They are very famous but it seems their country is rarely thought or discussed.
The Hu from Mongolia are great. A combination of traditional Mongol folk music, modern metal and famous for their Mongolian style gutteral singing.
Brazil isn’t an obscure country, but there’s an indigenous band called Uakti that builds their own instruments. It’s some of the most unusual music I’ve heard. They also have some classical albums, and one by Phillip Glass that I like to listen to when I’m coming down from a trip.
I’m a big fan of Tinariwen who are from Mali
Also: Toe from Japan
Also also: yin yin from the Netherlands
And in a similar vein: l’eclair from Switzerland
Also tbh, if you want a great selection of eclectic artists from all over the world, look up a playlist of artists playing on the West Holts stage of Glastonbury for any given year—when I’m at the festival it’s always my go to stage if I’m feeling like trying something new and it’s rarely disappointed me
I came here to suggest Bombino, who is Nigerien but part of the same Tuareg desert blues genre. That stuff is excellent
Toe are lovely, I’ve been listening to their live album (currently in Japan too).
There’s an awesome Afrobeat collection called Nigeria: The Definitive Story of 1970’s Funky Lagos. I don’t know if it’s streaming but it’s a good next step.
This is a way more chill recommendation but I love Mayra Andrade from Cape Verde for music to relax to.
I’ll need to check that out, sounds good. In return, I’ll recommend the Beginner’s Guide to African Funk, a 3 CD set full of absolute gems.
O-Zone (of “Numa Numa” fame) is from Moldova; that’s pretty obscure, right?
Ylvis (“What Does the Fox Say?”) is Norwegian.
“Epic Sax Guy” is… also Moldovan, apparently. Huh.
That’s a list of Eurovision hits right there.
Moldova had a good run for a few years. Don’t think they’ve made the finals over the last few though.
O-Zone
I curse you just for mentioning them. I freaking hate that song.
Al-Namrood (Metal, Saudi-Arabia)
Mdou Mactar (Desert Blues)
Leliță Săftiță (Aromanian folk song)
Hrdza (Folk Rock, Slovakia)
Kamo Mphela (Amapiano, South Africa)
Alien Weaponry, New Zealand metal band comes first to mind. Lots of Maori influence, all three members have Maori ancestry.
From the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic: Týr - Regin Smiður
May be Maximum the Hormone. They’re probably pretty big in Japan though.
Kenya: Just a Band. Funky, rocky at times, just great music.
Iran: not a band, but a movie representation of the scene. No One Knows About Persian Cats. I have a personal connection to this movie; if you watch it, let me know and I’ll fill you in (not publicly though, you’ll understand why).
Cambodia: Reign in Slumber. Metal. Changed singers (new one is from the Philippines), still great.
Vietnam: Cut Lon. Metal. Used to dress in hilarious Pikachu balaclavas. Fun, loud, entertaining.
Belarus: Molchat Doma. Gloomy. Oppressive. Wonderful. Makes me think of the Soviet Union in the 70s (not that I was there or alive then).
Really digging Reign in Slumber. Thanks for the recommendation.
On the topic of Asian metal, Voice of Baceprot just played the Glastonbury festival, which is pretty awesome. All-female Indonesian band.
Also, the dude who works at the gas station down the street introduced me to Minerva, a Bangladeshi metal band.
Sweet! Also check Doch Chkae (like a dog), also Khmer metal (and all Cambodians).
Baceprot, listened to them a few months back and, while nice they’re getting coverage, it didn’t grab me. Hoping they mature well in the coming year!
Oh, and check After God also (Khmer). Drummer turned singer, just released an EP (YouTube I think).
Alan Stivell does some incredible fusion of rock and Celtic folk. i usually avoid the term “Celtic” for music because some people find it dismissive to lump multiple musical traditions together like that, but he very deliberately draws from most (all?) of the musical traditions that would fall under that umbrella. i highly recommend the E Dulenn and Á L’Olympia live albums
Traditional Argentinian music: Soledad or Los Chalchaleros
Traditional Brazilian music: Chico Buarque or Caetano Veloso
Traditional Brazilian music from the northeast: Luiz Gonzaga
Argentinian Rock from the 60/70: Sui Generis or Pedro y Pablo
Brazilian Rock from the 60/70: Cazuza or Raul Seixas
Argentinian contemporary music: Bersuit Vergarabat
Contemporary Brazilian Rock (there are tons of metal bands from Brazil, like Angra, Sepultura, Shaman, etc, but I want to point out one in specific): Matanza (although I would describe them more as a hardcore us country style than rock, they sing mostly in Portuguese so it has a very unique style)
Comedy music is a great view into a society, so as a bonus:
Argentinian homemade instrument band: Les Luthiers (this one is a YouTube link because realistically you want to see these guys, not just hear them)
Brazilian Metal joke band: Massacration
If you’re into metal, here are a few bands renowned for mixing cultural music with heavy metal off the top of my head:
Norway - Ulver (They have possibly the most varied discography in all of music, but their first album is a mix of black metal and Norwegian folk music, and their second is entirely Norwegian folk music)
Brazil - Sepultura (From Arise to Roots they started incorporating a lot of Brazilian musical ideas)
Romania - Negura Bunget (They’re the only reason I know what a nai is)
