Rough Guide To Undiscovered World, The

Rough Guide to Undiscovered World
Reviewed by Sadie O., 7/5/12
Various World and World Mashup artists – the winners of the World Music Network battle of the bands. Some aren’t undiscovered at all (Amadou Diagne, Monoswezi), but some were a real surprise (Saratuspersen – wowzers!)
1. 5:02 ******mashup of African percussion and Gamelan, then totally manic groove, almost Balkan Gypsy feel with lots of whooping. Fun! Gamelan ‘n’ bass interlude. Then Indonesia’s version of the Beastie Boys. Yay!
2. 3:51 **plinky strings, sounds like Eastern or Celtic Euro-folk but is actually Chinese (Yi). You can tell when it comes to the warbly pipe thingy.
3. 6:05 **traditional Ethiopian, quite fast, male and female call and response, bit of a modern shuffle behind the traditional sound.
4. 4:14 **pretty, warbly flute, nasal vocals. Folksy sounding, but later gets a nice funky standup bass and drums. Call it Polish alternative jazz…
5. 3:09 **bit of holler, sawed violin… Fast, complex percussion. West African male vocalist. Very rootsy, but a combination of roots (which works.)
6. 6:08 ***downbeat, rather wistful, but nice percussion, sweet swing. Tune sounds like “Those Were the Days, My Friend” – maybe it’s ArabiFlamencan cabaret… Anyway, it’s quite beautiful.
7. 2:04 **upbeat folk harmonica trio from Romania. Happy bouncy!
8. 4:17 **midtempo swingy Polish folk, raw female vocal chorus. Goes totally to pieces about a minute from the end.
9. 6:29 **very low-key and pretty mbira, female vocals. Relaxed, swingy, soft. African and Nordic members. Jazzy sax in second half.
10. 4:10 ****midtempo, gentle and lovely harmonies from Madagascar.
11. 2:48 ***downtempo and quite unusual combination of various mbira and electric guitar. Lots of percussion but not much actual beat. Zimbabwean.
12. 4:56 ***chime-y and bluesy strings, quite unusual sounds. Sort of folk-psych, from Cypress.
13. 6:54 ***high flutes and plinky strings, odd (to Western ears, at least!) male vocals. Stops, and starts as fast drums and strings, then relaxed, almost prog-rock groove with female vocals. Balinese dreamstuff.
14. 3:13 ***rootsy acoustic guitar, terribly pretty and relaxed. From Dakar – very evidently a griot.
15. 2:15 **pretty female solo vocal intro, then HUGE South African (Desmond Tutu’s) a capella choir. Lovely enough to evoke tears.