Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2026 Thread (Often African guitar led bands)

Once again - This thread is mainly for polyrhythmic, international sounds that aren't big enough to get threads of their own (and often include use of old-school non-programmed instrumentation like guitars). I lean toward south of the equator sounds here that are sometimes less club-oriented than those of artists highlighted on Afropop, Afrobeats, dancehall, soca, etc. threads. Sometimes, but not always, the artists are older than those on those other threads. More old-school bands too. Often less digital programming but if it includes such playing/programming it is usually less popular, and/or more avante.

2025 thread

Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2025 Thread (Often African guitar led bands)

Thurs. Jan. 8- Mostafa Amar & Disco Misr @ Howard Theatre (Egyptian pop)

Qais Essar & Sonny Singh plus guest tabla-ist Sukhmani 7-9 @ Hill Center ( Afghan & Punjabi stringed rabab & trumpet w/ vocals plus a guest tabla-ist Sukhmani )

Instagram stories I saw of Egyptian pop act Amar and the Egyptian dj dance tunes from Disco Misr looked great. The place looked packed. I attended the Essar & Singh & Sukhmani show and it was a nice blend of tradition rooted sung pieces and instrumentals with jazzy aspects from the horn. Between songs Singh and a few times Essar spoke about Sikh poets and philosophers and expressed their support for those in Congo, Gaza, Minneapolis, DC, and elsewhere

Saw on IG clips of Fela Kuti grandson Made Kuti in NYC at the global music event at Brooklyn Bowl . Made Kuti was playing sax nicely on old school afrobeat songs

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQP1H69jdQh/?igsh=YWd2cjMyaWltdGJ5

Instagram reel of Iranian rock band in Tehran protest.

Saw kora player Ballake Sissoko from Mali with South African guitarist Derek Gripper earlier tonight. Gripper said that Sissoko was only able to do this US tour because he had sped for his visa before the newer cutoff date Trump imposed barring Malians from coming to the US . After spelling out some of South Africa’s history and its current lack of equity , Gripper said the US now is making South Africa look good. He said we have a strict no return policy on Elon Musk.

The music the two made was very nice and often had a kind of classical feel. In the middle part of the set , Gripper left and Sissoko did a song by himself; then Sissoko left and Gripper performed on his own. They then performed more cuts together. Sissoko only spoke to the audience after someone said something from the audience in French. Sissoko then spoke briefly in French to the audience. I liked when Gripper twiddled some controls on a box thing that was connected to his acoustic guitar. It added a bit of noise to a pretty music event. Sissoko’s kora sounded high note heavenly mainly but he made it sound more pop melody wise on one song, and he got noisy and lower in tone at times. Sissoko is the main star of this duo for me.

from Xchucx Eddy's 2025 in review substack post that was posted today

I’m also intrigued by how Derek Walmsley, writing in The Wire’s year-end issue, singled out as one 2025’s high points “music from outside the English-speaking world on the common ground of Bandcamp: QTV Selo, Seloki, TVL Rec, Pakapi, Rata Sorda Rec and others in South America, Presses Précaires in Canada, and over in Europe’s Old World, smaller regions/languages now speak louder than ever: Slovenia (Sploh!), Lithuania (Tapekiosk), the Basque Country (Hegoa, Hazi Esporak!), Greece (Granny, Rekem), Portugal (Sirr, Cipsela, pä), etc.” Those mostly seem to be record labels, many if not most cassette-only. There is just so much out there! As Dave Moore puts it, “Who are these people and where did they come from and what on earth are they doing are questions I now ask on a weekly basis rather than once in a blue moon.”

Noura Mint Seymali's Yenbett made my Pazz & Jop Ripoff Top Ten this year. She's an amazing singer, songwriter, bandleader, and her electric harp filled my guitar needs this time, as her husband's actual guitar did stupendously on my gateway, Tzenni. All the ones I know are on her Bandcamp pages:
https://noura-mint-seymali.bandcamp.com/album/yenbett

Seymali and her husband are great.

I need to listen to their 2025 album again.

Chuck Exdy’s list has an album by Malian Neba Solo that I missed and it sounded great on 2 listens today. I have mentioned him on some threads here for awhile but somehow slept on his latest

Noura Mint Seymali is on ILX poll but alas no one nominated Neba Solo.

From the top of Chuck Eddy's list of his fave 150 albums of 2025 in his substack

Los Thuthanaka Los Thuthanaka (Los Thuthanaka)

Não Estragou Nada (Príncipe Portugal)

Digital Ngoma Vol. 2 (Kayamba Mayotte/Réunion)

DJ Joecel New Tiktok Disco Remix 2025 Vol 1 (DJ Joecel Exclusive Philippines EP)

ALT BLK ERA Rave Immortal (Earache UK)

Melvin Gibbs Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 (Hausu Mountain)

Weed420 Amor De Encava (Deprerreo Spain)

Prolapse I Wonder When They’re Going to Destroy Your Face (Tappet Europe)

Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble Let the Spirit Out: Live at ‘Mu’ London (Spiritmuse UK)

Hieroglyphic Being Dance Music 4 Bad People (Smalltown Supersound Norway)

Budots World: 3-Hit Combo! (Eastern Margins UK)

Saint Abdullah/Jason Nazary Wiretaps for Oral (Disciples UK)

Ben LaMar Gay Yowzers (International Anthem Recording Company

DJ K Radio Libertadora! (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda)

Panic Shack Panic Shack (Brace Yourself UK)

Kilynn Lunsford Promiscuous Genes (Feel It)

The Ex If Your Mirror Breaks (Ex Netherlands)

Neba Solo Tuma Duma (Blanc Manioc Mali/France)

Francesca Marongiu Still Forms in Air (Umor Rex Mexico)

Jako Maron Mahavélouz (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda

Jordan mentioned Jako Maron M on 2025 left field club music thread .

It sounds pretty good to me today. Not sure if got a ilx ilm nomination . Too lazy to check right now

Jako Maron Mahavélouz (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda) is also a good one

I meant to say after another additional listening

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/arts/music/trump-visas-touring-musicians.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FlA.kxo1.l-j619RrlHQl&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Tinariwen US tour cancelled due to new Trump restrictions; plus Biden era jump in visa processing costs and amount of time required to get a visa processed is also causing some to not want to tour the US. Article also notes that Trump admin will block a Mexican citizen if they see that person was born in Cuba . No explanation for why visa processing time has gotten worse and more expensive for those still eligible, or how to bring the cost and time down

I saw Mdou Moctar playing solo electric last night at the Atlantis club in DC. I guess he had his visa work done awhile ago for this tour. He was sitting in a chair and switching back and forth from different guitars. For the encores he added a drum machine and swirling psych lights. A few times he tried too much to involve the crowd in singing and clapping, but other times he was just really into it himself and playing with lots of energy and skillful speedy fingers

https://news.pollstar.com/2026/02/09/diljit-dosanjhs-aura-world-tour-hits-stadiums-arenas/

Diljit Dosanjh , India singer and actor brings his Punjabi music to North America for a small 10 city tour that includes 2 nights at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Jon Caramanica in NY Times likes Dosanjh recent nods to hiphop and pop and collaborations with J Balvin, Ed Sheeran, NLE Choppa and others

That'll be great

Led by Mohamed Doumbia (of Orchestre Badema), the group plays weekly residencies at No Limit in Bamako - concerts that start well after midnight and continue for hours. Performing for an older audience, Doumbia belts out unwavering vocals, voyaging through both classics and traditional epics in a hypnotic journey. He’s joined by a supergroup of musicians, featuring standout guitarist Adama Dramé and Baba Coulibaly

New album on Sahel Sounds by Malian musicians influenced by late 1960s and 70s sounds from there

https://mohameddoumbia.bandcamp.com/album/enregistrement-live-no-limit-bamako?mc_cid=f95aeb1c10

band Etran de l’Aïr, from Agadez, a city on the edge of the Sahara in Niger, was set to do its fourth tour of the United States this summer, with 55 shows. After Niger was placed on the banned list, they had to cancel

“It’s a big disappointment,” said Abdoulaye Ibrahim, the bassist, who said the band members had lost 80 percent of their income this year. “We’re praying that it changes.
band Etran de l’Aïr, from Agadez, a city on the edge of the Sahara in Niger, was set to do its fourth tour of the United States this summer, with 55 shows. After Niger was placed on the banned list, they had to cancel

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/world/africa/trump-africa-travel-visa-ban.html

I've been listening to this album while cooking dinner this week and it sets a lovely mood: https://mandenggroove.bandcamp.com/album/conakry-2

Here's a description from an Australian record store's site:

Focus on Conakry, the debut full-length LP from the 6-piece ensemble Mandeng Groove. Co-created by Guinean-Australian multi-instrumentalist Amadou Kalissa and Melbourne guitarist and producer Kyle Muir, Mandeng Groove's music is a vibrant bridge between continents, a "musical gift from Conakry to Coburg." At the heart of their compelling live performances lies the kora, the traditional harp of the Manding people of West Africa, through which they breathe new life into traditional repertoire with fresh and original interpretations. This dynamic blend of traditional sounds with jazz, soul, funk, and all things groove, is a testament to the band's concurrently deep, immersive, energetic, and fun approach to music.

Chuck Exdy’s list has an album by Malian Neba Solo that I missed and it sounded great on 2 listens today. I have mentioned him on some threads here for awhile but somehow slept on his latest

― curmudgeon, Thursday, January 15, 2026 11:27 PM (two months ago)

also been meaning to mention for ages now that the Neba Solo is lots of fun, thanks for mentioning this!

I like how Neba Solo makes club-friendly dance music sorta with old-school trad instruments and chanted vocals

Wonderful South Asian singer Ganavya has posted on Instagram that she's worn out by touring and after finishing scheduled dates through July, she's taking a break from touring

I was at the m4music conference in Zurich over the weekend, and one of the panels was about global mobility, and mostly amounted to an extended multi-person lament about the horrors of global visa inequity (cost, delay, unpredictability...). By the end I felt kind of amazed that anybody from outside the US/Europe manages to tour at all.

Touring US is expensive and now Trump has barred people from mostly African countries from coming at all even if they want to pay .

Etran de L’air had to cancel 4th tour. Habib Koite from Mali just had latest tour cancelled. It didn’t matter that they had gotten visas before Trump has ruled no towards their countries.

Since some media coverage is built around linking to live appearances, this means African artists who already struggle to get US media attention, will get even less here if they’re not doing gigs here.

https://www.jonathanbogart.net/blog/2026/3/22/2025-favorites-senegal

Jonathan Bogart has just posted his fave 2025 tracks from French speaking African countries. He finds them via YouTube. Some might have been mentioned on Afrobeats/ Afropop threads

He also did a 2025 list for French speaking Congo also

https://www.jonathanbogart.net/blog/2026/3/21/2025-favorites-congo

Here’s Bogart’s Congo 2025 song link

https://www.jonathanbogart.net/blog/2026/3/21/2025-favorites-congo

Here’s Bogart’s Congo 2025 song link

been following on bluesky, some great findings

Saw Bab L'Bluz last night in DC. They're a Moroccan -French group who do a psych-rock take on Moroccan gnawa music. Singer/instrumentalist Yousra Mansour sings and writes the lyrics in a Moroccan Arabic dialect of Darija. I liked their songs that felt more tuneful & Moroccan than ones that played up Led Zep & barban Rolling Stones aspects. They will be at Joe's Pub in NYC Sunday April 5th, then head out for 3 shows in New Mexico and a closing one back in Miami. Singer spoke out against the administration in DC, and in support of Palestinian, & Iranian citizens, and activists on left everywhere.

Iranian musician Ali Ghamsari has staged a sit-in outside the Damavand power plant in protest against US and Israeli threats to target vital infrastructure.

Ghamsari said he would remain at the site and play music there in hopes of helping prevent attacks on energy facilities.

From Al Jazeera x account

El Khat, a Yemenite band who use home-made instruments to play psych-like rhythms & polyrhythmic percussion are back in the US doing a brief tour (I think they may be based in Germany now)

Saw Maurice Louca's Fera earlier tonight at little Rhizome in DC. For this US tour the Egyptian Maurice Louca was on guitar and electronics, Ayman Asfour on violin, Dylan Greene on drums and percussion, and jazz musician Luke Stewart on double bass (plus clarinet & some other hand held percussion) Louca's music melds psychedelic rock trance drone, Egyptian shaabi, and jazz. Louca also plays in Alan Bishop's Dwarfs of East Agouza. Bishop was in the Sun City Girls .

jazz musician Tomeka Reid was in the audience

Violinist Asfour is Egyptian, Drummer Dylan Hunter CHee Greene is an Asian American raised in the Pacific NW of US now living in NYC who often works with musicians from around the world, Stewart spent a lot of time in DC after growing up in the US south I think, and now is mainly ny based but comes back to DC a lot

WOMAD & NTS combining to do July 23 -26 in North Wiltshire UK event w/ Oumou Sangare, Noura Mint Seymali, south Asian singer Ganavya & others I don't know including Cami Laye Okun, Cheb Mimo, Coco Maria, Dare Balogun, DJ Travella, Dudo Kouate, Livwutang, Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, Rotational, Ruby Khaira, Seppuka Pistols, Shannen Sp, Sno, Sofie K, Vhoor

Noura Mint Seymali is also doing a London show. She and her band are great. She hasn't toured much in years

https://roulette.org/event/kaethe-hostetter-impressions-of-ethiopia/

Placeholder to remind me that Kaethe (aka K8a) new album combining I think Ethiopian music and American folk via violin and electronics is due out at the end of the month (April 28 when she will do a show in NYC) . Kaethe Hostetter helped found Debo Band and later Qwanqwa band and lived in Ethiopia for 11 months.

Saw Takaat for the third time tonight. These are the musicians who back up Mdou Moctar but playing in a group whose name translates to "noise" and who blend Saharan guitar sounds with a bit of punk via records they heard from the white American in the group Mikey Coltun. The first 2 times I saw them I thought they were great and the drummer Souleymane Ibrahim's galloping beats really propelled their sound and made it more than just hybrid Saharan and US guitar noise.

Tonight they just played as a duo with some programmed beats as Ibrahim is back home in Niger. Also the 3rd Takaat record out apparently just has Ahmoudou Madassane on guitar and Coltun and programmed beats. I missed the drummer. While the programmed beats worked on some songs, on others they just had less beats and more formless but noisy jamming. Other times the beats lacked the rhythmic strength and funkiness of their (former?) drummer.

Hoping to be at WOMAD

There used to be a traveling WOMAD that came to the US, but that seems to have ended even before Trump visa rules made it impossible to happen now.

The new Alvarius B album got a good review in Pitchfork. That’s Alan Bishop’s group. He was once in crazy US punky band Sun City Girls and has been based in Egypt for awhile now and is involved with the Sublime Frequencies label . He mixes some rocking sounds with Egyptian shaabi and more ( drone, jazz ). In 2023 I saw him and his band Dwarfs of East Agouza on a us tour gig. Earlier in April I saw his musical colleague from Egypt Maurice Louca lead his band FERA at a dc show.

The new Maryam Saleh album is fantastic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBKRbLMeaB8

I need to check out that Egyptian vocalist.

While we're posting Egyptian stuff, this has become one of my favorite things on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94oOi7rS1XI

Oh yeah, you or someone has posted that classic before I think. I recently saw a biopic with an actress playing Egyptian legend Um Kulthum and a few months ago saw the US based Torath Ensemble orchestra do a set of classic 20th century arabic music

yeah that living room recording is stellar but... who are these guys? it kind of looks like a casual jam, but are they actually professional players from the local symphony who just happen to do a home rehearsal recorded on dv tape?

Bassekou Kouyate tour in the UK but barred by Trump rules from coming to US now it appears

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2026-04-19/karol-g-at-coachella-was-global-hit-yet-other-foreign-acts-fear-touring-u-s?sfmc_id=6532a10525b3640666b4a190&utm_id=45280636&skey_id=383584d63c3fff874cfd8284c2993ae2b27946841a773f46196a2e04b58e6c98&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NLTR-Email-List-Entertainment%20Digest-20260420&utm_term=Newsletter%20-%20Entertainment

Listening to Azuka Moweta and band play old school Congolese rumba

Listening to Azuka Moweta and band play old school Congolese rumba

https://klofmag.com/2026/05/recommended-the-handover-return-with-new-old-medicine/

The Handover , Egyptian group 2nd release on Sublime Frequencies coming soon

Aly Eissa's solo work is amazing, particularly Gouda Bar - one of my favs of the decade.

https://akuphone.bandcamp.com/album/gouda-bar

great stuff, thanks! imagine seeing them in a cairo club... but I see they tour a fair bit, maybe I will catch them here some day

Irresistible disco-pop from Morocco's Jaylann with "La Cote". Really love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ngXvdYJPZg