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[Mephisto]

I'm looking to broaden my musical horizons. We've got people from a large number of different countries here, so this seems to be a good place to start.

What non English-speaking artists do you recommend?

To give a taste of what I've got so far, I've listened to Tommy Nilsson (Swedish), a song by Jaak Jürisson (Finnish? Not sure), Nek, Andrea Bocelli, Sonohra, and Michele Zarillo (all Italian, I believe), plus Josh Groban (American, but the song was Italian).

[Jude]

Even a lot of the artists I listen to that aren't native English speakers still sing in English.

Anyway,

German: Rammstein, Fettes Brot

Arabic: Natacha Atlas

[Wiles]

What kind of music do you like?

I live in a french speaking province, I don't listen to the radio much but I do hear some stuff I like now and then.

I really like DobaCaracol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBfgMPw03Fk

I think they've split up and are doing their own thing now, though; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glLcQ22RLcQ&feature=channel_page

[KaelGotDwarves]

Sigur Ros - Icelandic postrock
Bluedawn - Korean Indie rock
I would argue that the Japanese have a music scene as equally diverse as that of English speakers, so you can get lost in that.

If you want good English speaking music with an outside influence, try things like Joanna Newsom, Beirut, Andrew Bird.

I can go on and list millions more, but I need some direction in the type of music you like.

[Mephisto]

What kind of music do you like?

I can go on and list millions more, but I need some direction in the type of music you like.

I usually tell people that I'll listen to whatever I can understand (usually meaning no rap), but I shouldn't say that in this instance. I listen to just about everything. A large portion of my library is made up of rock of all forms and metal. I'm secure enough in my masculinity to say that I like listening to some sappy songs.

Thanks for the input. I didn't know that lots of people who aren't native English speakers still sing in English. The language requirement is out the window.

[Il Palazzo]

Sofia Jannok
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw9raODmpZc&feature=channel_page

[dei]

I happen to be American, but personally, I love non-English music. I recommend the following bands, for personal reasons.

Dir En Grey, a visual kei band, with strong views against politics, violence, and abortion, and some of the most disturbing music videos ever. Visual kei is a style by the way, of outfit, not music. The band itself is Japanese and their music from my understanding borders on metal.

Rammstein is pretty good too. German metal, with pretty interesting lyrics. Some songs are quite anti-American however, from what I recall.

L'arc En Ciel is another visual kei band, though they are more or less soft rock, with some English in their songs. Like Dir En Grey, they too are Japanese.

If you can find any, Ali Project is pretty awesome. A Japanese band with some goth lyrics, they also provided theme songs to Rozen Maiden and Code Geass.

Aya Hirano is pretty good too. Japanese pop star and seiyuu, she has some good videos on YouTube. Pretty cute too.

And if you don't mind a foreign band that sings in English, I recommend such bands like Cradle of Filth (British black metal), Anaal Nathrakh (More British black metal), Groove Coverage (British Techno), and Melt Banana (Japanese punk).

All of their music is readily available on the internet, or as local or import CDs. I recommend E-Music if you are willing to pay for some of this; you may find free trial coupons in the parcels that contain Coby MP3 players.

Enjoy.

[Hawkfrost]

Thyrfing - Ångestens Högborg
Heidevolk - Het Gelders Volkslied
Finntroll - Trollhammeren
Korpiklaani - Keep on Galloping
Eluveitie - Inis Mona

These should keep you busy.
Awesome bands.

[Keiseth]

I love Korpiklaani but most of their stuff is actually sung in English. There are men, underground, who have never seen the sun, but they really know how to party. Little men from underground, who have never seen the sun...~

Favorite's marked with an *.


[Japanese Recommendations]
    L'arc en Ciel  (Only actually heard the intro from Full Metal Alchemist from them.)
    The Pillows (Did the FLCL / Fooly Cooly / Furi Kuri soundtrack! Very well!)
    * Bump of Chicken
           I heard *one* song from this band and I loved them instantly. Specifically,
           It was the song "K". It's tragic but hopeful song about a black cat; this video + song
           provides lyrics and the animation means a lot.
           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsydQoANC8M
           Actually brought a tear to my eye.


[German]
     Rammstein  (( German [industrial] metal ))
           The song "Spieluhr" is one of my favorites. Another is "Feuer Frei!"
           They are entirely different, so try to hear both!
     E Nomine  (( Something like epic electronic / dance. It's unique, I think. ))
           "Mitternacht". It's quite amazingly good, and I found it here with an
           MS Paint adventures music video.
           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdcBRDXmvG0

[Finnish]
     See Hawkfrost's post. Korpiklaani, especially.

[Unknown / ETC]
     * Juno Reactor - A lot of their stuff isn't in English, or isn't fully in English.
           Particularly, see the Labyrinth album, tracks 1 + 2 - Conquistador.
           I believe that's Latin.

     Rhapsody [of Fire]
           I believe a few of their songs are Italian, but I am not precisely sure.
           "Il Canto Del Vento" I think.

[Aqizzar]

I'm a little surprised no one's mentioned Gogol Bordello.  Fun and raucous band, sounds like Balkan punk rock.  Some English, some Romanian.

A selection: Bulla Bulla / Ultimate / Supertheory of Supereverything

In that same vein, for anyone who missed it when it was hot, the semi-official musicvideo to Menya Zovut Shnur.

[Xofrevlis]

I'm going to have to second L'arc en Ciel; Wind of Gold and Blurry Eyes are both really pretty songs. READY STEADY GO(as Keiseth mentioned) is good too, but doesn't reflect their style very well from my experience.
Funny, I had a similar experience to Keiseth with Bump of Chicken, except the song was Karma. Now that I've heard it though, K is a pretty amazing song.

I'd also like to recommend:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sekken-ya; a Japanese rock group that does covers of a lot of music from the Touhou series of games, in particular I'd recommend the songs D-89 and 二足歩行の天狗walkin'.

403 Forbiddena; Japanese power metal. They don't seem to have quite as large of a discography, but are still very good. Northern Lights, Southern Cross and Blaze of Life are all good. As a note though, they sing in English, it's just kinda broken sometimes.

Turbo; Korean dance group, kinda reminiscent of 90's boybands, but good anyways. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M3Paiy50d8&feature=related Their song BlackCat (although I think I've heard it's actually a cover), since I seem to have a ton of trouble finding stuff on them.

Dr. Bombay; Bubblegum Pop, I completely forget where from though. Very fun if you like that kind of stuff. I particularly like Rice and Curry.

Seeed; German rap, I must admit I've only heard one song by them, Ding, but it was quite good.

REDALiCE; Japanese techno group. Part of it, ALiCE'S EMOTiON, does a lot of video game remixes. Running Dog and Taboo Tears You Up I like in particular, and the entire album of Oto no Ishi is great if you don't mind that it's basically a medley of remixes from the game Mother that runs for over an hour straight.

IOSYS; Japanese ...uh...something or other. They're really all over the place with the genre thing. They mostly do remixes of Touhou music though, and occasionally remixes of their own music. I'd recommend Hakurei Shrine Neighborhood Association Marching Song, Artificial Children and Eirin's Clinic That People Queue Up For. Border of Extacy is also good but I'm not sure I'd recommend listening to it in public, and personally I like the song 患部で止まらずそのまま奥まであんああん　〜 最後の優曇華院 ,but I suspect that it may cause hemorrhaging in some people.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9wci8aCCM0
Crazy german power metal.

[IndonesiaWarMinister]

Ah, I second ALiCE'S EMOTiON, as I listen to their song from time to time.

As to IOSYS: Protip: choose their pre-2007 songs first, less crappy, I heard so. Anyway, Border of Extacy... eh, for private use only, you'll know when you hear it. Also, I recommend that you hear the 'Marisa Stole the Precious Thing' too.

Well, the original Touhou musics are already <godly>, so the remixes are of SUPERB! quality, like ☼Remixes☼!

[Xofrevlis]

Ah, I second ALiCE'S EMOTiON, as I listen to their song from time to time.

As to IOSYS: Protip: choose their pre-2007 songs first, less crappy, I heard so. Anyway, Border of Extacy... eh, for private use only, you'll know when you hear it. Also, I recommend that you hear the 'Marisa Stole the Precious Thing' too.

Well, the original Touhou musics are already <godly>, so the remixes are of SUPERB! quality, like ☼Remixes☼!

Funny, most of the IOSYS stuff I like is post-2007, I guess I haven't listened to as much of the earlier stuff though.

...But yeah, my playlist has been taken over by Touhou remixes lately it seems, so I'm inclinded to agree with the last statement. That might just be because attempting Lunatic mode a few too many times melted my brain though.

[Heavy Flak]

Dr. Bombay; Bubblegum Pop, I completely forget where from though. Very fun if you like that kind of stuff. I particularly like Rice and Curry.

Outside of a guy in college from Aberdeen, you're the first person I know to have heard of Dr. Bombay.  I'd have to recommend it too, if you can find it.  It's fast paced, very silly, and extremely catchy.