Well, it’s about time the shamisen goes global. After centuries of play in Japan, the shamisen is simply too brilliant of an instrument to keep locked up much longer. The fretless 3 string instrument is considered to be the Japanese cousin of the American banjo, and while the similarities are clear, the Eastern sound remains with the shamisen wherever it is played.

Here to demonstrate the point are Mike Penny and Kevin Kmetz who met up in California last summer (2010) for a spontaneous shamisen improv. So sit back and watch these two dudes kick it, then Click Here to see another piece of instrumental world music.

National instrument of Finland, the kantele is part of a family of zithers known as the Baltic psalteries.  This string instrument has been around for thousands of years, but it was not until the 19th century that it really gained legendary status.  As Finland was struggling for independence, a story of the kantele was fashioned from Finnic myth and folklore.

This epic poem known as The Kalevela tells the story of a mage who makes the first kantele from the jawbone of a giant fish and the hairs of a stallion.  With his magical instrument he goes into the forest and plays such beautiful music that creatures from all around come to listen in wonder.  By 1917 The Kalevela had played a large role in developing national identity and ultimately helped Finland establish independence from Russia.

After the video Click Here to see another piece of world music.

Great music needs not a stage. In fact most of the greatest music ever played has been lost to the empty rooms where it was made. Fortunately Mecca Bodega is out on the streets and in the subways of New York City making sure their sound is heard.

Bringing together the hammered dulcimer of Appalachian Mountain Music with the Afro-Peruvian cajón and other musical instruments, be sure to catch this underground jam and then Click Here to check out more instrumental music.

Fusing the sounds of many cultures with modern technology, Beats Antique is one of several bands currently paving the way for an emerging new style of music. Originally from San Francisco, David Satori and Tommy Cappel both trained classically before traveling east to places such as Bali, West Africa and Serbia.

Joined by bellydancer Zoe Jakes, the trio are frequently on tour and will be on stage this year at Bonnaroo. Of special note here is the saz, which is pretty much a Turkish banjo. This and other Middle Eastern styles makes for a unique sound only heard from Beats Antique. After this video of the track Beauty Beats Click Here for more instrumental world music.

Like many ethnic instruments of eastern Asia, the hulusi is a free reed wind instrument which is played throughout China. Made of 3 bamboo pipes and a gourd wind chest, the hulusi in this video is played by Vladiswar Nadishana, musician from Siberia who plays on more than 100 instruments from all around the world to create his unique blend of music. On percussion is Steve Shehan who has been playing with Nadishana for years. After the video Click Here to see another instrumental world video.

With a full arrangement of Chinese instruments, this piece captures the Eastern spirit as well as any recorded. Just listen to the erhu on center stage, accompanied by the pipa (Chinese guitar) and gu zheng (zither), among others.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Chinese music is that it is primarily a feminine art. Whereas the rest of the world is mostly driven by repetitive rhythms and other bold masculine themes, the subtle texture of Chinese music is as expressive as it is reserved…

Balance.
The perfect state of equilibrium.

So once you’ve appreciated this special piece of music, Click Here to see another world music video.

Some music has a sound all its own, and really what do you call that? It’s not what you’d call world music exactly, and it’s certainly not something you’d consider “new age”, and really it’s not at all experimental. Yet it’s all of these. And it’s progressive rock… And it’s southern blues… And it’s entirely instrumental too.

In this video, Toubab Krewe offers us a 7 minute piece of what can really only be called, Music.
Good, Earth, Music.

Of special interest are the kora of Mali and the cigar-box banjo. Gotta dig the mad instrumentation and special blend of styles here. Enjoy the video, then Click Here to see another piece of world music.

The musicians in Bali have a very different concept of percussion instruments than does the rest of the world. Western music has become accustomed to thinking of the modern drum set as the percussion standard. Primarily for playing rhythm, the western drums leave melody to the strings and the winds, but in Indonesia many ensembles are arranged entirely of percussion instruments.

While a gamelan may or may not include winds, strings and vocals, it certainly centers around the percussion, including a bonang section and various metallophones. Along with these melodic instruments are gongs, drums, and in this case a flute for an important hint of variation. After viewing this Balinese gamelan, Click Here to see another bit of instrumental world music.

When it comes to making music using unusual instruments, John Pascuzzi is the man! In this video Pascuzzi brings together the hang, didgeridoo, hapi drum, and Tuvan igil for a sound unlike any other.

After the video Click Here to check out another world instrumental performance.

When it comes to music, surely it is the hang that is the greatest invention of the century to date. Being that there are only a few thousand of these lap-sized metal discs making their way around the world, it is always remarkable seeing them in the hands of two quality musicians at once. Not that the hang isn’t amazing by itself, but with twice as many hands for melody and rhythm, the variety is just that much greater.

After the video, Click Here to check out what the hang sounds like next to the Native American flute as played by Jeff B