What music have you been into recently?

[Kaori]

I think we've probably all had the experience where we find a new band/artist/music genre and really get into it--or we dig out some music we've known about all along and rediscover how good it is.

So, new discovery or old favorite, what music have you been into recently?

For me:

Christoper Tin (new discovery): I discovered Christopher Tin by hearing about his Grammy-winning video game theme, "Baba Yetu," a.k.a. The Lord's Prayer in Swahili. But as awesome "The Lord's Prayer in Swahili was the main theme of a popular video game and was the first video game song to win a Grammy award" is, when I looked into his music, I found out that the album that "Baba Yetu" is on, Calling All Dawns, is a collection of songs (settings of poetry and religious texts from a variety of cultures) each of which is in a different language--which is totally awesome and right up my alley.

Afro Celt Sound System (old favorite): Afro Celt Sound System is a band that started with the concept of fusing Celtic and African music, hence the name--but like Christopher Tin, they feature musicians, languages, and music traditions from a variety of cultures. Recently dug out and listened to their album Flight and really enjoyed it (again), though I also really love the album Seed, which was my first exposure to them. To people on CAA, I would highly recommend their Sanctus, which is in Latin (mostly) but inspired by African and African-American musical styles (among other things). I was also really blown away by their live video for Cascade and seeing people from so many different cultures and languages making music together.

Myrath (old favorite): Progressive metal with Arabic influences from Tunisia (!). There's a funny story about how I discovered this band, which is that I got one of their CDs (Desert Call) from an online Christian metal distributor. However, Tunisia is a nation that's 99% Muslim, so the likelihood they are really a Christian band is pretty close to zero--I think it's more likely that someone at the distributor made a mistake. Nevertheless, especially in their first two albums, Hope and Desert Call, some of the lyrics are theistic and sound like they could have been written by a Protestant Christian (maybe the influence of their lyric writer?). Though the lyrical themes become a little darker on later albums, there's still nothing terribly objectionable (that I've seen), so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to people on here. Besides, they're the first and I think only metal band from Tunisia to be signed to a major label and experience commercial success, and as I dug out and listened to Desert Call again, I was really impressed by just how good they are! Check out Tempest of Sorrows for a good entry point.