r/WorldMusic • u/PotentialChef1198 • Aug 26 '26
Discussion Looking for non-Western music to discover
I'm looking for recommendations of music from different cultures outside the Western musical tradition.
I've really enjoyed discovering Ethiopian jazz, especially the way it uses the different pentatonic scales found in Ethiopian music. I’ve really enjoyed the pleasure of discovering how different musical traditions approach melody, harmony, rhythm and musical structure in their own ways.
I'm particularly interested in traditions where I can learn something about how the music works, rather than just finding music that sounds different from what I'm used to.
It could be anything: traditional music, contemporary music rooted in a particular tradition, unusual rhythmic systems, different tuning systems, modes/scales, approaches to improvisation, etc.
What music or musical traditions have made you think differently about music?
I'd love to discover things from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South America, or anywhere else!
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u/Substantial_You1336 Aug 26 '26
A few suggestions for different countries in Africa. There’s so many artist and so many countries i haven’t included. But this would probably be a good place to start.
Each of these artists have had their cultural relevant moments, part of political movement and or music movement. Some bands are still around and touring others not. Either way, i’d invite to listen to the music and research about the bands if you like them :) Each artist in this list have their own incredible story, all vastly different?
List:
Ethiopia: Mulatu Atsake, Hailu Mergia, the Roha Band
Ghana: Ebo Taylor, K Frimpong
Senegal: Seckou Keita
Mali: Toumani Diabiate, Oumou Sangara, Fatoumata Diawara, Ali Farka Toure
Nigeria: Fela Kuti
Congo: Franco Luambo, TP Ok Jazz
Tuaregs(not a country, people who live in the saharian desert): Tinariwen, Mdou Moctar, Imarhan
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u/mr_bacciagalupe Aug 26 '26
Byzantine chant. Modes, note intervals, notation, everything is different from standard western music but intuitive.
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u/Wooden-Agency-2653 Aug 26 '26
The Choubi Choubi series of compilations of Iraqi music are great. And also have a truly vulgar name if you're a Chinese speaker (which I half am)
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u/Alfred_Katz Aug 27 '26
Rebetika from Greece is riveting. It's sometime referred to as "Greek blues," which mostly refers to the social environment that it was created and not it's sound, although some of the guitar based rebetika, does, at times, have a blues feel. Primary instruments are bouzouki, violin and cimabalom (similar to a hammered dulcimer). Like blues it deals with subjects like prison, drugs and other subjects that reflect the lives of the poor. There are many great recordings of the music made in the 1920s and 1930 that have been reissued on CD. There have also been several revivals of the music in Greece since its heyday in the 1920s and 30s
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u/Own-Wasabi5912 Aug 26 '26
I’ve found a lot of great music through the Dust to Digital instagram account. Their posts usually feature 5-10 performances from around the world with links to the original creators.
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u/AutisticAfrican2510 South Africa Aug 26 '26
Township jazz and the related Cape jazz from South Africa is well worth checking out. The related marabi, mbaqanga and kwela is also worth checking out as well. All these genres show how jazz, and by extension, American music, was readapted in a completely different environment to indigenous styles of music.
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u/ivan_halen Aug 26 '26
Start with The Hu, mongolian throat singing hard rock band, which we could say is eastern western fusion.
Then, try Huun Huur Tu and Yat-Kha, they play actual mongolian traditional music with great singing technique.
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u/sushi_obi_raven Aug 26 '26
Huun huur tu with the Bulgarian voices angelite and the Moscow art trio. - mountain tale is such a slept on masterpiece!!!! Check it out
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u/BigJobsBigJobs USA Aug 26 '26
Check out what people post. That's what I do. Find what you like, explore.
You mentioned Ethiopian jazz - try some of the stuff out of North Africa - Tenariwen (sp?), Mdou Moctar. Guitar-based mainly. That guy Moctar is hot shit.
I like gamelan. I like Bulgarian chorale. I like very odd Japanese permutations of jazz. soul and funk.
Most of all, have fun.
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u/lastpsychedelic_blog Aug 26 '26
Check out the African label Nyge Nyge and their sub-label Hakuna Kuala. A lot of it might be more modern than you're looking for- cutting edge electronic music, rap, etc. But there's really amazing instrumentalists and traditional musicans too, and a few special records that bring both together. You'll be able to tell what's what pretty clearly from covers and Bandcamp bios.
I would also check out the legendary label Sublime Frequencies, which releases amazing archival stuff from around the world.
Also try indian music. I mostly know comps of older stuff and modern artists. Stuff in my collection I love includes Zakir Hussain, Madhuvanti Pal, Kalyani Roy, Debashish Bhattacharya (best guitarist alive?,) and Ganesh Rajagopalan.
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u/yv_ps Aug 27 '26
Central African polyphony is a very unique vocal and sometimes also instrumental traditional music style. A very good but quite unknown record is "Polyphonie des Twa" from Rwanda: https://youtu.be/ykukHHVZdBU
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u/Ancient_Naturals Aug 27 '26
Check out some South Asian ragas. Here’s a great performance by Zakir Hussain and Rakesh Chaurasia: https://youtu.be/O2K0ptoYpuc?is=vzCURntFRjAKjPVt
Rakesh’s uncle — maybe the best bansuri player of the 20th century — played for The Raga Guide, which is a great introduction to the music: https://boydellandbrewer.com/book/the-raga-guide-pb/?v=0b3b97fa6688
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u/Striking_Meringue328 Aug 27 '26
I'd recommend stuff on Guinea's Syliphone label. For example https://youtu.be/GFhZ1miQurE?is=qLHL-EjZNjG-0gtd and https://youtu.be/I1yjdBPyfm0?is=ixckd-LhZTjttsMk
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u/nobiya_edesigns Aug 27 '26
If you like something different, you can watch this channel.https://youtube.com/@nobiya.ai.fusion?si=3J_5_2yfrhd7oySx 😊
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u/RedBalooon Aug 27 '26
Try some Afrobeat.
Here's Fela Kuti: Black Man's Cry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUiUoVEim3A
If you like this, you will like the whole genre, and there's tons more.
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u/xnatlywouldx Aug 27 '26
Are you familiar with the German-based label, Habibi Funk? They reissue a lot of really, really excellent music from the middle east and African continent. I pretty much recommend anything they put out, haha! You can find a lot of their playlists on Spotify and YouTube to start with but they span a lot of genres from 1980s synth pop from Beirut to 1970s Sudanese jazz and funk in Arabic and English.
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u/Holloway63 Aug 27 '26
Don't sleep on India. So much amazing music. Classical, folk, contemporary, Hindu and Muslim. It's influence stretches across the globe. Especially through Romany music and so to western popular music. I love the Ragas.
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u/PotentialChef1198 Aug 28 '26
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! I definitely have a lot of listening to do now 😄
Really appreciate everyone taking the time to share!
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u/antiquemule Aug 26 '26
Balinese gamelan music is another tradition which is radically different from the Western one. Different scales, different instruments...