This is a rather glorious single pairing American DJ Earthtones with Ethiopian singer Etsegenet Mekonnen. From the release’s Bandcamp site: “Selam is a vision of peace. This collaboration between producer/DJ Earthtones and Ethiopian musician/vocalist Etsegenet Mekonnen features haunting vocals sung in Amharic. Analog & semi-modular synths combine with 909 drums Continue Reading
World Music
László Hortobágyi – Music from Fomal-Hoot al-Ganoubī 1994-2023 [Re-Mix Mastered Version Series Vol. 3]
![László Hortobágyi – Music from Fomal-Hoot al-Ganoubī 1994-2023 [Re-Mix Mastered Version Series Vol. 3]](https://musicyouneedtohear.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/a2505147816_16.jpg)
László Hortobágyi is perhaps the best known electronic/experimental music composer to ever come out of Hungary. Our dear brothers at áMARXE Records have released Music from Fomal-Hoot al-Ganoubī, a 1991 release, as a remastered edition. From the áMARXE Bandcamp site: “Fomal-hoot al-Ganoubī is a mythological Arabic constellation. It is the Continue Reading
Rüüt – Kiriküüt
Rüüt hail from Estonia and offer an incredible take on Estonian ethnic music, modernized for the 21st Century, taking in elements of jazz. The band describes their music this way: “The band is characterized by mystical atmosphere, intricate harmonic, melodic and rhythmic combinations, precision and a common feel. This is Continue Reading
Syriana – Hārim
Syriana are an interesting project released by Real World Records. Here’s the back story, courtesy of the label’s Bandcamp site: “In 2010 Syriana’s album The Road to Damascus presented a musical reflection by Nick Page & Bernard O’Neill of their take on the geopolitical landscape surrounding Syria at the time. Continue Reading
Hani from Yunnan China – Hani Polyphonic Singing in Yunnan China
From our friends at Sublime Frequencies: “Mystic choral beauty drifting far into the outer cosmos, this other worldly traditional music ensemble creates a contemporary-sounding avant-garde vocal fusion combined with strange instrumental accompaniment. The HANI are linguistically derived from the YI branch of the Tibeto-Burmese and number a million and a Continue Reading
Girma Yifrashewa – My Strong Will
Girma Yifrashewa is a graduate of the Yared School of Music in Addis Ababa, and continued his studies at the Sofia State Conservatory of Music in Bulgaria. This new work of his combines Ethiopian instrumentation with classical music, and it blends together quite well.
Auļi – Ķekatās
Six pipes, three drummers, a bassist and a massive wall of sound are what Latvian band Auļi offer, and this album shows the band collaborating with a score of modern musicians updating a powerful ethnic sound. According to the Bandcamp site, “this album is dedicated to the Latvian masquerade traditions Continue Reading
Abatwa (The Pygmy) – Why Did We Stop Growing Tall?
Glitterbeat Records is the label which should be thanked for publishing The Abatwa, a collection of Pygmy artists from Rwanda. Here are some notes by album producer Ian Brennan, courtesy of Forced Exposure: “The Abatwa (“pygmy”) tribe is identified as one of the most marginalized, voiceless and endangered populations in Continue Reading
Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin – Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin
Simply gorgeous and resonating music here, courtesy from a French-Conoglese project called Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin. The project is described as “…a unique encounter between Bantu lullabies from the Congo, electronic music and hip-hop.”
Jack Mayesh – You Carry My Hope: Judeo-Spanish Songs in Los Angeles, Sept. 1942 – Feb. 1943
Canary Records is at it again. As a Los Angelino, I have to say I didn’t know there was much of a Judeo-Spanish community here, though it does make sense, as many Spanish and Mexican families may very well have Sephardic roots hidden from the Catholic majority. The recordings are Continue Reading