No Passport Required

My interest in international music (which includes so-called “world” music) began during my college days when my initial preference was for geographically closer to home sounds like Celtic and Caribbean (ie. Irish and reggae) in which the lyrics are in English and the songs not too dissimilar to music I already knew growing up on Long Island. The ‘90s was the high point for international music’s popularity (at least in the United States) and- for a short time- I worked in my hometown’s health food store where I was exposed to a potpourri of world and new age sounds (and I think discovered Outback’s Dance the Devil Away- good stuff). A co-worker from the store gave me tickets to see Kitaro- the king of new age- and the king’s unmemorable performance left me a bit perplexed about such music and its followers. 

Stan Getz and Astrud Glberto

In the late ‘90s, it seemed everyone I knew had a copy of Buena Vista Social Club (including me- I soon became tired of it) and each time I tried to further explore international music I felt lost and frustrated because I didn’t know how to find the good stuff. My discovery of international music continued in Peace Corps Bulgaria where I enjoyed new (to me) and exciting international sounds I was hearing from other volunteers (such as Astrud Gilberto) while much of Bulgarian music was not so much international as just run-of-the-mill wedding/dance synthesizer music (of which every country has its own version). For me, international will always be a crapshoot and the best you can do is keep your ears open and just listen to whatever sounds good, wherever it’s from. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy! 

01. Clube da Esquina (Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges) – “Clube da Esquina Nº 2” (1972)

02. Harry Belafonte – “Banana Boat (Day-O)” (1956)

03. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem – “Mountain Dew (Live)” (1961)

04. Enya – “Watermark” (1988)

05. Françoise Hardy – “La fille avec toi” (1962)

06. Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” (1993)

07. Stan Getz, João Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto – “The Girl from Ipanema” (1964)

08. Enya – “A Day Without Rain” (2000)

09. Astrud Gilberto – “Fly Me to the Moon” (1965)

10. Celtic Thunder – “A Bird Without Wings” (2008)

11. Celtic Thunder – “Mull of Kintyre” (2008)

12. Outback – “Aziz Aziz” (1991)

Listen to the playlist on Spotify...