It’s not exactly Christmas music (today is when our Armenian brothers in the faith celebrate theirs, and we celebrate ours tomorrow), but any opportunity to hear the music of the excellent Armenian-American pianist Tigran Hamasyan is a happy event. May you all enjoy your holy day!
Russian World Music Chart 2024 (Redacted)
We have an update from the Russian World Music Chart. Read below: Russian World Music Chart 2024 Making Russian folk music visible for the world In October 2021, Russia’s first world music chart, the Russian World Music Chart (RWMC), was launched. The purpose of RWMC is to attract the attention Continue Reading
Selen Gülün – Years
On this tenth album by Turkish pianist (and frequent visitor to Japan) Selen Gülün, she remains in fine form. She’s no stranger to our blog, and it’s been far too long since we had the pleasure of hearing modern jazz done right. From her Bandcamp site: “Selen Gülün’s tenth album, Continue Reading
Remembering China’s ‘Godfather of Jazz’
Read the original article by Cai Yiwen from Sixth Tone here. I occasionally run into some great articles on Chinese social media, mainly WeChat. If you aren’t afraid of being allegedly ‘bugged’ by the Chinese government (and you shouldn’t be, since the CIA go through your calls if you use Continue Reading
Luneta Freedom Jazz Collective – Mga matang pumipikit sa langit
Welcome to 2025! Our first release is from the brilliant Bulgarian experimental music label Mahorka, and their latest offering is phenomenal. The Luneta Freedom Jazz Collective are from Manila, Philippines, and this is a strangely elegant release. My favorite track of the album, Ang itak ng kamalayan – Isang Ritual, Continue Reading
So Ends 2024. Bring on 2025!
We wish all readers of Music You Need To Hear a happy and prosperous 2025. 2024 was, in some ways, a fine year but it was marked with some grave tragedies for us, especially with the loss of co-founder Steven Shore. We will continue to soldier on with the blog, Continue Reading
Barre Phillips – Ahoy!
The world of improvisational music lost one of its biggest icons a couple of days ago. Barre Phillips, a bassist known for his being adaptable to any style, passed away on December 28. He worked with legends like Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, Archie Shepp, Peter Brötzmann (whom we also lost Continue Reading
Nick Sudnick – Opera of the Sixth Hour
Zga bandleader Nick Sudnick has been busy composing his Opera of the Hours series, and this installation might be his most creative yet. It has the passion of Rock-In-Opposition with a touch of Frank Zappa’s general weirdness. This is in keeping with what I remember of the old Soviet avant-garde Continue Reading
Peter Sinfield – Eulogy by Andrew Keeling
Many thanks to Mariana Scaravilli at Discipline Global Mobile for sharing this eulogy for the English poet Peter Sinfield. Why a poet on these pages, when I could have put this at my other website? Because Peter’s work was intimately tied to progressive rock and beyond. Not only did he Continue Reading
Various Artists – Glitterbeat Records: Taa! Our Language May Be Dying, But Our Voices Remain
From Glitterbeat Records’ Bandcamp site: “Volume #11 of our acclaimed Hidden Musics series. The Taa language in Botswana possesses 112 sounds, the most of any language in the world. In contrast, English has approximately 44 sounds, Italian 32. But there are only around 2,500 Taa speakers remaining and the language Continue Reading