Anyone know of any "world music" with good amounts of distortion/dissonance?

EAT IT ILM! I POSTED IT FIRST!

BUT as far as dissonance, a lot of traditional japanese, filipino, african (among many others) music is extremely "out there" and dissonant

and since a lot of "world music" uses micro-tones and scales we're not used to in the western world, a lot of it seems disonant.

What does that mean, exactly? World music means music made by primitives living in picturesque mud huts? Amplifiers (and distortion pedals) have been around quite a long time and reached other parts of the globe decades ago. Obviously the term "world music" is problematic in itself, but there's plenty of stuff that regularly gets classified as "world music" that has amplification and distortion - including a wide variety of very popular and widely discussed African and Brazillian styles.

yeah I mean those are "psychedelic rock bands", while I think "world music" usually implies traditional/classical music

Again, I think of world music as meaning "traditional" or "classical"

But it's kind of a pointless argument.

Yes, I agree

Haha. Oh, God. I feel like this is what people generally think of when they hear the term "world music". Over-reverbed native american shamans or something

Maybe b/c, and again I guess this has always just been in my head, I tend to think of true "world music" as being like straight field recordings of old traditional music from various cultures

I don't think you have to go to that extreme. The way I tend to use "world music" is to require that it has some (enough!--whatever that is) traditional elements (from a particular country or region or whatever), but would allow for borrowing from outside (often western), which could include borrowing technology. I'm not sure that I personally would consider a psychedelic rock band from, say, Finland, "world music," if they were just pretty strictly following the template created in other countries, but if, say, the melodies were somehow rooted in Finnish traditions, then perhaps. Also, I wouldn't argue the point for very long. "World music" is such an annoying term that I'm not sure it's worth seriously fighting over it's definition.

(I was just getting ready to say this is a boring discussion not worth having, but here I am participating.)

Well, the Konono No. 1 disc might fit your criteria:

Konono No. 1 was formed in the 1980s by a group of Bazombo musicians, dancers, and singers from the Democratic Republic of Congo to play traditional likembe (thumb piano) music in the streets. They soon discovered, though, that they needed amplification to be heard and -- this is where the story of this album really begins -- they took a DIY and utilitarian approach by building their own amplification systems out of junked car parts, magnets, and other flotsam. Once assembled, the system produced a huge hum that Konono No. 1 embraced as part of the sound of the group. At the center of everything were three amped-up thumb pianos tuned to three different registers, and coupled with all manner of pots, pans, whistles, and brake drum snares for percussion and with the vocals blasting through megaphones, all embedded in the huge buzz and hum of the homemade PA system, the group accidentally created a sound that was at once both ancient and traditional and yet eerily akin to experimental 21st century electronica (from http://www.allmusic.com)

"world music" with good amounts of distortion = Animals of Africa: Sounds of the Jungle, Plain & Bush on Nonesuch

Those hyenas r crazy maaan

It sounds like you basically use world music to mean "non-Western traditional/folk music" -- which is fine, I guess. Although even "folk" and "traditional" are fraught with problems. Is it still traditional music if a Yoruba drummer goes and lives in Lagos for a few years, hears a lot of JuJu-type stuff, and then goes back to his village? Is it still traditional if the musician learns a song from a record? What about a travelling "folk musician" who learns and plays songs from a bunch of different cultures?

Zzzzz I'm putting myself to sleep.

That sounds about right

http://www.wfmu.org/Playlists/Doug/doug.2002/020322/narghile.jpg

A few years ago I used to volunteer in an Oxfam shop and they had some kind of African traditional music CD that was pretty great, I never got round to finding out what it was though. I think it might have been a Rough Guide CD but a guide to what exactly I don't know.

*bangs head on desk*

What's your problem?

Also -

Tinariwen, a guitar-centric bluesy group from (I think) Chad (but a dissident, northern tribe there; they purport to be freedom fighters, or ex-ones). Amasakoul (sp?) is the recent disk.

Shanachie recently re-issued The Indestructible Beat of Soweto, which is an excellent compilation of the 70s-era South African pop of the sort that inspired Paul Simon's Graceland. The distortion is subtle and not necessarily intended, but it definitely has a Nuggets-like garage-band feel. (And, it's great music anyway, no wonder Simon fell in love with it.)

Rachid Taha, my perpetual favorite Franco-Algerian dance punk. Not all of his stuff would qualify, but his recent Tekitoi? is rock-ier than his last few studio releases and has tons of fuzzed-out electric guitar (and oud, and "mandolute") and stressed, looped samples of various folk stuff. Avoid the "Rock the Casbah" cover, and go for "Lli Fat Mat", "Hasbou-hum", "Mamachi", "Safi". Also, in a similar vein, the songs "Barra" and "Foqt Foqt" from Made In Medina, the former of which is on the Black Hawk Down soundtrack. His Live record has rock versions of his pre-Tekitoi? greatest hits dominated by somewhat distorted electric guitar and mandolute (and somewhat cheesy synth strings).

In a different vein, Juana Molina is an Argentinian singer-songwriter who uses weird, semi-random computer-generated loops and often-distorted guitar (and a few other instruments) to accompany herself. Her album Segundo uses distortion a lot more than followup Tres Cosas (and I think Segundo is better, anyway). Try "Martin Fierro" and "Mantra del Bicho Feo".

Los Lobos / Latin Playboys ought to qualify as "world music", and their Froom-produced albums (Kiko, Colossal Head, and whatever the first Latin Playboys album was called) use distortion a lot.

Obviously, I like rock-y pop. There are legions of Japanese (and other -ese or -ish) noise bands I have never heard (or never paid enough attention to to remember), some of whom my use some traditional Japanese (or other -ese or -ish) elements so as to cross the "world music" threshold. Someone else can parse them.

How about Ethnic Trance?
http://www.standardrecords.dk/

I have live recordings of narco-corrido singers like Chalino Sanchez singing over a way-too-loud, way-too-fast, amplified brass bands, that feature wild distortion. Its the closest world music gets to punk rock. It seems to be a feature of live performances though, the studio albums aren't like that.

AARGH! I saw this show and would love a copy but now I must search more.

It was Bumbershoot 1999 in Seattle. Good stuff.

shortwavemusic.

A 2003 Crossing Borders performance by them just turned up on DaD - is this the one?

etoile 2000 from senegal ('77-'81) is really genius. Try to find their compilation (called boubou n'gary or dakar sound vol 1)of the 3 cassettes they made.

More recently the yaala yaala label (some relation with drag city)released the pekos/yoro diallo album and a compilation 'bougouni yaalali' both from mali, distorted and great.

i've been trying to find that etoile 2000 for ages to no avail - one day!

thanks for the 'yaala yaala' tip. i shall investigate.

Yeah same here. Who will be pretty and YSI Etoile 2000 for Stir et moi?

does selda count