On this week’s Timely Tunes playlist, I take you on a brief virtual tour of the globe outside of The United States (other than Hawaii and Puerto Rico) and Western Europe, highlighting a small sampling of beautiful and disparate sounds from around the world.

Timely Tunes

a weekly feature by Christopher Piercy

The term “world music” became a bastardized, financially cynical catch-all used by the Western record industry to connote marketable exoticism. In more recent years, there has been an increased interest in presenting the music as it truly is rather than as a neutered facsimile. This would be a nearly infinite playlist if I were to try to cover music from every corner of the map, but I hope that this might serve, at least, as a starting point in looking at the incredible culture the world has to offer from places often reduced to news stories of war, unrest, or poverty.

TIMELY TUNES, VOL. 52

TRACKLIST:

1. Selda Begcan “Adaletin Bu mu Dunya” (Turkey)
2. Nahwa “Mawaal Hejrak” (Lebanon)
3. Omar Souleyman “Mawal” (Syria)
4. Le Trio Joubran “Nawwar” (Palestine)
5. Kazim Alsaher “Eny Khairtek” (Iraq)
6. Hamidreza Nourbakhsh “Shab-e Tar” (Iran)
7. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan “Dam Hama Dam Ali Ali” (Pakistan)
8. Mahwash “Gar Konad Saheb-E-Man” (Afghanistan)
9. Ali Akbar Khan “Raga Vasant Mukhari: Alap” (India)
10. Naji Barakat “Mutawal” (Yemen)
11. Umm Kulthum “Aala Balad El Mahboub” (Egypt)
12. Dhafer Youssef “Tarannoum” (Tunisia)
13. Bonga “Mona Ki Ngi Xica” (Angola)
14. Master Musicians of Joujouka “Mali Mal Hal M’Halmaz” (Morocco)
15. Fela Kuti “Fefe Naa Efe” (Nigeria)
16. Youssou N’Dour “Set” (Senegal)
17. Ebo Taylor “Atwer Abroba” (Ghana)
18. Ali Farka Toure “Savane” (Mali)
19. Echo Del Africa “Yiri Wah” (Burkina Faso)
20. Mulatu Astatke “I Faram Gami I Faram” (Ethiopia)
21. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo “Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me” (Benin)
22. Fundi Konde “Ajali Haikingiki” (Kenya)
23. Konono No.1 “Paradiso” (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
24. Zinja Hlungwani “Ntombi Ya Mugaza” (South Africa)
25. Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet “Toro Mata” (Peru)
26. Eduardo Mateo “Jacinta” (Uruguay)
27. Nara Leao “O Barquinho” (Brazil)
28. El Sexteto Miramar “Cumbiamba” (Colombia)
29. Daniel Melingo “En Un Bondi Color Humo” (Argentina)
30. Juan Vicente Torrealba “Caraquena” (Venezuela)
31. La Banda “La Avispa” (Costa Rica)
32. Jesus Acosta & The Professionals “Guajida” (Belize)
33. Vicente Fernandez “Hermoso Carino” (Mexico)
34. Ibrahim Ferrer “Marieta” (Cuba)
35. Dr. Alimantado “Born For A Purpose” (Jamaica)
36. Ismael Rivera “Arrecotin Arrecotan” (Puerto Rico)
37. Gabby Pahinui “Nani Ko’olau” (Hawaii)
38. Tasi Kabulo: String Band “E-Yo, E-Yo” (Papua New Guinea)
39. Surakarta Sekaten Gamelan “Srepegan” (Indonesia)
40. Min Huifen “Yangguan Pass Melody – Three Variations” (China)
41. Satomi Saeki and Alcvin Takegawa Ramos “Chidori No Kyoku” (Japan)
42. Ros Seresyothea “Jam 10 Kai Theit” (Cambodia)
43. Pham duc Thanh “Ly Ngua O” (Vietnam)