Return of the World Music Thread: 2012

i know for a fact boima is dead on with that point.

batida only mentioned parenthetically in that post but worth checking out -- soundways put out his latest album and it's great

lol i just noticed above curmudgeon that you listened to it earlier this year and weren't impressed

i wonder why was soundway so universally snubbed? they release a lot of interesting stuff imo.

The reissues are not snubbed, just not included in polls of new albums. They seem to receive a lot of praise. I have seen a few critics poll votes for Batida and Ondatropica. I find something too gimmicky about them, so I do not personally like them, but some clearly do. They are not marketed to a Latino radio audience (or at least a USA one I would guess) and I do not think the label can afford to push promo cds or downloads to lots of critics.

They are not marketed to a Latino radio audience (or at least a USA one I would guess)
true, and i think this is part of the problem

I was looking for some Indian and Asian music and the one thing I saw to check out is Kiran Ahluwalia - Common Ground from last year. Anything else? I like how Tinariwen and other Malian bands have been touching on some psychedelic rock, and I imagined that would be a cool fusion in the context for Indian artists, but have not heard of anything.

Have you listened to any of that Sa Dingding I've linked to (in this thread, and on her own thread, and on the ILM EOY campaigning thread, and probably a couple other places)? Asian-Canadian Yamantaka//Sonic Titan? Not very Asian here, but it seems up your alley if you haven't heard it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhxrH1pWRVw

(Better is their full ablum from last year.)

I find the Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen board Electric Mole a good lead for Asian music, but that may be because I already share an enthusiasm for SR/TJ. The lists here are a mix of the usual suspects plus for Asiancentric choices, plus more idiosyncratic ones: http://forums.electricmole.net/showthread.php?t=2019

(I remember that you liked Adult to some extent.)

Or are you mostly looking for Indian and Pakistani music (and the like)? I can't say I've heard anything much from this year.

This rolling listening thread has turned up some good things for me, too. Lots of Asian music posted to it (not what we'd normally think of as world music, and again not really Indian/Pakistani): http://forums.electricmole.net/showthread.php?t=8

There was also this which I think might have had more people posting to it, and more Asian material, unless I'm mis-remembering (also possible):

http://forums.electricmole.net/showthread.php?t=1966

Oh yeah, maybe you'd like Zazen Boys' albums, Stories. I knew I was forgetting something Asian from my own list.

I liked Mordy's whirled list

Curmudgeon, you might as well start 2013's thread. (I do think it makes sense to keep it even as we all moan about the "world music" label.)

Here it is:

Rolling World Music Thread 2013