Koncocoo

Best Georgian Music

Georgian Voices
Reviews
"If you have never been serenaded with Georgian music before by 12 to 30 people, you will not understand this music."
"Loving every recording I can lay my hands on."
"Incredible singing, astonishing harmonies, some pieces so unearthly beautiful they will bring tears to your eyes."
"The music is authentic Georgian folk music and it sounds good!"
"And if I'm not mistaken the song Orovela was performed by late Hamlet Gonashvili, the best folk singer that probably ever been born in Georgia."
"I like this CD very much and would recommend it to anyone who loves vocal music."
"I am a bit surpised that a lot of people compare Georgian Folklore to Bulgarian and consider them as something very similar to each other."
"It has the most powerful singing, with the most exciting harmonies, I have ever heard."
Find Best Price at Amazon
Georgian Voices
Reviews
"If you have never been serenaded with Georgian music before by 12 to 30 people, you will not understand this music."
"Loving every recording I can lay my hands on."
"Incredible singing, astonishing harmonies, some pieces so unearthly beautiful they will bring tears to your eyes."
"The music is authentic Georgian folk music and it sounds good!"
"And if I'm not mistaken the song Orovela was performed by late Hamlet Gonashvili, the best folk singer that probably ever been born in Georgia."
"I like this CD very much and would recommend it to anyone who loves vocal music."
"I am a bit surpised that a lot of people compare Georgian Folklore to Bulgarian and consider them as something very similar to each other."
"It has the most powerful singing, with the most exciting harmonies, I have ever heard."
Find Best Price at Amazon
World Network, Vol. 2: Georgia Georgian Polyphony
Reviews
"The Rustavi Choir provides some excellent and powerful performances of Georgian traditional vocal music."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Armenian Music

The Music of Armenia
With a rush of world music arriving in record stores, collections and compilations can be valuable on two counts: as an opportunity to get a comprehensive overview of a specific genre, or, conversely, as an easy entry into a wide array of different musics.Two collections from Celestial Harmonies are impressive examples of the comprehensive overview of a specific genre approach: The Music of Bali and The Music of Armenia .
Reviews
"Many years ago I heard this song on the radio - Chinar Es by Sharakan Early Music Ensemble (from Armenia) - sublime, sheer ecstasy."
"But then, that's probably another project, since this box set covers the folk and sacred music styles of the ethnic Eastern Armenians."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Ukranian Music

Ukrainian Christmas Carols And New Year Songs
Ukrainian Christmas Carols And New Year Songs by Authentic Ethnic Music Recordings.
Reviews
"It reminds me of the recordings Bartok did in the early 20th century, and I suspect these are from a similar period, though the commentary doesn't give any date."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Romanian Music

Lonely Shepard
1980 POLYGRAM RECORDS Audio CASSETTE.
Reviews
"I remember this music from years past."
"I first heard this " The Lonely Shepard" as background music for video of the natural beauty of our world."
"Beautiful and very relaxing."
"He plays wonderfully - I really enjoy listening to his music."
"This is a nice music CD for those who likes inspirational music, wonderful melodies to help get relax any body."
"If you have never heard the panpipes played before, this is the CD to start with."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Russian Music

Sacred Treasures: Choral Masterworks from Russia
Words cannot describe poignantly enough the exquisite, angelic voices that permeate the heart and exalt the soul on Sacred Treasures .
Reviews
"The sound quality is very clear, as is often NOT the case with religious music recordings, unfortunately, but here it is good."
"Some pieces are perfectly rendered and some are, as other reviewers have noted, covered with high-frequency tape hiss."
"Good for going to sleep by."
"item received in good condition."
"The music on this CD is absolutely ethereal."
"I'm listenign to this one and another one of sacred treasures that had received many great reviews."
"Absolutely beautiful."
"The CD just arrived today and I'm listening through my trusty Sennheiser 280HD cans."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Albanian Music

New York City: Global Beat of the Boroughs
New York's soundscape is as varied and distinctive as its skyline. Even though Global Beat of the Boroughs includes 31 tracks, it only hints at the phenomenal variety of music played in New York City, but because the tracks are so well chosen, the musical depth of the individual selections more than makes up for the (relative) lack of breadth.
Reviews
"From the folksongs of the rural mountains of Albania to the white sand beaches of the Caribbean, the immigrants that settled in New York certainly brought a wealth of diversity in music."
"I have lived in NY all my life, not in the city,(but very close). This is a great world music collection, that includes many tracks by the Latino population."
"The New York City Global Beat of the Boroughs stands out as a music compilation on which nearly every one of the 30+ tracks sizzle."
"What happens when a treasured American label works with New York's Center for Traditional Music and Dance to find representative samples of the myriad musical cultures that exist in New York City?"
"I hope to find more cds like this one."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Bulgarian Music

Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares
Reviews
"The work is exotic, filled with deeply engaging counterpoint and passions that are as deep as they are lacking translation--liner notes are a thing of the LP past."
"The Bulgarian language only adds to the mystery of the Bulgarian voices, and it's perfect for their various vocal affectations, microtonal variations and Eastern European harmonies. To further add to the mystery, if you ever see them live, you will wonder what planet they came from."
"Since she did not know of the group, we sent her this copy."
"Most albums of this type get too repetitive, and the tracks on this are quite similar to each other, but something about the way they harmonize makes it pleasant to even go through the whole thing in one sitting."
"Amazing vocal precision, fascinating music."
"It almost hurts to listen to, it's so beautiful."
"This music is amazing."
"exactly what i was looking for, and knew.. very good condition, good deal."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Hungarian Music

Dreams
For this album, his quintet (featuring guitar ace Jimmy Stewart) is augmented by Gary McFarland's fine string arrangements.
Reviews
"Amazing album."
"Wonderful."
"This album is perhaps one of the most unusual jazz collaborations of the 70's."
"Simply a delight!"
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Azerbaijan Music

Love's Deep Ocean
THIS CD IS IN PERFECT PLAYING CONDITION.
Reviews
"He rivals Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in both voice and passion."
"Mugham teachers divided the human voice into low voice, breast voice, middle voice and high voice, and each of these voices had to have range of two and a half octaves, at least. Throughout, and as always, he caresses his gaval, a one-sided percussion instrument; specially stretched sturgeon's skin over walnut shell ring with small metal rings attched to its interior, a sweet accompaniment to his trills, tremelo and mordants."
"Alim Qasimov - Love's Deep Ocean. I have spent many evenings mesmerized by truly incredible performances during my years as a musician and music lover. But rarely have I been as moved and transfixed as an evening I spent at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago two and a half years ago, when I was privileged so see one of Alim Qasimov's first performances in the US. Mugham, like much other Middle Eastern influenced music, is based on a repertoire of songs passed down throughout the centuries upon which a singer improvises using traditional scales and melodic patterns. I find it impossible not to be deeply moved by this marvelous music, especially the long track Ey Encanlar, which seems to grow in intensity with each new phrase."
"Alim Qasimov is ultimately the best musician to represent Azerbaijani classical music (mugham)."
"I wish I could understand the lyrics, as the emotion apparent in his voice sounds like the type that might destroy you were you to grasp the full weight of its meaning."
"In this CD Alim Qasimov and his daughter Ferghana set a new standard of excellance in both vocal perfection and passion."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Gypsy Music

The Classic Early Recordings
This wonderful five-disc box is an indispensable collection of prewar, prebop jazz that belongs in the company of your finest Louis Armstrong , Duke Ellington , Count Basie , and Benny Goodman sets. Dating to the very first Quintet of the Hot Club of France sessions in September 1934 (before they'd even established that moniker), the collection includes all the landmark recordings Reinhardt made for Ultraphone, Decca (its English and French labels), and HMV up through the Quintet's 1939 breakup on the eve of World War II. Despite their well-documented personality clashes, the twosome remains perhaps the most synergistic in jazz history, constantly engaging in their incredible cat-and-mouse games.
Reviews
"He was one-of-a-kind who is STILL respected for his history and fortitude in life!"
"Very scratchy background noise."
"What a find!"
"Great collection of his."
"If you know and love Django, these recordings will be a stroll down memory lane.If you are new to his work, you will wonder why you weren't into it earlier."
"A really great selection of his early music, well recorded and as updated as you could get for the state of the art in which is was originally recorded."
"This the complete work of Django Reinhardt through WW II."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Polka Music

A Lawrence Welk Family Christmas
Norma Zimmer hosts a homespun holiday reunion including more than 30 of your favorite Christmas carols and other favorites (performed by Jo Ann Castle, Bobby Burgess, Mary Lou Metzger, Tom Netherton and more), plus personal memories of past holiday shows and a special appearance by Fern Welk!
Reviews
"This was nice to see because you got to see and hear the second generation of The Welk Show performers such as the Lennon daughters and sons sing."
"A great new addition to our Christmas DVDs!"
"It's a great DVD for the whole family and those who love Lawrence Well."
"Ordered this for my little 92 year old friend who was watching VHS tapes he had recorded of old reruns."
"A fine mixture of nostalgia and more recent developments in subsequent generations."
"Its true its not everyone when they were alot younger, but what they looked like in the 90's; but its a great DVD."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Polish Music

Upojenie
The 2002 album Upojenie, now being released domestically for the first time, may be Pat Metheny's most unique and, for many listeners, least well-known project.
Reviews
"This is the 35th Pat Metheny CD to be added to my collection of about 500+ overall. Adding Anna 11 years ago for this 2002 recording adds an element we have not seen before and is quite possible won't happen again."
"Pat Metheny and Anna Maria Jopek's music on this CD creates many moods and feelings."
"The really great regret about of this CD is the poor quality of the mixing/mastering: probably because of the excess in "pumping" levels you will perceive an amount of distortion that will vary from light to unbearable, depending of the reader..."
"THis cd illustrates the incredibly high production values he always puts forth."
"He resonates on a deep level with Jopek in that mystically spiritual way reminiscent of Pat at his best."
"I never thought anyone could sing a Pat Metheny song and do it justice, but she does a GREAT job and brings those song to a different level."
"The album contains a nice variety of musical styles, oriental, jazz, and Metheny's usual mystical and magical innovations."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Kurdish Music

Sufi Soul: Echos Du Paradis
While the Sufi musical tradition of Pakistan is well documented in the popular press because of the work of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his predecessors, the Sabri Brothers (both represented with excellent tracks in this collection), the wealth of great art from this religious culture is often left unheard. Not only Pakistan, but Egypt, Senegal, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and many other countries in Asia and the Middle East have rich traditions of devotional music from loosely defined Sufi roots, from the simplest solo singer to lush orchestras of percussion, harmoniums, and massed voices.
Reviews
"great music, thanks to a friend that recommended it."
"This CD set is one of my two favorites; the other is the Desert Songs compilation by this same label."
"Great music, but the MP3 for $8.99 is not the same as the CD."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Czech Music

Miami Vice: Complete Collection
A long awaited digitally remastered 2CD set from keyboardist Jan Hammer, produced just for One Way Records.
Reviews
"Miami Vice was one of my favorite television series and the music from it was an added bonus! Not many endeavors on television or film can match a well written script with great music like Michael Mann's 1980s Miami Vice."
"Miami Vice is often remembered for the flashy visuals and the exceptional use of big name musical acts, but what becomes very evident as you watch the show is how vital the score by Jan Hammer is."
"I'm a fan of Hammer"s work."
"This two-album collection comprises the third selection of my Miami Vice collection."
"Being from NC and having moved to MD and hating every minute of it, I look for stuff that makes me comfortable."
"When you hear the music and remember certain episodes, makes me realize what a genius Hammer is."
"After reading some reviews of other Miami Vice soundtracks, this one was the most recommended."
"downloaded wont play on Amazon Cloud."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Uzbekistani Music

Yol Bolsin
The debut of 25-year-old Uzbeki singer and doutar player Sevara Nazarkhan, the album combines the rich musical tradition of her Central Asian country and fuses it with the modern sounds of noted French-Algerian producer Hector Zazou.
Reviews
"I have to say - I bought the album because I saw her while she was touring with Peter Gabriel."
"Definitely a good listen for the eclectic or world music lover."
"I find world music so refreshing specially after hearing everyone's RAP music coming out of their car stereos here in Southern California. I use to drink wine from around the world to taste where I never been before, but I had to give that up due to insomnia & now prefer imported cheese & music from around the world because it's a lot safer to intake."
"My reaction to her was instantaneous--the same as when I first heard an NPR piece on Sheila Chandra, which also propelled me to buy one of her CD's."
"Voice of Sevara, so silky and tender, the sound of various uzbek instruments and fusion, so well done!"
"Even if you don't know a word in Uzbek, this music will please you and touch your soul."
"Founded years ago by the multi-talented Peter Gabriel, Real World Records has given listeners opportunity after opportunity to dip into the refreshing pool of traditional music forms from all over the globe. Sevara Nazarkhan is immensely talented, gifted with a beautiful voice that allows her spirit - and, passing through her, the sprit of the people of her native Uzbekistan - to shine forth."
"She sounds as if she were entering a deep and quiet place within herself -- connecting to some long lost part of an ancient world where her spirit roams freely and so does ours when listening ... Translations of portions of the lyrics in the liner notes confirm the connection to nature, the human spirit, the earth, as well as romantic inclinations toward a lover, future husband and the indescribable love of a mother for her baby in a lullaby..."
Find Best Price at Amazon