If Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is the one remembered for stating that music is an universal language, it’s the great Ella Fitzgerald who defined why by adding: “It brings people closer together.”
And this is the power of music, no matter where it’s coming from, no matter if you can understand the lyrics or not, if you open your heart, you will understand the song. So here’s a musical world tour.
Let’s start in Europe, where I was born. The United Kingdom never ceases to provide the world with a singular yet very diverse sound: from indie rock to trip-hop, it has a wealth of talent and variety that is second to none; across the Channel there’s France which is the only place that could have taken rap and hip hop and elevate it to poetry… and then you have Eastern Europe which is on a league of its own.
Growing up in France implies being at the crossroads of many cultures and being influenced by a lot of African vibes. Whether it’s the sub-Saharan sense of party or the North African Rai or Rai n’ B, Africa always delivers a music full of hope that makes people share happiness.
Asia is a wild card, it’s the most foreign to me and yet it’s the continent that has brought some of the most fascinating musical currents like K-pop or idol metal; it has a way of transcending language barriers that is enthralling.
I’m often harsh on American music, as pretty much every rock band on the continent sounds the same, yet the variety of genres on the continent is second to none; from indie rock, to hip hop, to country; the extreme differences between all this musical currents is also what is so appealing to me.
South America has that Latin passion that embodies surrounding oneself to the rhythm and letting go.
Australia and New Zealand might be on the other side of the world and yet the music coming from down under sounds so familiar and yet so different; it’s what makes it so appealing.
This is the reason why I wanted to share these tracks; World Music at its best is the amalgamation of two creative forces which result is even better than its sum: like when legendary Berber artist, Idir, covers in Kabyle, the magnum opus of French songwriter, Maxime LeForestier, dedicated to a house from the 60s in San Francisco where hippies from all over the world were sharing music. Idir transposed it to Algeria’s Tizi Ozou as an homage to the place where he met and shared many memories with his recently-assassinated friend, singer, and poet, Lounes Matoub.
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