My life and music is basically only filled with english speaking music and artists. I want to get out of that trend, where is a good place to start?

if u like AOR 80's chicago type music, junichi kawauchi is a good place to start. Whats odd is that english people like bill champlin and steve luthaker help out on this album (i own 3 of his albums and another japanese cat)


Also whats strange is that some of the lyrics are in english (parts of the chorus often are). His albums are sweeping, epic and melodic AOR. Tracks like "i'm down" (which is actually called something else) are supurb.


Chage and askel (also japanese) are cool too. I got their album "tree". Absolutely no english on that one though. Japs ain't afraid to be cheesy, and i dig that.

There`s a lot of great Brazilian music, there`s one well known song called "O Cantador", which is a beautiful song. In english it`s titled "Like a lover" the english lyrics are by the Bergmans.

I'm not sure, but from last year it was...

Sigur Ros from Iceland who sing mainly in what is called "Hopelandic" and Oumou Sangare from Mali are two great ones. Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance sings in a combination of ancient Celtic and made up language that is stunning.

I like Bjork's Icelandic songs.

Icicle said:

That's by Dori Caymmi, one of my favorite artists-- he's played with and written for many artists, from Sergio Mendes and Flora Purim, to Anita Baker, to Branford Marsalis...(O Cantador/ Like A Lover is probably his most famous song)... He's made a number of albums over the years, some of them on Quincy Jones's Qwest label...





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If you want to try salsa, look for Los Van Van records. They are great.

Xmal Deutschland used to do great spooky-ooky post-punk back in the 80s. I would suggest getting their first two albums, 'Fetisch' and 'Tocsin' which are all in German, but they are apparently out of print now. Maybe you can find mp3s online somewhere.

Or if you want something more current, try Puerto Rico's Icaro Azul.

All-Spanish rock with punk and goth influences. I love them.

Then there's Ryuichi Sakamoto:



This is one man who's hard to classify...He literally plays all kinds of music: Classical, Pop, Funk, Jazz, Avant Garde....often on the same record!! when there is singing, it could be in any language: Japanese, English, Swahili, Portugese, French, Korean, etc...

Originally the main Keyboardist of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, he's done countless soundtracks: Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky, Chatran/ Milo and Otis, Black Rain, The Handmaid's Tale, etc...

Over the years his collaborators have included Brian Wilson, David Sylvian, Thomas Dolby, Laurie Anderson, Jill Jones, Bootsy Collins, Yossou N'Dour, Iggy Pop, Tony Williams, David Byrne, Adrian Belew, Arto Lindsay, Kelli Sae, Roddy Frame(Aztec Camera), Bill Laswell, Sly Dunbar, Bernard Fowler, etc.

Oh alright ...trivia for you MJ folks...Michael Jackson took Sakamoto's song "Behind The Mask", wrote new lyrics to it, and keyboardist Greg Phillinganes recorded it for his own second album. Since then, Sakamoto performs it with MJ's lyrics...






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[Edited 2/7/06 11:23am]

If you want Brazil blended with Rock, Funk , Electronica, etc., you might like Carlinhos Brown who mixes styles and Genres-- like a Brazilian version of Beck, or Prince...





theres also Marisa Monte who also mixes Pop, Funk and Brazilian touches she's worked with Carlinhos Brown, Sakamoto, as well as Bernie Worrell, and Arto Lindsay, Phillip Glass, and Laurie Anderson...






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paligap said:

I have some liner notes reading to do.... That sounds like a great combination, can you imagine him teaming up with Randy Crawford... That would be a dream come true.
I`ll check out your reccomandations, cause what i`ve heard of Brazilian music, impressed me a lot. "Like a lover" is a wonderful song, have you heard Natalie Cole`s version?

Icicle said:

Yeah, I really Like Natalie's version...

My wife and I actually got to meet Dori, when he played Blues Alley in DC a couple of years back...a nice, very friendly man! He treated us like we were old friends, introduced us to his wife, had us sit at his table... a real Kool guy!



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[Edited 2/7/06 11:28am]

paligap said:

That must have been great, he sounds very nice. I think i`ll look more into his music, i guess many people have covered his songs. I heard Sarah Vaughan recorded "like a lover" too

Icicle said:

If You Like Dori's stuff, you may also like this guy, Djavan, especially his albums Bird of Paradise, and Puzzle of Hearts/ Oceano:



he's really played and written with a lot of folks: Stevie Wonder, Dave Grusin, Manhattan Transfer("Soul Food To Go", "So You Say"), Michael Franks, Ivan Lins, Nathan East, Ronnie Foster... Roberta Flack wrote a song dedicated to him, called "His Name, Brazil"




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[Edited 2/7/06 11:41am]

Icicle said:

Yup!! I like her version, too!


Another cool album, Brazilian artists, with Patrick Forge, called Da Lata: Songs From the Tin:



Blends Brazilian vocals, acoustic percussion, acoustic guitars, electronics, and strings...Kool Cd!!

Sergio Mendes's 1992 Granmmy-winning album Brasiliero is great, too!


Sergio Mendes has a new album coming out, called Timeless, with an all star cast: Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, John Legend, The Black Eyed Peas,etc..., but I haven't head it yet....





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[Edited 2/7/06 11:55am]

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Ok, I promise this is my last Brazil thing ...

Ivan Lins


If you've heard Patti Austin doing "The Island", Quincy Jones and Toots Theilmans doing "Velas", George Benson or Vanessa Williams singing "Love Dance", Chaka Khan singing "So Crazy For This Love", or Sting singing "She Walks this Earth", then you've heard Ivan Lins' music...



this was an all star tribute recorded a few years back..I love these Ivan Lins albums, "Awa Yio", and "Maos" (Hands)...





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[Edited 2/7/06 12:20pm]

I don't really know a lot of music by non-english speaking artists, but I do love the members of the Buena Vista Social Club. Their music is amazing.

I really love Shakira's Spanish language songs
She sounds so much better in her native tounge
Favorite Song: Ojos Asi

Thanks guys, and Paligap always major.

Bebel Gilberto! I love her albums 'Tanto Tempo' and 'Bebel Gilberto'.
I also like Alejandro Sanz' unplugged album.

Sigur Ros similar to radiohead kinda just abit different more soundscape? sounds

Andy Lau - Cantonese
Ayumi Hamasaki & Utada Hikaru - Japanese

Best of the best asian artists in my opinion not sure if you can get into them
[Edited 2/7/06 18:54pm]

Gackt-Japanese
Ana Gabriel-Mexican
to be honest thats all i can think of at this moment.

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs



Celia Cruz



Lil Jon

:::


::: Backroom Matches
One of my very favorite hip hop duos out of Stockholm, Sweden -- MaaSen & Vgurra. I've been following them for years. They released an EP in 2002 entitled Sota! and I played it to death. Some of my favorite tracks of theirs are "Maraboudoktorn," "BM-Hippa" and "En Råbög." Another group similar to Backroom Matches, if you want to get into Swedish hip hop, is Shufflas. Prefekt is a great MC and MaaSen was actually a part of the Shufflas camp.


::: Baaba Mal
A wonderful artist out of Senegal. One tune I recommend checking out is "Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am" with Taj Mahal. The lyrics contain a multifarious mix of Senegalese. If you ever checked out the Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti tribute disc, this track was featured.


::: Les Nubians
An "Afro-pean" duo from France. Their last album -- 2003's One Step Forward -- was absolutely wonderful and grossly overlooked. They got a smidgen of critical buzz stateside with their '98 debut Princesses Nubiennes, but are largely cult figures. Some tunes I recommend checking out by them are "Que Le Mot Soit Perle," "J'veux d'la musique (tout le temps...)" and "Desolee" (from their '98 debut).

Dance Dance by Fall out Boy.

GangstaFam said:

Yeah! I love that Mutant Freak!