HeathenBrewing

Glad you can hear where Im coming from.

Selections? Well, now you are asking for it, since I can talk for days about the subject. I will keep this as short as I can:

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Ojos De Brujo - Techari
Quick Description: Spanish/Flamenco Hip Hop (but a horribly limiting description…listen to it and decide.)

Holy Sh*t!! This is phenomenal!! My favorite flavor of the moment.

As if their previous relese, Bari, wasnt incredible enough, they continue to evolve their one-of-a-kind sound even more, although I stil prefer Bari!

This is a melting pot of styles, including gypsy, flamenco, rumba, hip-hop, rock, jazz and funk, just to name a few. Even touches of celtic and Mid-East sounds can be heard here. To call this 'fusion' is like calling the Beatles 'some rock band'.

Im sure quite a few of you will disregard this band because you think world music is for snobs or hippies, but EVERYONE who likes solid, talented music should give this band a chance. Embrace cultural fusion!

Sample 'Bari' here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...896049?ie=UTF8

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Elend - The Umberson
Quick Description: Neo-classical/soundtrack-esque/ambient

Hear the echoes of the thundrous, rapturous symphonies of the first half of Elends darkest work and the sullen desolation of the second.

The music is a combination of neo-classicism, neo-romanticism and ethereal ambient, with a hint of atonality and dissonance. The sound is defined by a combination of synthesizers, violins and varying vocal styles. The synthesizer programming is top notch, sounding very much like a live orchestra in many places. The music flows from lush organic melodies infused in harmony, into dark and blaring atonal passages, and finally into loose free-form ethereal ambience. The dominant sound is hauntingly Romantic, often times bordering on transcendent and otherworldly.

The vocals are provided primarily by two soprano singers (Eve Gabrielle Siskind and Nathalie Barbary). Seperate, their vocals are beautiful; together, unbelievable. But the two composers, Renaud Tschimer and Alexander Hasnaoui are also heard by way of whispers, low singing, and (interestingly enough) growling. The growling and shrieking really adds another dimension to the music, creating a foreboding and threatening atmosphere in many of the calmer moments and creating chaos and dissonance in the atonal segments of the music. Some of the best parts occur when the sopranos are singing in high, angelic unison, while horrible shrieks blister about (usually representing Lucifer). The contrast is truly staggering, and it must have taken some degree of good intuition on the band's part to know where to properly integrate the polar opposites and to what effect.

This album is a fine way to transcend the mundane; it is one of those rare pieces of music that allows the listener to drift away into other worlds. Listen to this album and quickly forget the everyday world and be immersed in the immaterial and ethereal.

The music is dark, but also very beautiful. This is a style I truly enjoy

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Cheb I Sabbah-La Kahena
Quick Description: North African Electronica World

DJ Cheb i Sabbah takes a North African Vibe, mixes in a bit of Spanish (Moorish) feel and spices that with electronica/techno effects and rhythms. Many ethnic styles of instruments are presented here, including Jewish, African (both North and South) and Arabian. Extremely diversa is this release.

I would highly recommend an alternative version of this release, called La Kahena-The Remixes. Has a much more drum and bass type feel, and smooths those ethnic edges that keep many away from true world music.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...528712?ie=UTF8

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Hurdy Gurdy - Prototyp
Quick Description: Nordic Folk/Experimental

"Stefan Brisland-Ferner of Garmarna and Totte Mattsson of Hedningarna are both masters of the Swedish hurdy gurdy. On Prototyp, they have come together to demonstrate the range and power of this ancient, versatile instrument, which has been dubbed a medieval synthesizer. Exclusively using sounds generated from hurdy gurdys, they play, process, sample, and tweak both traditional and original tunes in innovative and provocative ways."

Go to www.noside.com to here it (and Hedningarna! )….click on artists, then select one, and listen. Some have video clips as well. Also check out Vasen, another 'Nordic hallucination' on the site.

Very talented musicians combine modern and medieval in a way I have never heard before. Some tracks soft and comforting, others war or marching like.

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Some others: Lord Wind (sounds like a Conana the Barbarian sound track), Angizia (Wacked out Opera), Smadj (Mid-East Jazz), Hossam Ramzy,....I could go on for days!!!!

HeathenBrewing

I would recommend Ojos De Brujo (Eyes of the Wizard...I think) over all that I listed. It is easier to comprehend than say, Elend, and is very danceable and pop-like, while not being popular in sound. An article of possible interest:

"Vocalist Marina “La Canillas” Abad, dressed in various flamboyant gypsy costumes, has an utterly commanding stage presence, whether singing soleá, rapping at full speed, trading rhythmic phrases with other singers, or accenting the instrumentalists on the fly. During this unfortunate era of featherweight juvenile pop divas, it's refreshing to see a real woman on stage who can sing with soul and be outrageously anti-conformist without becoming cartoonish in the process....
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=20523

Musically, Elend is POSSIBLY more talented than ODB, but it is quite hectic and demands a lot of the listeners attention.

bOhEmIo82

I checked out some of the "Ojos de Brujo" you recommended. Very cool material. I love "gitano (gypsy)" music, and other musics influenced by arab/spanish styles. I haven't had a chance to listen to the other stuff you mentioned. If you're into flamenco/gypsy style music then you should listen to "Ketama". Some of their stuff is more traditional as far as spanish music goes (boleros, cha-cha etc.) but they mix it up as well with salsa, bossa nova and other eclectic latin jazz sounds. It's a fresh sound.