World music is a genre that I’ve not really dabbled in too much, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to explore for a while. This month, I’ve decided to venture deeper into the genre, aiming to discover new artists and educate myself more about them. Hopefully our readers will enjoy these tracks too!
Review by Jane Howkins
Picture by Xenai
Xenai – Ugly
Starting off this list is Xenai, an artist, producer, rapper, singer-songwriter & multi-instrumentalist creating experimental hip-hop tunes. The percussion on Ugly sounds really unique, running alongside the track besides an eerie motif that repeats every so often. Xenai raps along to the track, giving a fantastic vocal delivery with some enlightening lyrics. It all makes for a very interesting listen overall!
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TerraTara – A Love, Tantalize
A Love, Tantalize has quite an Eastern European sound to it, despite TerraTara being a dual citizen of Canada & the USA. The slow rhythm works well with the eerie vibes created by the ukulele and bass as they mix in tandem, sounding almost like a reggae tune at times. The vocals have a soulful quality, sounding strong yet measured, showing a vocalist who is highly trained and well versed in her art!
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Ittai Binnun – Me & Julio
Me & Julio is a cover of the Paul Simon classic, reimagined by Israeli musician Ittai Binnun. Whilst the song has a similar sound to the original, it’s still very different on this reimagination, with tribal style drumming and what sounds like a sitar taking pride of place on this song, alongside Ittai’s vocals and the brass instrumentation that appears later on. It’s great to hear an artist doing something so different and this cover version truly deserves to be listened to!
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Rylai – Issues (Can You Let Go Of Me?)
Rylai is based in South Korea, an area we admittedly don’t often get to hear music from! Issues (Can You Let Go Of Me?) is a pop song with a hip-hop style beat, although the backing effects and vocals sound rather unique for the style of song, giving the music an ethereal quality. Rylai has a beautiful voice, reaching some huge heights at times, showing just what a fantastic range his vocals have!
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Polifame – Friendship Reggae
Polifame is a project created in Austria, containing a wide variety of genres. Whilst Friendship Reggae does have elements of pop, jazz, reggae and funk, it also has a smooth quality, due in part to the soft and echoed vocal style. The bass is played in little rhythmic interludes, alongside occasional piano chords, as the percussion pulls the song along. The breakdown towards the end creates a nice dynamic change, making it all sound very dreamy.
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Wrash Heed – Cry
Cry is a hip-hop song with a difference, also having moments of the Latin & afrobeat genres contained within it. Wrash Heed’s vocals contain a lot of autotune, but it actually works really well here, as the vocal effects give the music more of a textural quality. The percussion is a little at odds with the slower nature of the rest of the music, but it keeps it interesting and keeps the song driving forward, so it’s definitely warranted. The way the vocals are used on the chorus sounds amazing too!
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DEANO – Detroit Gangsta
The first thing that struck me about Detroit Gangsta was how busy the percussion was on the song, although this isn’t a bad thing at all! Latin style guitar melodies and a Mexican sounding brass section provide the backbone to the piece, alongside some female singing and male rapping – the dual vocals make it sound really unique. I love how DEANO have managed to mix more traditional musical elements with modern hip-hop/rap!
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Hele – Air Between Us
Hele is a solo project created by ambient string artist and composer Richele Kuhlmann, with Air Between Us being her latest pretty piece of music to be released. It’s a really beautiful song with some fantastic instrumentation – a violin melody weaves its way in and out of the music, with a luscious selection of backing sounds and percussion also playing throughout the track. This is one that you’ll need to listen to several times over to fully appreciate everything!
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La Palma – Sanque Latino
La Palma is a band from Washington D.C. with a distinctly Latin flavour to their music, despite their American surroundings. You probably guessed that from the title of the song, Sanque Latino, which features a cool percussive sound alongside Latin-esque vocals and what seems like a Hawaiian influence at times, making for one of the more distinctive tracks on this list. The vocals are fairly monotone, but they suit the rest of the music surprisingly well!
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