https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mieEeD0Kfk (Brit Olam/ Matti Caspi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE5cHysMf5o (Hine Hine/Matti Caspi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV2rGPHvB8g (Lakahta et Yadi/ Yehudit Ravitz)
But anyway, my partner sings one of our oldest documented songs, which I would classify as fairly unknown outside of historical circles and in an older form of English that is quite tricky to decipher: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr2LRpx4Uyk
I learn quite a few tunes and songs from various countries and it's interesting as to which I find immediately feel familiar to me. Scandinavian, French, Belgian, Breton, Quebecois stuff etc is very popular in folk circles here in the UK and I both listen and play a lot of it. Though a lot of us might struggle to sing along you might be surprised at how far some traditional songs travel :D
From personal experience of trying to play old tunes (rather than songs), I definitely have to make my own interpretation of it based on my own experience. Sometimes you do come across some truly perplexing notation though, that really makes you wonder how it sounded originally. Some of the tunes in the Playford collection are super weird but as Playford was basically Top of the 17th Century Pops you have to assume it _did_ sound good however they used to play it :D
1. 1957 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69pPYkGiEAQ 2. 1975 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2HQGNuIY-Y 3. 1991 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyUe_BWqoOE (fourth most popular song in a poll conducted by the BBC World Service worldwide in 2002) 4. 1956 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtV2i4JWzJg 5. 1952 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwXL_xznCmc
Easy to listen - Amor Electro - Portuguese band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwCyqvpJZwE
More difficult to listen - Ornatos Violeta - Portuguese band with brilliant but honest lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRDr4ivis4o
Even more difficult to listen - Zeca Afonso - songs against former Portuguese dictatorship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLWqy4e7ls
Here's a perfect live of another one of their songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBN-ruyacSs
Amhrán Mhúinse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0QM8mlr28 (English lyrics are in the description) - This is probably my favorite of all Irish sean-nós songs. It's super haunting, and made even sadder by the fact the woman who wrote the song didn't get her wish to be buried in her home area.
Coilín Phádraig Shéamuis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOjSOAxN9Wg -- Typical song about immigration, quite melancholic.
Also, Iarla Ó Lionard does quite a lot of good work in the sean-nós tradition (he was heard on the film Brooklyn); here's one of my favorites by him - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35U1sOOjdDg
FInally, it's hard not to mention Seosamh Ó hÉanaí/Joe Heaney/Joe Éinniú, a native speaker from the Galway Gaeltacht - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrSL3YtzP_w
And, for some newer works in the language that I enjoy
An Cailín Álainn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5l82gO7tuw
Pócaí Folamh is Cloigeann Tinn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0L54BJFRnw
Siar go Conamara - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tywACdkAgc
All of these songs are sung by natives, which, sadly, is getting less and less common as the native speaking areas dwindle and as summer camps get millions of views translating the latest English language hit for summer school kids with awful pronunciation to sing.
The intro ends at 0:14 and I can never keep my feet still with this song: https://youtu.be/yf6kTjLVG2Y
A band with an incredible history. The singer is an Italian-Scottish born after his family escaped China. He attended the same school as Prince Charles but ran away one year before graduating. Somehow landed in the middle of the mountains in Argentina and started a reggae band that would morph into what’s in the link below. The most influential band of the underground music in Argentina in my opinion.
And a band with lyrics you wouldn’t understand even if you knew the language:
She's one of few artists that I can listen to her entire discography as a playlist and enjoy every single song.
I love finding new music in other languages so I appreciate this post.
Few songs to listen for the added variety and by local singers from Nepal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfsipZhqlOk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXyJuVPInH4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjD3ayZUTEM
From other parts of the World:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7lJ69mQe6o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NIIPUfmr_4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql3wuNvSa6U
I have started making a Visual encyclopedia of unwritten and undocumented cultures of the world, currently focusing on Nepal. http://www.viewpedia.org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z2FmAzArl4 (Baldorba / Benito Lertxundi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IthTQD6XonM (Eperrak / Anje Duhalde)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRXmWm-sCzA (Xorieri mintzo zen / Erramun martikorena)
Modern:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8bc3kQF040 (Lau Teilatu / Itoiz)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwgPX3XUnsc (Ilargia / Ken zazpi)
Byssan lull: https://youtu.be/ogYC4LgqqnM A lullaby I think all Norwegian children have heard their beds, but it's actually Swedish
Til ungdommen: https://youtu.be/CieUTG8Z6Z0 The song became very beloved after 22.07.2011 and I think close to everyone here will get tears in their eyes when they hear it
Mitt hjerte alltid vanker: https://youtu.be/27JqZ8eEZlw Since it's Christmas soon. Very popular in Norway, although it's originally Danish
I guess it demonstrates the close historical relationship between the Nordic countries
It was used as a score for a recent Polish game "This War of Mine"
Just to participate I'll share one I consider obscure, though it's not my language and I don't speak it(Gaelic), I find it calming.
Spokoynaya Noch (Quiet Night): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOYkG5VMhp8
Peremen (Changes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg7BFXss1hE
Zakroi za mnoi dver, ya uhozhu (Close the door behind me, I am going away): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ind9EPBzh-Y
A bit of trivia: Paulo Coelho started his career composing songs to this guy.
Teddy Afro is also one the greats. Here is an upbeat one with some historical cinematic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKrw9LIkAeU
A a great example -
‘Long Live The Sahrawi Army’ by El Wali
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_hoWwf1Sibg
Link to a good wiki on the genre -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA_xG7rTxiA
Also this remake:
Muzinge - Samite of Uganda
Makambo - Geoffrey Oryema
Koloman - Sona Dibate
The Moon Over Mtatsminda - version on Jan Garbarek album
Like potato chips, hard to stop once you start...
Again, native for someone
Zajdi zajdi - Tose Proeski
Vökuró - Björk
Native to somebody...
* Worst song ever in the history of space (they were hoping to go to the Eurovision with this, and iirc almost succeeded; later they were actually invited to the Paris Fashion Week to perform this on stage):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dllo85ZSUk (Winny Puhh - Meiecundimees üks Korsakow läks eile Lätti / Korsakow, a guy from our area, went to Latvia yesterday)
* There is something very Estonian about this (not only the landscapes, it's actually a funny song, but very heart-warming):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVfPf006Vw0 (Orelipoiss - See alles jääb / Organ Boy - This Will Remain)
* A camp classic from the 1990s, sung and performed by a former chemistry teacher:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoZG75CTB7g (Onu Bella - Ma võtsin viina / Uncle Bella - I Drank Some Vodka)
* Something I discovered recently -- stunning conteporary folk. It's an old spell from Estonian folklore:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Kpt0fFgME (Duo Ruut - Tuule sõnad / Words for Wind)
* Maybe the most popular contemporary folk group in Estonia these days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP3wAfIIhAo (Trad.Attack! - Kallimale / To My Dearest)
* An influential acapella group:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cjuTYZBWOI (Estonian Voices - Kättemaks / Revenge)
* Another widely loved singer is Mari Kalkun, mostly interpreting older songs in the Võru dialect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AClRxNvbiZY (Mari Kalkun - Mõtsavele mäng / Forest Brother Game)
* Ah, and I'll also add Vennaskond, a punk (sort-of; hard to define actually) group that was strangely loved by everybody in the 1990s, inclunding those who generally hated rock music. This song is not typical for them, but I sometimes listen to this when I want to be sad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oppqjn1voWo (Vennaskond - Depressiiv-maniakaalne psühhoos / Manic Depressive Psychosis)
