discussion
Two of the obvious contenders should be Sweden (ABBA, Europe, Roxette, Meshuggah, Alcazar, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Peter Bjorn & John, etc.) and Germany (Scorpions, Alphaville, Rammstein, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Kraftwerk, Nena, etc.).
But what about other countries?
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I don’t think any are better than the other necessarily, but some of my favourite non-english speaking music include:
Korean ballads from the 1980-2000’s, with a special shout out to SG Wannabe’s “살다가”, 백지영’s “사랑안해” and most of 김광석, 이문세 and 이선희’s entire discography.
Arabic funk and soul from the 1960-1980’s, specifically those distributed under the “Habibi Funk” label. There is not a summer where I’m not blasting “Ouda” by Hamid El Shaeri.
Japan’s City Pop movement of the 1970-1980’s, which had a huge social media resurgence recently with “4:00AM” by Taeko Ohnuki.
Each volume of the “Ethiopiques” jazz albums out of Ethiopia, which ran from the 1960-1970’s, are fantastic. Volume 4 though hits that perfect, funky sweet spot.
Brazil just has amazing music all around. Between the bossa nova jazz/funk music coming out of the 1950-1960’s and today’s funk carioca/Brazilian funk’s hip hop influence, it’s all just designed to make you dance.
I also just love salsa/bolero music in general, which come out of a range of countries in Latin America. The first I ever heard was Hector Lavoe and I still think he was the best to ever do it.
The French pop era between the 1960-1970’s are literally just a chef’s kiss. I’ve got a few of Brigitte Bardot and Françoise Hardy’s albums and I used to play them all on repeat for months.
If you haven’t you should check out https://radiooooo.com/
You can specify which decades and which countries for your mix. I love setting the 60s and 70s and quite a few of the countries you mention. Along with most of Africa and the Caribbean.
It's funny, because radiooooo was created by Raphael Berger, who was the son of 1965 Eurovision winner (and french music Icon) France Gall. Her and Serge Gainsbourg, with "Poupée de Cire Poupée de Son", were considered groundbreaking and "illegitimate" at the time because it was the first time ever that a pop song was submitted for the contest, and won. Oh, and because of a butterfly effect, her Eurovision win was at the origin of Bowie's "Life on Mars" and Sinatra's "My Way".
for those who would like to dig a bit in Gall's discography, you might already know her smash "Ella, Elle L'a" but here is another song of hers that is one of a her most famous song :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQbMkidawa0
Oh, this website is great! I never heard of this haha, thanks for sharing. This is literally right up my alley lol
That’s amazing!!! Thank you so much for the link.
What a poor domain choice though.
This was so amazing I ended my spotify subscription
Oh, this is awesome. Thanks!
Adding the Zamrock era - Zambian psych/garage rock from the 70s - to this list.
LOVE Zamrock, great suggestion. Amanaz stays on repeat at my place.
I literally just started listening to Amanaz and I’m already hooked. I didn’t realize African psychedelica was something I needed until now. Thank you and u/atomic__tourist for the recommendation!
Check out Ngozi Family too. Look at this album cover…
https://images.app.goo.gl/snh4dSYFQptk1BXP6
Absolutely! Definitely check out the band Cymande as well. Big fan of the tunes “Bra” and “Dove.” Happy listening!
City pop has been in “resurgence” since about 2015-16. I’d say it hit its peak back then as well with people buying up box loads of the same city pop records to resell in their home countries (Tatsuro Yamashita’s “For You” was really hot. Saw an Instagram post of a record buying guide helping someone pack probably 50 copies of it into a box for their trip home).
Oh, that’s great context! Do you know what spurred the interest around that time??
I really started hearing it around the time lofi hip-hop/chillwave was having its moment, but it wasn’t until recently that I started listening to the actual music after hearing it through Reels/TikTok (and my god does it slap)
YouTube algorithm. “For You” and “Plastic Love” were both really popular, along with a jazz pianist named Ryo Fukui. A bunch of others I can’t remember as well… but what I do remember is Japanese record stores going from city pop just being mixed into everything else as usual (filed under J-Pop) to suddenly having displays at the front doors with popular albums and artists and bumping the prices up.
Yes, I got into City pop during the 2015/16 resurgence and can confirm specifically (well at least for me and my friends) it was “Plastic Love” that popped everything off, with For You and other city pop rapidly becoming popular soon after. I detest Google, even did back then, but I’m so grateful for the YouTube algorithm for bringing back City Pop. I still listen to it constantly. I swear, driving on a summer roadtrip while listening to City Pop is on par with taking recreational drugs. Sorry for contributing to price increases at record store…. It simply slaps 😔
I got into city pop around that time. I happened to stumble into it on YouTube. I’ve been in love ever since. One of my favorite albums is “Tobimasu” by Hako Yamazaki.
Went to Cote D'Ivoire for a wedding last year and became a huge fan of Coupé-décalé ... Magic System is awesome.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup%C3%A9-d%C3%A9cal%C3%A9
This is amazing and I would never have stumbled on it if you didn't comment! Thanks!
Try Alpha Blondy
Yo this slaps thanks for the rec
You literally referenced every foreign music I would've. Unreal. Guess I dont need to write my own comment now
We got that good taste ;)
I’m taking notes throughout this thread though because I’m always looking to find something new!
Ebo Taylor - Love and Death. One of my favorite albums of all time
Also Lagos disco is under listened
Great recommendations and great idea! I'm placing this comment so I can refer back to this thread throughout the week. Looks like tons of great suggestions here.
Oh man, same. This is the best music recommendation list I’ve come across in a long time.
수고하세요
네! 계속 열심히 들을 거예요~ ㅎㅎ
Ethiopian Jazz mentioned 🔥🔥🔥🔥🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽get hip to Eritrean jazz as well :)
Great list. I’d add Congolese soukous and chimurenga which had golden ages in the 80s.
Absolutely love Ethiopiques
Right?! I can’t remember who recommended them to me originally but this is a shout out to them because it was the first time hearing anything like it’s. It’s really opened me up to so much more music since!!
Habibi Funk, fuck yeah, those albums slap! And you can find them on spotify!
https://open.spotify.com/user/jannisstuertz?si=OAU3rFpPSGOwNMIIydrBfg
Love all of this
Thanks for the recs. Always on the hunt.
I’m excited to check these out.
I love this list and coincidentally was just listening to some ye-ye stuff for the first time. Love the sound. I’d also add Colombia and Cumbria but that is more regional than to a single country
Good list! Feels like a lot of these genres / time are represented on the YouTube channel: my analog journal https://youtube.com/@MyAnalogJournal?si=cifDAox6etf8yWDQ
First time ever I save a comment. Thanks! By the way, are you a musician or a music industry professional?
Dude I stumbled upon Ethio Jazz and it’s incredible. Spotify played it after a Fela album I was listening to finished. I was hooked. I’ll have to check those albums out you suggested!
For France, don’t sleep on Jacques DuTronc. Les Cactus is such a fun jam.
The answer is none or all. Every single country has tons of great music. Yes, even the Vatican. The papal choir slaps.
There was a great app I had, called radioooo or something. It let you listen to music from different countries (including Hawaii) in decades. And you could shuffle, like say 1970's Nigeria, 1930's Hawaii, 1960's Brasil, and 1920's France.
I remember that! I discovered 70s Somali disco/funk through that app!
You're not wrong about the Papal Choir. Damn.
Mali
Shout out for Amadou & Mariam
Songhoy blues! They're the best.
https://youtu.be/pCGUsORIHhM?si=j4_1zJSir1AUddoP
Also I'd like to shout out desert blues and the Tuareg people specifically. They're historically desert nomads of the Sahara and modern countries don't necessarily capture their extent perfectly. So it's really Mali, Libya, Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso etc.
Ali Farka Toure
This needs a boost. I used to listen to radio from Mali all the time. Underrated.
I love Toumani Diabate!
A shit ton: Argentina (Piazolla, Gardel, Soda Stereo, Fito Paez, Fabulosos Cadillacs), Mexico (Café Tacuba, Juan Gabriel, Caifanes, Jose Alfredo Jimenez), Cuba (Buena Vista Social Club, Sonota Matancera, Silvio Rodriguez), Spain (Mecano, Toreros Muertos, MIguel Bosé, Radio Futura, Duncan Dhu), Puerto Rico (Daniel Santos, Hector Lavoe, Willi Colon, Fania All Stars), France (Serge Gainsbourg, Mano Negra, Benjamin Biolay, Air, Daft Punk), Brazil (Os Mutantes, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Seu Jorge, Chico Science, Astrud Gilberto, Caetano Veloso)
A man of culture.
Great list!
Charly Garcia for Argentina as well, also Cerati’s solo work.
Italy in the 70s not today
“Cantautorato”, cop movies OSTs, the Prog Rock scene… what was not to love?
Tu vuo fa l'Americano, americano
https://youtu.be/J0ogqBcK9ow?si=mF_VdxsCH4Mw45Nz
I love Japanese music and Indian music. Really sad not to see India mentioned. Check out AR Rahman. He is a genius.
ThalaivARR 🛐
Sweden. Add Opeth, In Flames, At the Gates to your list.
Sweden also has massive contributions to English speaking music too. Max Martin written or produced songs have been at the top of the US pop charts dozens of times in the past 30 years.
AVICII, Lykke Li, Ace of Base, Miike Snow...Meshuggah for some variety..
Japan
Asia in general slaps when it comes to rock and indie music. Japan and Taiwan in particular, but even China has a few great ones.
I think the only Chinese album I've listened to is Chinese Football. Do you have any recommendations?
Two really good ones are Sparrow / 文雀 (sparrow is the English translation, it’s more post-rock), and Carsick Cars (math rock out of Beijing).
Definitely fit for someone who likes Chinese Football!
I thought I was stumped with a recommendation, but I found one. Wang Wen was an artist that I found recently. It’s super hard to find a Chinese band that plays post/math/midwest emo. Their stuff goes more along of Mogwai if you’re down with that.
But out of my whole collection of post rock bands. I’ve only found two Chinese bands. There’s also a Thai band you might like to, but I have to go through years of YouTube history to find it. If I have the time and if I can find it. I can recommend that to you too.
Someone already mentioned Carsick Cars. Some others in that lane are P.K. 14 and Hiperson. Korea has some solid indie, too: Say Sue Me and Parannoeul. If you want punk, there's Drinking Boys and Girls Choir.
So many Japanese bands and artist that absolutely slap.
Bradio, Mrs. GREEN apple, Dir En Grey, Babymetal, La'Arc En Ciel, LiSA, Minami.. the list goes on and on.
I feel like Asian Kung-Fu Generation may have a stigma as “anime music” here in the west, which (if true) is a goddamn shame. They have pretty incredible range along with a very distinct sound of their own and can be downright poetic lyrically. Magic Disck in particular is an album that I keep cycling back to and can never get sick of.
Also a shout-out to The Yellow Monkey.
I love Asian Kung Fu Generation
Edit: Who cares if it's "anime music". If it's good it's good.
My favourite album is Fan Club!
List goes on you say? Don't mind if I do.
Ado, Yoasobi, Maximum The Hormone, Band-maid, Asian Kung-fu Generation, Polkadot Stingray, Ryukuoushoku Shakai, Hanabie, Kana-boon, Necry Talkie, One OK Rock
Someone else come add to the list pls.
Yui, The Oral Cigarettes, Nightmare, TM Revolution, The Gazette, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, UVERworld, Coldrain
More more more
I'm actually waist deep into a rabbit hole of Japanese jazz and funk. It's incredible. Particularly in the modern era with electro/future funk and electro jazz.
You would think with all the dope video game soundtracks (looking at you, Persona series) I'd have known that Japan gets FUNKY
X japan was brilliant
Toe, Mono, Melt Banana, Mass of the Fermenting Dregs, Worlds End Girlfriend, Envy, Mouse on the Keys… in this kinda niche Japan kills it
In terms of non English speaking and non western music, India is a strong contender. There is massive diversity in music, two rich classical musical systems (more if you consider the music which accompany classical dances), and self sustaining popular music industry.
Indian music has a huge global footprint with bollywood music being consumed in south Asia, middle east, and sub saharan Africa. Over and above this Indian music has retained it's own identity. Indian school kids still learn Indian classical music more than they do western classical. The vocal techniques and melodies used in bollywood are still Indian without becoming copies of western music.