Various Artists: The Rough Guide to the Best Music You've Never Heard (Rough Guide)

 |   |  <1 min read

Beltuner: Sa Preferee
Various Artists: The Rough Guide to the Best Music You've Never Heard (Rough Guide)

Perhaps because I flatter mysef and the smarts of Elsewhere visitors, I'd like to believe the title of this 30-track download-only album (available here) through the Rough Guide imprint is just a little misleading.

Scanning the names here (if not the specific tracks from important albums) I see the likes of longtime favourites Etran Finatawa, Bob Brozman (interviewed in depth here), Nuru Kane, the great Debashish Battacharaya, Padan Das Baul and others whose music has appeared on these pages (and can be found, along with other luminaries, at World Music in Elsewhere).

But then on a second glance there are many more names which perhaps justify that title: Achanak, Samba Toure, Saba, the Kolpakov Duo, Dozan . . .

And so, without spoiling it by telling you who those people are and where they come from, that does make this expansive collection something very worthwhile as both a voyage of discovery as you get your aural passport stamped, and allows you to thrill to the likes of Hanggai (hear here), the Ahmad Sham Sufi Qwaalli Group, Axial . . .

Your thoroughly enjoyable learning curve begins here.

Like the sound of this? Then check out Planet Rock. Or this.

Share It

Your Comments

Gavin Hancock - Dec 8, 2011

The title is a tad presumptuous in this internet age but for mp3 savvy music lover who hasn't heard much world music there could be worse places to start. Good value for money too.

post a comment

More from this section   World Music from Elsewhere articles index

Mehdi Rostami and Adib Rostami: Melodic Circles (ARC Music)

Mehdi Rostami and Adib Rostami: Melodic Circles (ARC Music)

Subtitled “Urban Classical Music from Iran”, this album by the Rostami cousins captures both the magic and complexity of this largely improvised music on the four-stringed setar (Mehdi)... > Read more

Mamadou Diabate: Courage (World Village)

Mamadou Diabate: Courage (World Village)

As the son of kora player N'fa Diabate who was a founder of the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali and with the great Toumani Diabate as a cousin, Mamadou was born to play the kora. For this, his... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Wicked Chicken: soul funk for the barbecue

Wicked Chicken: soul funk for the barbecue

Many years ago Rhino Records -- a reissue label out of LA -- put out a booklet-cum-CD package of old soul and funk with an eating theme, specifically food for barbecues. Tracks on the CDs... > Read more

Mark Knopfler: Why the long face, son?

Mark Knopfler: Why the long face, son?

When former Dire Straits man Mark Knopfler came to New Zealand to play in 2005 I read the interview in the Herald about his terrible motorcycle accident . . . and burst out laughing. Not... > Read more