East of West is a terrific Brisbane band, and this new release well and truly backs that up. I love the background info on Bandcamp:

'Velella' refers to Velella velella - the "by-the-wind sailor," a colonial hydrozoan whose way of life, floating across the surface of the open ocean, carries it by the wind to many places, as we hope our music does for our listeners.
Recorded live in Brisbane by the extraordinary Melbourne-based sound engineer Siiri Metsar, this album further extends the band's unique sound and style, inviting listeners to immerse themselves in its finely-cratted soundscapes and improvisations.

Over the eight years of their collaboration, East of West have developed an intuitive musical relationship, flourishing through their dynamic interplays, virtuosic unison melodies and expressive soloing. Gajić's compositions explore gentle melodic motifs nested in uptempo passages set to Balkan-influenced rhythms, interspersed with moments of mesmerising musical sparseness.

"I had two new ideas for this album," Gajić says. "One of them was to arrange tunes allowing for improvised sections to become more open and interactive, and to be as important part of the recording as the melody. I believe we managed to achieve this in a couple of tracks and I am quite pleased with that. Another thing I wanted is to give more opportunity for Malindi to express herself on percussion. She always carefully crafts her percussion arrangements, but this time she had a few more opportunities for open solos which she played rather beautifully."

Philip Griffin, the trio's oud player and a highly skilled naturalist, has also contributed two compositions to this album: a Distinct Lack of Parrotfinch - a driving piece in the unusual time signature of 50/8 - whose title links to his adventures in search of the elusive bird. His second piece, Camille, was written for his god-daughter.

Hi everyone! 👋

I wanted to share a classic example of contemporary Vietnamese Bolero, a deeply popular sentimental music style in Vietnam that blends traditional storytelling with expressive vocal duets.

"Làm Dâu Xứ Lạ" (Bridal Journey to a Distant Land) expresses the heartache of a young woman leaving her hometown and first love to get married far away. The performance features a traditional duet structure between male and female singers, filled with melancholic lyrics and rich melody typical of Southern Vietnamese musical traditions.

🎧 Genre: Vietnamese Bolero / Melancholic Duet / Folk-Pop

🌏 Origin: Vietnam

Hope you enjoy discovering this musical genre from Southeast Asia! Feel free to share your thoughts on the vocal delivery and traditional arrangement. 🎶

Hildá Birget Länsman (born 1993), also known by her Sámi name Ánn-Ovllá Káre Jari Hildá, is a Sámi singer-songwriter and musician.

Motivation

Bella Ciao - “olin o” - By jan Watemalaki

Toki Pona Cover

suno li kama. mi weka lape.

The sun arose. I awoke.

olin mi o, olin o, mi tawa a a.

My love, O love, goodbye.

suno li kama. mi weka lape

The sun arose. I awoke

li lukin e utala.

And I saw the war.

jan utala o tawa e mi a.

Warriors, carry me.

olin mi o, olin o, mi tawa a a.

My love, O love, goodbye.

jan utala o tawa e mi a.

Warriors, carry me.

tan ni: mi kama moli.

For death is coming.

mi kama moli lon utala la,

If I die in the war,

olin mi o, olin o, mi tawa a a.

My love, O love, goodbye.

mi kama moli lon utala la,

If I die in the war,

o anpa e mi lon ni.

please bury me here.

o anpa e mi lon sewi nena.

Bury me atop a mountain.

olin mi o, olin o, mi tawa a a.

My love, O love, goodbye.

o anpa e mi lon sewi nena,

Bury me atop a mountain,

lon anpa pi kasi kule.

under a colorful flower.

poka ona la jan li tawa a.

People will walk near it.

olin mi o, olin o, mi tawa a a.

My love, O love, goodbye.

poka ona la jan li tawa a

People will walk near it

li toki e ni: 「suwi a!」

and say “How beautiful!”

kasi ni li tawa jan utala.

This flower is for the warrior.

olin mi o, olin o, mi tawa a a.

My love, O love, goodbye.

kasi ni li tawa jan utala.

This flower is for the warrior.

moli ona li tawa ken.

His death was for freedom.

“Cálice” is one of the most politically significant songs in Brazilian popular music. Its extraordinary feature is that it disguises a protest against censorship and political repression as a religious lament.
The title is the key to understanding the entire composition.
In Portuguese, cálice means chalice, the cup associated with Christ's suffering. But it sounds almost identical to cale-se, meaning “shut up” or “be silent.”
That double meaning is not accidental. It is the central artistic device of the song.

The remarkable history
In 1973, Brazil was governed by a military dictatorship that had seized power in 1964. Political opponents faced imprisonment, torture, and censorship.
Buarque and Gil wrote “Cálice” for the Phono 73 music festival. When they attempted to perform it, the organizers cut off their microphones to prevent the forbidden lyrics from being heard.
It was a particularly striking demonstration of censorship: the government was literally silencing musicians performing a song about being silenced.

The song remained banned for five years. When it was finally released in November 1978, Buarque recorded it with the extraordinary Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento, rather than co-writer Gilberto Gil.

How am I only discovering her voice now?

Sigi Gno Gonya - Ballaké Sissoko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE6OsWGXJPY

I just wanna say this is self-promo so delete it if necessary.

I've always loved the songs and this sure wasn't an easy cover to make for me with all the words and the fast pace. Hope I did OK and hope you enjoy a bit o' Irish music ☘️

The music and voice that shaped the identity of an entire village, province and it's people. The music lives on always.

Name or Post your favourite Hollie Maea or Robert Oeka song in the comments.

(Other comments welcome too.)

Sareva lareva. 🐊

The duduk is one of Armenia’s oldest traditional instruments, with roots going back centuries. Its deep, haunting sound has become closely associated with Armenian identity, especially the sorrow and loss that have shaped so much of Armenian history. “Siretsi Yares Taran,” meaning “They Took My Beloved Away,” is a song about mourning, separation, and the pain of losing someone you love. For many Armenians, the sound of the duduk is more than just music. It's a reminder of the people, homes, and lives that were taken from them.

i have not really seen many playlists where people actually mix music from across continents. usually when they are doing so, it is out of an obligation, such as trying to get a song from every country. that's okay. but how many people actually add songs from all these places in their normal listening habits? do people just have playlists separated by country / region / language and never mix them at all with the music of their native country / language / region? i can't speak for others, but i definitely do.

really though, i don't often see people doing what i have just described: having different mixes for different places. i want to shout out someone who did some good ones relegated to specific regions in the past: https://www.youtube.com/@goldilockszonemusic8582/videos (i'm not affiliated with them, trust). these are probably the most accessible to people here. he did some very good work, and making these would not have been easy, in fact i'm not sure how he would have found most of these songs. he's definitely worth checking out, as his channel is very underappreciated. next, I will go over why even more diverse mixes can be good as well.

why total mixes are a good thing: you are going to be confronted with something you are unfamiliar with, thereby increasing your tolerance for things different to you in the world. not focusing on the country of origin keeps you away from biases that you will unconsciouslessly or sometimes consciously (unfortunately) associate with a country. news, people and communities on the internet help propagate these negative biases and you may not even be able to tell it's happening. the different languages gives this away, but your ear gets tuned to this eventually. to me, this is true equality, seeing someone as they really are and not tied to a country and everything that comes with it. deep down, you will know their country of origin, but eventually the distiction becomes less important once it's within a pool of lots of different types of music you all enjoy. at this point you appreciate the differences without biases, as the enjoyment outweighs all else.

French musician Vincent Bucher on harmonica

An example of famo music, the folk music genre of the Basotho people.