Amazon.com Here's truly remarkable music from a streetcorner band that hails from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa. "Discovered" by awesome Dutch avant-punk act the Ex during a tour in the embattled region, Konono #1 makes hypnotic, beautiful, heavily rhythmic dance m...
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Amazon.com essential recording With this, his major-label debut, Bob Marley not only became an international superstar, so did reggae itself. The world of music would never be the same after the burning, classic tracks of "Stir It Up," "Slave Driver," and "Concrete Jungle." Everything a...
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Amazon.com essential recording Astor Piazzolla lived and died as tango's bad boy, having almost single handedly invented the music's vanguard, the form known as ...
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Amazon.com Malian superstar Ali Farka Toure is often described as a bluesman. Although he was certainly inspired by the recordings of John Lee Hooker, he was also saturated from birth in centuries-old parallel traditions that had evolved in his homeland. Incontestabl...
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Amazon.com If the legendary singer Amália Rodrigues is the queen of fado, the national song genre of Portugal, this debut by Mariza announces her coronation as its crown princess of the 21st century. This twentysomething, Mozambique-born beauty of Portuguese, Spanish, German, African, and Indian descent ...
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"World music" is an exceptionally wide-ranging term. Does world music mean music that’s not in English? Does a world music artist have to create music from his/her own particular country or ethnic background? What about "big name" world artists (like Enya, Celtic Woman, Bob Marley) who have had mainstream Top 40 hits? In the end, we came up with the following criteria:
• Broadly speaking, world music is not traditionally Western. We’ve chosen albums featuring music from a particular region, culture, or heritage.
• Albums can include lyrics in English and/or Top 40 hits, as long as the music itself draws from non-western rhythms, instruments, or melodies.
• One album per artist
• No EPs or singles—this list is about albums
• No greatest hits collections or compilations except in cases where no actual album was available, or where the collection acts as a proper album. Bob Marley’s Legend, being a greatest hits compilation album, did not make our list, but Catch a Fire did.
Of course, our editors exercise their judgment regarding quality and/or historical significance. If you disagree with our choices (and there's a good chance you will), let us know in the customer discussions at the bottom of the page.
