A Musical Tour of the World: All Countries A-Z One Per Day

Not sure if already mentioned, but one of the hottest bands in Bhutan is O'Strangers. Established in 2018 and billed as Alternative Rock, they seem to be quite successful in their home country and neighboring countries. It's not really my thing, but interesting nevertheless.


This is what the Bhutan Times had to say about them and their debut album:

A new musical band all set to go live soon

• Bhutan Times 1 Jul 2018 Bhuma Ghalley

O’strangers a four member boy band will go live at Lugar theatre with its debut album ‘ Angle of the stone age’ on July 22. Bhutan’s best known alternative rock band explores romanticism and materialism, love and life in new original compositions.

The band leader and songwriter Sonam Jurmey said that ‘ Angle of the stone age’ is a very personal reflection of an intense yet liberating experience of starting on an emotional new journey. It cherishes and celebrates the life energy within that guides and nourishes our relationships, experience and living itself.

The compositions explore romanticism versus materialism, juxtaposing that with love and life. It is really a snapshot of where we are at the moment, both personally and as a country and yet transcends just the present. “I drew inspiration from what is around me, what I hear in my heart and the sound that came out is diverse, a mix of pop, soft rock and flock renditions.”

“We are humbled by the opportunity to share our music with the Bhutanese community and hope they are inspired by our message. We are also looking forward to reaching a wider and new fan base with this album,” Jurmey said.

The band comprise of Sonam Jurmey song writer, zombie lead singer, Michael drummer and Ezzuu Bj lead guitarist formerly known as upSurge who regrouped in January 2018 to form O’strangers and write a new chapter in their music destiny.

Upsurge previously received wide spread popularity within the Bhutanese diaspora throughout the world with the release “I” their first album “Shaw Lhab Marp” which featured the hit songs of ‘ Megi Dhuema’, Acho Daka and ‘ Pazo’.

The band had made over 50 appearances throughout Bhutan to date, including the prestigious internationals band festival 2015 in Thimphu and will launch its debut album, "Angel of the stone a” go with a live concert at Lugar Theater in Thimphu on 22nd July.

 

Thanks, I enjoyed that.

And, I'm posting again. I wondered about not finding some Bhutanese rock bands so I searched more. I did find some, but I didn't really like their music. However, I found the band 'The Baby Boomrs', and their video of their cover of The Beatles' Can't Buy Me Love where they transplant the feel of the movie A Hard Days Night into a Bhutanese setting. Four or three at times adorable mop tops running through temples and along rivers near the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas.

I found an original song of theirs on youtube, 'Like a Brie'. I think it's very nice bit of guitar pop/rock. I'll point out that it's 1:20 into the song before the full band kicks in.



Songwriter/Singer Dawa Drakpa has a Facebook profile where he writes about his musical influences, particularly The Beatles, and other things in English.

 

And, I'm sorry to be posting YET AGAIN but I just missed the edit button time limit. I felt that I didn't cover Bhutan well in my first posting and with the error in the second. So, I'm overcompensating

This is Bhutanese singer-songwriter ZHAW (Tshering Zhaw Tashi) with a two-guitar acoustic version of his (in my opinion very nice) song Nga.



It seems that the Blue Orchid sessions on that channel is THE place to find talented Bhutanese singer-songwriters.

 

Missed a few days, partly due to lack of notifications. My Bhutanese entry will be this one:



The band Misty Terrace. Marketed as an alternative rock band, this sits very much at the laidback, melodic scale of the 'rock' genre. Very heartfelt, folk-inspired track here. Vocals are almost hypnotic in places. The track ended up being something different to what I anticipated based on the stylish opening and lovely touch of reverb. Interestingly their website - as well as outlining them as amateur musicians - mentions the lack of a music industry in Bhutan. That was painfully obvious today as I was scouring the internet. I thought it would be awash with all sorts of traditional delights, but sadly they were hard to come by.

 

Thanks for the music, everyone.

@Flaevius - I'm registered to watch this thread, but have noted that I don't get alerts when someone else posts.

Today's country is Bolivia. Bolivia is a country with a multiethnic population of 11 million, and a varied geography including parts of the Andes, the Atacama desert, and the Amazon basin.

I'm going to start with this synth pop song Instinto Animal by Avionica, described as having a Gary Numan style synth riff.



Said to be more 'traditional' but sounding quite Spanish to me is this song by Los Masis, A Sucre, presumably about and showing the whitewashed city of Sucre.

Here's some smooth latin soul, Llenarte by Electroshock.

And something a bit more funky, Cochinotes by Fiesta Cuetillo.

There's plenty of Bolivian folk music on youtube, and plenty of panpipes. Here's a song by the band Kamaq. Luzmila Carpio is described as 'The Voice of the Andes'. Here she is singing 'Sumaq awaq warmi'.

 

Another good selection, Luzmila Carpio is my real favourite from the above, although it was a surprise when she began singing, it wasn't what I was expecting

Here's the charango player Ernesto Cavour, apparently from a film "Le retour de Gringo" which I can't find anything about; it's probably unconnected to the "Spaghetti Western" "The Return of Ringo" (Il ritorno de Ringo) which had music by Ennio Morricone; but may be a reference to Gilbert Favre a Swiss musician known as "El Gringo" who Ernesto played with


a more recent TV performance
ERNESTO CAVOUR, EL VUELO DEL PICAFLOR

He also appears to have been featured in the first of two one hour BBC Radio 3 World Routes programmes from 2013 on the music of Bolivia, both of which remain available for listening
BBC Radio 3 - World Routes, The Baroque and Beyond, Episode 4
BBC Radio 3 - World Routes, The Baroque and Beyond, Episode 5

Ernesto Cavour - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
Gilbert Favre - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

 

You Tube has a number of posts of a song called 'Cholita Marina', one of them adding "Bolivian Classic", but this is my favourite of those I've looked at


"A video clip of folk music, much listened to for its contagious rhythm, its rhythm will surely captivate you. It is not known what the origin of this song is" - a possibly not entirely accurate internet translation

 

I was a bit unsure about that track. I was wondering if her voice is not what it used to be, or something. It does sound unusual.

Is there a performance of hers that you could post that you think best represents her?

With a bit more searching, I found these two. Is this what you were expecting?



And: this.

 

Whenever I think of Bolivia, oh well... its strikingly picturesque and harmonious Andean landscapes come to mind and literally overwhelm me.






And at the same breath the Andean folk music, which acts just like a vivid and colourful soundtrack to me. I really love this music.

There is a Bolivian group, called Los K'jarkas, that magically manage to translate those unique Andean landscapes into such an awesome folk music, which features an ever present sense of dynamics without ever compromising its incredibly harmonic flow. Yeah... that music amazes me at its uniquely beautiful feel and its moving spiritual aspect at the same breath.

And the incredible variety of native musical instruments help pretty much for the astonishing originality of the Andean folk music, even uniquely emulating the Andean wind sounds, really awesome! Interestingly, the origins of those musical instruments are attributed to the Quechua ['Ketchyooa] peoples, those primarily living in the Bolivian-Peruvian Andes as reminiscents of the Inca civilization. And, arguably, their Aymara [Äy'mära] peoples, which belong to the Bolivian/Peruvian ethnicity too, almost immediately assimilated all that ancient musical culture.

A Bolivian string instrument called Charango was genuinely created for the Andean music, as well as an interesting group of very original wind instruments, in such a way that they completely differ from the well-known traditional European flutes. Only the Kena and the Tarka could be deemed as the couple of wind instruments that resemble in shape with the European flutes. Their main difference, though, is based on the principle of the ''stopped'' pipe, and consisting usually of ten or more pipes of gradually increasing lengths tied together, but for this very reason the Andean flutes are often mistaken for the European pan-flute. The most common ones are generally called Zampoñas, although there are 4 kinds of Zampoñas: Toyos, low sound; Zankas 1/8 higher; Maltas 1/8 higher than Zankas; and Chulis 1/8 octave higher than Maltas.

There are also the wind instruments that consist of two separate halves, with the musical scale divided between both halves - these are called Siku (sē'koo), which are native from the areas surrounding the big Lake Titicaca and throughout the boundaries with Peru. The Siku is tuned under the diatonic scale in the key G-Major, and is traditionally played by two musicians, with each player taking one half of the instrument. The melody is thus woven back and forth between the two players. So, in order for one individual to play the Siku alone, both the two halves must be held together. The Sikus vary greatly in size, ranging from reeds of less than one inch to reeds measuring over four feet!

Here I have the pleasure of sharing some of my favourite pieces of music:

Los K'jarkas - Sunch'u T'ikitay



The first half of that song is sung in Quechua (the main language family of the Inca Empire, and one of the world's primary language families); the second half sung in Spanish. Today, the Quechua language is still a co-official language of many central Andes' regions, and speakers number more than 10 million people across South America, the most speakers of any indigenous language. The overall degree of diversity across the Quechua language family is a little less than that of the Romance or Germanic families.
.

 

(cont.)

The following song is in a folk music form called "Huaño". The first half of it is sung in Spanish, the second half in Quechua:

Los K'jarkas - Tierra de Nostalgias (Huaño)



The following piece of music is in a folk music form called "Trote".

Los K'jarkas - Illapas (Trote)
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=AsVuK9knW-M

Besides the aforementioned types of Andean folk, there are also: "Chuntunqui", "Tonada", "Tonada Chapaca", "Tonada Sureña", "Carnavalito", "Saya", "Cueca", "Pasacalle", and others (believe it or not!)

 

(cont.)

Los K'jarkas - Tinku



Los K'jarkas - Antawara
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ot60HpTuQaE&feature=share

Los K'jarkas - Tata Sabaya
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IbA8OLNeNac&feature=share

 

Actually, I can't say for certain that I ever recall having heard her sing until this morning; I really do like the clip, it was just that her voice was somehow not how I expected it to be after the instrumental introduction

Here's a clip from 2014 which surprisingly only appears to have had 1,875 views and no comments in six years


But this seems to have over half a million views and 168 comments
Luzmila Carpio - Chuwa Yaku Kawsaypuni

from wikipedia -

In the late 1980s, she travelled to Paris to continue her musical evolution and be taken seriously as an artist. According to Sergio Cáceres, former Bolivian ambassador to UNESCO, "Luzmilla suffered a double discrimination in Bolivia by being at the same time indigenous and a woman in a very racist and male dominated society. She created something more profound than urban folklore. Her music is a symbol for oppressed cultures"

Luzmila Carpio - Wikipedia

 

From what I already knew about but searching again he indeed had no connection with Morricone's soundtrack "Il Ritorno Del Gringo". And that track you posted is rather a Chacarera (an originally Argentine folk) played with charango. But of course, the interchange between those countries was (and continues to be perhaps) really big.

 

From Benin

Lionel Loueke
Great world jazz

 

Really enjoyable her music, thanks!

This one Luzmila Carpio wrote with Victor Herrero, but very beautiful again her voice with her charango.

 

Luzmila Carpio sings in a style that I'm not familiar with, and is hitting some exceptionally high notes. In the Carnival 2014 clip up above she is singing in a more familiar (to western ears) way. In other tracks she creates sounds that I've not heard before. Particularly in wordless vocals in the codas of the songs. I'm not familiar enough with Bolivian (and other South American) music to know if this style is particular to Carpio, or whether it's a common style.

From Wiki I see that she was the Bolivian ambassador in France from 2006 until 2010.

There has also been an album of her music with an electronic remix released, Luzmila Carpio meets ZZK.



For those catching up on the thread: We'll have a day off once we've finished the countries starting with 'B'. This would be a good day for posting catch-up songs/videos and discussing countries already covered.

BTW: I'm also reading up more on Bolivian musical instruments, such as the various sub-types of charango and how South American instruments such as the zamponas fits into the larger pan flute family, which is a bigger and more varied family of instruments than I realised.

 

What about some Bolivian Death Metal? I stumbled upon a band called "Alcoholika La Christo" from La Paz. Somehow they manage to combine traditional Bolivian flutes and drums with some pretty heavy riffs LOL!


And here is Querembas, from the Eastern part of the country, which also mixes traditional music with some synth-heavy metal. Somehow it works.
YouTube

 

Great clips there.

 

Thanks for the music, everyone.

Today's country is Bosnia and Herzegovina.

I'll lead with this song, Himna Generacije by Dubioza Kolektiv.



The band describe themselves in quite some detail in English on their web site. They mention international musical influences including ska, punk, reggae, electronic, hip-hop, as well as local Balkan flavours. They don't mention Madness as an influence, but there are some similarities of style.

One thing I find difficult in this thread is knowing that the music I post is what I think it is. Here is Ederlezi from the film Time of the Gypsies, attributed on Youtube to composer Goran Bregović and Serbian film-maker Emir Kusturica. I would like to think that this is a representation of Romani music, but don't know for sure. I post it here with the concern that Murphy's law will immediately come into play once I can't edit the post. At least the composer is Bosnian. Albeit with a Serbian mother and a Croatian father. He's had a long and very wide-reaching career, and here he is on guitar with 1970s band Bijelo Dugme.

I want to cover different styles and eras of music, so here is some (in my opinion) nice but a bit generic rap, Izgubljeni snovi by Frenkie. And here's again some interesting, but not too adventurous pop/rock, Rane by Dino Merlin. One thing I've noticed is that some decades ago music in many countries around the world had a bit of a production standards gap compared to the traditional countries that dominated pop/rock in says the 70s or 80s. This gap appears to be gone, with music in pretty much all countries in the world often being super-slick as it is for these two tracks. Compare that to this track from 1984 by the band SCH before the wall came down. Production-wise it's primitive, but in my opinion it's musically much more interesting.

Here's some simple acoustic music, A Gift to Me by Sir Croissant

One form of Bosnian (and other countries in the area) folk must is sevdalinka (sevdah for short), which has roots in the 15th century. I've found a list of young artists who are rediscovering this form, and releasing new music. Here's Damir Imamovic with the song Sarajevo. But, from the same web page, here's a solo vocal performance and interesting video for the song Lelija by Bozo Vreco.

I'm not sure that I've really found the right music to represent Bosnia, but it's getting close to 9am and I have usually posted by now. With some countries I look for a list of 'music you must hear from X' and it's musical revelation after musical revelation. It's been a bit more difficult with Bosnia. There's plenty of interesting music, but I haven't found quite what I've found for other countries. Yet.

EDIT: Murphy's law strikes, and I find a better playlist on Spotify. From that, here's a synthy/rocky/with funk elements song 'Aggressive Tenderness' by interesting band KillingJazzHardCoreBaby. And here's 'New Primitivist' band Bombaj Štampa with a bit of, in my opinion, very catchy 60s/Beatle-ish style music: Nadim. The band was formed in 1982, but this song is from after their reformation in 2008.

 

Much to get to grips with today, but the standout for me is the clip from "Time of the Gypsies". I've seen a couple of Kusturica's films, but not that one which I will have to get around to some time (it can be rented on YT for a small payment, I see).

My selection is from the Bosnian sevdah band Divanhana

Information from a YT comment by Almir R. (who has added a translation of the song) "it started as a poem by a poet, Aleksa Šantić, who fell in love with a girl of different religious background, who never spoke a single word to him. In fact, according to the song/poem, Aleksa only collected courage once to approach Emina and say hello. The song describes that moment of rejection"

Divanhana, visiting the poet's final resting place (he died in 1924) at the beginning of the year
YouTube

and a quarantine video posted last month, featuring their current singer Sejla Grgic (six times)
YouTube
she appears to have replaced their previous singer Lejla Catic

Biography
Aleksa Šantić - Wikipedia

 

Thanks @john hp . I don't expect people to listen to all the tracks that I post, which is one reason why I give descriptions so that people can pick and choose what to listen to. I'm hoping that later posts on other countries will be a bit shorter

Nice video for 'Emina'. One location, good choreography and some fancy editing. For the visit to the poet's tomb, the birdsong really adds to the ambience. The quarantine song is really nice too.

BTW: It seems that the song I posted by Bombaj Štampa is a cover of Chuck Berry's Nadine with translated lyrics.

 

It certainly is, I don't think that I can have got around to that one.

 

As you say, a very pretty piece of guitar pop. I enjoyed it.

Mysterious title, though. Maybe western cheese stylings have some secret significance in Bhutanese pop culture? Or just a subtle ploy to break into the French world music market?

Great thread idea, btw. Many thanks for doing it.

 

Interesting to sample the music from Bosnia and Herzegovina. I wonder to what extent the music has been politicized due to the war and the subsequent very precarious arrangement. Would the songs posted be enjoyed equally by Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs? I doubt it. I have been to the country a few times and had the opportunity to travel around a bit, including to Srebrenica, but never made it to Republica Srpska. But politics aside, I enjoyed the songs, although I am not the biggest fan of music from the Balkans. Looking for other interesting tunes, I stumbled upon a YouTube video of three songs of Muaz Borogovac, who is described as a "boy soprano". Indeed his voice is very high and sounds almost like a woman's voice. It's very hard to get more information about him. Even Wikipedia in BIH doesn't have a page on him. But from the comments I gather that he is now getting on to 60 years and that his father was a famous Saz player. Anyway, I don't feel like exploring further, but have a listen. It is quite beautiful and haunting.

 

Bosnia: I have had some memorable times in this country, whether it be the spectacular scenery, rakija or company. It has long been my favourite of all places I have travelled to, and that fondness extends to much of the Balkans in general. So in celebration of that, today's entry will be something that sits right in my natural field of music: Divlje Jagode (Wild Strawberries), still going strong after 43 years and considered regional pioneers of heavy metal. But this is 70s heavy metal, which isn't just gnarly riffs, death and screaming.

I'll start with the self-titled track: opens with an intro that would lead you to suspect a Balkan Whitesnake power-ballad is incoming, before opening out into a chugging metallic rhythm with no small piece of Van Halen-esque guitar hero soloing towards the back end. Vocals more prevalent here than elsewhere.


Or how about the track Turski Mars: an instrumental that starts out with a long-winded, drum and effects-heavy intro before diverging into a mid-section that wants to be part-National anthem and ends with a brief organ solo akin to a Deep Purple track: YouTube . Great stuff!

Dig deeper, the gifts are bountiful.