I’ve always had a bit of an interest in music from other countries (excluding the American market in this instance). Rather than actively seeking new and ‘innovative’ music, however, I have generally just waited for things to fall into my lap. Fortunately, I have had the good luck to come across some very high calibre musical offerings from lesser known artists. So without further ado here is a list of my top 5 1/2 World Music Albums (in chronological order).

1) Prem Joshua, “Sky kisses Earth”- My good friend Shweta (whose wedding I will be attending in India in 3 weeks!) gave me this CD just before I left for exchange. It is a wonderful album with four beautiful compositions. To this day, one of my most resounding memories from my trip was taking the train from Thessaloniki to Athens whilst listening to this Album and having Mt Olympus appear majestically with its summit shrouded in cloud.
2) Börte, “Mongolian Ethno-Jazz” – I happened across this CD whilst staying with friends in Frankfurt-Am-Mein. It was innocuously sitting next to a CD player and had every sign of being a $10 budget ‘Demtel special’. I was pleasantly surprised, and still am, by this live performance. A catalyst for my appreciation of this offering was my love of the documentary “Genghis Blues” and Tuvan Throat singing. Needless to say, throat-singing does not necessarily appeal to all musical connoisseurs.
3) Tété, “L’Air de Rien” – During my stay in Salamanca, my good friend Candido introduced this album to my flatmates and I, and then persisted in playing it at every opportunity and waking moment. Not that I minded… This is a fantastic album and has ‘in my humble opinion’ the best opening song of any album I’ve heard. In fact, everytime I make a compilation disc for others ‘Le Meilleur des Mondes’ proudly gets the proverbial ball rolling. (Although his next album “A Faveur de l’Automne” is alright, it doesn’t quite come up to the standards of his debut release)…
4) Djivan Gasparyan, “Moon Shines at Night” – A mellow, yet haunting, album from the master of the Armenian duduk. This is the perfect album to chill out and unwind to. Although the duduk is wonderful, I particularly love the 2 songs he sings as he truly manages to meld his voice into yet another beautiful instrument. His other albums are lovely as well – although this one being the first I heard has to go down as my favourite…
5) Debashish Bhattacharya (and Bob Brozman), “Mahima” – A wonderful, spicy little number which is well worth the listen as it will have you bopping along and singing unintelligible Hindi babble. In fact, it was listening to this album tonight that gave me the idea of doing this post and letting people know of some music worthy of consideration (asssuming of course you like world music).
5 1/2) - Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli – It’s only a 1/2 because I don’t have a specific album to reccomend or commend. Unfortunately, as with so many of the past greats, the majority of what we find these days is cheap and crappy compilations of supposed ‘greatest hits’. I have a freakin’ tonne of Django and Stephane’s stuff ranging in age and quality and it is well worth the listen for any person who likes boppy guitar and/or Gypsy Jazz. My favourite song (and the one that got me started on the whole Django thing) is the cover of Fats Waller’s Honeysuckle Rose, with “I’se a Muggin’ ” a close second.

Anyways, there you have it – my top 5 1/2 world music albums.

P.S> Although Tété is somewhat mainstream in France, I consider him to be obscure enough in these ‘ere parts to rate a mention.