The Country, Folk & World Recommendation Thread

[Safar]

Winner of the Music Crossroads InterRegional Festival (IRF) in Lilongwe, Malawi in August 2008, MOKOOMBA brings audiences an electrifying blend of Afro-fusion and tantalizing traditional Tonga rhythms. The name MOKOOMBA stems from the deep respect that the Tonga people have for the Zambezi River and for the vibrant life that it brings to their music and culture.

Mokoomba - Makisi (Zimbabwe)

Spoiler for Mokoomba - Munaye:

Freshlyground are known for their fusion of different music genres, including African, pop, and jazz. Their music is characterised by vibrant rhythms, melodic vocals, and socially conscious lyrics.

Freshlyground - Nomvula (After the Rain) (South Africa)

Bhekumuzi Luthuli (13 July 1961 - 7 April 2010) was a well known South African Maskandi musician. Born in Kwa-Maphumulo, near the Kwa-Zulu Natal town of Stanger, he started making traditional Zulu music on a home-made guitar.

Bhekumuzi Luthuli - Bengikwethemba (South Africa)

[Safar]

Ahmet Aslan (born 1971 in Hozat, Tunceli/Dersim) is a Turkish musician of Zaza descent. He performs classical songs in Turkish, Zazaki and Kurdish.
Between 1993 and 1996, he studied at the Istanbul Technical University Conservatory. He has been living in Germany since 1996.
By combining classic guitar and bağlama, Aslan created an instrument which he named Di-Tar.

Ahmet Aslan - Susarak özlüyorum[I only miss you in silence] (Türkiye)

The Naghash Ensemble combines the spirituality of ancient Armenian music with new classical music, post-minimalism and the energy of rock and jazz. Three brilliant singers and virtuoso instrumentalists on duduk, oud, dhol and grand piano play new music based on the texts of the medieval poet and priest Mkrtich Naghash.

The Naghash Ensemble - Agahootyan (Armenia)

The Longest Johns are a British folk musical group from Bristol, England, consisting of Andy Yates, Jonathan "JD" Darley, and Robbie Sattin. They are known for performing folk music and sea shanties in the English tradition, and they also compose and record their own music.
....We had originally hoped for 100 entries for this project... When we received almost 500, we had to rethink our plans!..[

The Longest Johns - Leave her Johnny (GB)

[Safar]

Talisk — Not the folk band you were expecting, but the one you need.
Warning — If you see the concertina, fiddle and guitar that constitutes the instrumental setup of Glasgow’s Talisk and assume it’s going to be what you picture in your head, it’s not.
...incredibly infectious and endearing… fresh, invigorating, accomplished and playfully frisky.

Talisk - Storm (Scotland)

John McLaughlin (guitar), Jean-Luc Ponty (violin) and Zakir Hussain (tabla) perform McLaughlin's renowned composition "Lotus Feet" as part of the International Jazz Day All-Star Global Concert at the Hagia Irene in Istanbul, Turkey. Filmed on April 30, 2013.

John McLaughlin, Jean-Luc Ponty, Zakir Hussain - Lotus Feet (England, France, India)

Steve Reich, actually Stephen Michael Reich, (* October 3, 1936 in New York City, New York) is an American composer, pianist and percussionist who is best known in the field of minimal music and is considered one of its pioneers, although he distanced himself from the pure minimalist style in later works. His inspirations come from original African drum music or Balinese gamelan music, as an expression of non-Western folk music, as well as electronic techniques or phasing, music from the Baroque, Renaissance or the Middle Ages, through to psychedelic rock, jazz and composers of the 20th century...

Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians (USA)

[Safar]

Dawn and Margie Beaton, who come from a long line of Celtic musicians, started their musical careers at the age of four, learning step dance from their grandmother.
Coming from a family of fiddlers, dancers, and singers, learning stepdancing and the violin at a young age was a logical development. It's a continuation of that significant culture into vibrant tunes and arrangements as the Beaton Sisters' Band!

The Beaton Sisters - live @ ECMA 2010 / Celtic Colours Festival Club Stage (Cape Breton Island, Canada)

Swag Surfin’ belongs to a subgenre of hip-hop called futuristic swag, an alloy of trap and snap music that also includes elements of rock ...Swag Surfin’ is hip-hop’s plucky locomotive, a single that just picks up steam each year.

F.L.Y. (Fast Life Yungstaz) - Swag Surfin' ft. Easton (USA)

[Safar]

Martin Hayes’ fiddle playing style is characterised by his unique laid back approach to the music. While he’s fully capable of playing tunes at a rip roaring pace (and occasionally does), more often than not, he chooses to drastically slow the tempo of the tunes he plays.

Martin Hayes - Paddy Fahy's Jig/Sean Ryan's Jig (Ireland)

[Safar]

It takes a lifetime of playing to sound as effortless as these guys...
The superstar trio of Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle put a couple of Scottish piper Fred Morrison’s tunes together during the Saturday Night at the Savoy concert in Glace Bay on October 7, 2017. ( live at Celtic Colours.)

Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker & John Doyle - Leaving Uist / Lochaber Badger (England, Scotland, Ireland)

The legendary Carlos Santana, Cindy Blackman Santana, Becky G, Tito Puente, Jr., Tal Wilkenfeld, Rubén Rada, along with 20 other musicians from around the globe, join together for this energetic, classic, feel-good groove.
"Music is the mystical medicine that heals the listener from the infection of fear, the infection of separation, the infection of thinking you’re not worthy." —Carlos Santana

Oye Como Va ft. Carlos Santana & Cindy Blackman Santana | Playing For Change | Song Around The World (USA/Around the Globe)

[Stephen]

Leenalchi: Bandcamp

[Safar]

Thanks for the "archaic" sound in a contemporary gown, Stephen.

Leenalchi shows us just how experimental and avant-garde the K-pop scene can be. The band from Seoul has dedicated itself to reinterpreting the Korean storytelling genre "Pansori", which is characterised by a special style of performance with vocals and percussion. The band sings verses from traditional Korean fairy tales and draws musical inspiration from alt-rock and eighties new wave. By breaking down and rearranging traditional elements, they create music that is future-orientated but at the same time strongly anchored in tradition.
The band has a unique lineup, with two female and one male traditional Korean singers, two bassists and a drummer. The traditional singers are graduates of Seoul National University's traditional music department.

Spoiler for Leenalchi - A Tiger is coming down:

Creating some of the most innovative sounds in East Asia’s underground scene, Jambinai are an award-winning post-rock/world music hybrid act that was formed in Seoul, South Korea in 2009 by guitarist and piri (oboe) player Ilwoo Lee, haegum (a fiddle-like instrument) player Bomi Kim, and geomungo (zither) player Eun Young Sim.
Ilwoo, Bomi, and Eun Young became acquainted while studying at the Korea National University of Arts. After graduating, they ran into each other after a mutual friend’s concert. They began chatting about Korean traditional music and how they felt it needed to find a new way to present itself. That chance encounter led to the birth of Jambinai.

JAMBINAI잠비나이 - ONDA온다 (South Korea)

Spoiler for JAMBINAI 잠비나이 - THEY KEEP SILENCE 그들은 말이 없다:

[Safar]

Epirus (/ɪˈpaɪrəs/) is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. The largest city in Epirus is Ioannina, seat of the Greek region of Epirus, with Gjirokastër the largest city in the Albanian part of Epirus. A rugged and mountainous region, Epirus was the north-west area of ancient Greece...

Antonis Kiritsis - Konstantinopel (Αντώνης Κυρίτσης - Κωνσταντίνα) (Greece)

Spoiler for Antonis Kiritsis - Where We Were Born (Αντώνης Κυρίτσης - Εκεί Που Γεννη:

Glykeria - Stis Pargas ton Aniforo (Greece)

[Safar]

Petroloukas Halkias is a living legend of the clarinet and one of the most important representatives of Greek traditional music at the present time. He was born in the village Delvinaki in Pogoni, Epirus where he began learning music from a young age next to the maestros of the Epirotic clarinet; Phillipas Rountas and Kitsos Harisiadis.

Petroloukas Halkias (Epirus/Greece)



Τι να σου κάνω Χάιδω μου (Epirus/Greece)

A gentleman from the southern United States discovers folk music in rural Greece that is full of purpose--the music here is meant to heal those who hear it, participate in it.

Spoiler for The Healing Music of Epirus | Christopher C. King: