World Music Network

Georgia: A Feast Of Songs

Guide To World Music

Using informative text, combined with play lists and video content, we aim to guide you through the wonderful world of music from around the world. With text excerpts courtesy of the Rough Guide books, this section is a great resource and introduction into world music.

Each month we will be adding new articles in our effort to cover music from all over the globe. Sign up to the mailing list or check back regularly to stay informed.

The Music Of Palestine: Sounds For A New State

Despite the precariousness of the peace that exists in the region, the last fifteen years have seen music in Palestine rise from being the sound of struggle to a celebration of emerging statehood.

Indonesia – Gamelan: From Palace To Paddy Field

The shimmering sounds of the gamelan have fascinated and delighted Western visitors to Indonesia for half a millennium.

Australia - Aboriginal Music: Following the Songlines

From the traditional sounds of voice, bilma (clapsticks) and yidaki (didgeridoo) through to contemporary singer-songwriters and rock bands, Australia’s indigenous music continues to evolve in fascinating ways.

Turkey: Sounds of Anatolia

Outside the country, Turkish music used to be mostly associated with belly-dancing while recently the Mevlevi (“whirling”) dervishes have gained wide popularity on the World Music circuit. Yet it has much more to give.

South African Popular Music: Nation Of The Voice

South Africa has an unparalleled diversity of popular music styles which have multiplied bountifully since the end of apartheid.

Zimbabwe: Mbira, Sungura and Chimurenga: Play It Loud!

Zimbabweans play the good-time music of suffering. A plummeting economy has brought Harare’s nightlife to its knees, and many musicians have succumbed to AIDS, but for those who remain, music is more important than ever.

Japan: In The Mix

Japanese musicians have a new confidence in their own identity, leading not just Asia but increasingly the world in using their own and other cultures to create exciting new directions in popular, jazz, avant-garde and roots-based styles.

The Music of Malta

Cast adrift between the North African coast and Sicily, Malta has attracted a string of invading forces over the centuries. With a Siculo-Arabic culture and a Semitic yet Europeanized language, the islanders have inherited the art of oral folk poetry as well as a tradition of brass bands and street busking.

Israel: narrow bridge/global village

In the small state of Israel you can find Jewish immigrants from 127 countries all round the world. They started to return in 1882 after two thousand years of exile in the diaspora, and they brought with them their traditions, languages and, of course, their very different traditions of music.