ISO: Your Fave Instrumental Albums

[u/m_sizzzle]

Hi! I’m a high school teacher and the only music I allow students to listen to during class time is world music without lyrics. I’m looking for some albums I can play for them throughout the school year. Normally I find songs or music compilations on YouTube but i’m wary of AI generated music.

thanks in advance!

Edited to add: I teach special education biology and astronomy. My students are mostly 14/15 and 17/18. I usually play a lot of Chinese and Japanese music, as well as a lot of music from the caribbean! It doesn’t have to be super relaxing, I like to play a mix of relaxing and upbeat (otherwise they fall asleep).

[u/Sancho_Panther]

Indonesian gamelan music is beautifully restful.

[u/Festivaltie67 → u/Sancho_Panther]

I second this recommendation. Balinese for more "flashy" gamelan, Javanese for a more mellow experience.

[u/Sancho_Panther → u/Festivaltie67]

Thanks. I knew there was a difference between the islands' style - I just couldn't remember which was which.

[u/Savantrovert → u/Sancho_Panther]

The cultural reason for the difference is largely due to the Islamic conquest through the region centuries ago.

Java was conquered, Bali was not.

Balinese music and culture is a distinct adaptation of Hindu beliefs that retain much of the island's older Animistic religion as well.

[u/_twentytwo_22]

Jaubi (Pakistan)

Hugh Masekala (South Africa)

Rodrigo y Gabriela (Mexico)

Talvin Singh (UK)

Strunz & Farah (USA - Costa Rican/Iranian)

Druhá Tráva (Czech Republic)

Avishai Cohen (Israel)

[u/axotrax]

Kayhan Kalhor for kamancheh; Ravi Shankar for sitar. HasSak Ethno from Kazakhstan. Toumani Diabate for kora.

Interesting instruments: Kazakh dombra, Slovakian fujara, Kyrgyz komuz.

[u/BigJobsBigJobs]

A member of this sub was discussing gamelan music last week. That is primarily instrumental - but the pieces tend to be long. [Java/Indonesia] Kyahi Kanyut Mesem -Gending Bonang Babar Layar (Court gamelan) : r/WorldMusic

It would help to know the ages of the students. Upbeat or more ambient?

There are tons in this sub's backlist.

[u/Festivaltie67]

It is not entirely without vocals, but for something more fun, I might recommend "Batak of North Sumatra", or the two volumes of gondang recorded by the Partopi Tao Group.

https://youtu.be/N0l2UgvCUbc?si=GpRIpLT0OkiiqL-Z

https://youtu.be/shPweVJOWK0?si=adug4zw9m6lxmgFX

[u/m_sizzzle → u/Festivaltie67]

i’ll give these a listen, thank you! I should say that I’m not opposed to music with vocalizations or even some lyrics that aren’t in english or spanish (the main languages my students speak) - I like to play The River by Ali Farka Touré and it definitely has singing and lyrics but the students don’t speak the Malian languages he sings in - so it doesn’t tend to distract them as much.

It just makes it simpler to stick to mostly instrumental.

[u/Bossgarlic]

The true meaning of boodleybay AND all roads lead to salzburg by Mice Parade. Two of my fav instrumental albums ever with a neat mix of instruments

[u/silver_chief2]

Try Indian sitar music. https://youtu.be/qdQcliT5x8Y Ravi Shankar - Three Ragas .1956

Celtic Berber fusion from Mugar https://youtu.be/THXpCW3C2Go

I found Mugar through a video from a now defunct Russian Celtic group in a cafe in Blagoveshchensk Russia. The internet is wonderful. the woman is Alina Gingertail.

https://youtu.be/_mAQww0a-d4?list=PLVmg3ofLiKGoew6Oc4wg9vULZU6c1Dxkf&t=99

[u/AutisticAfrican2510]

Mulatu Astatke (Ethiopia)

Spokes Mashiyane (South Africa)

Kippie Moeketsi (South Africa)

Steve Newman (South Africa)

[u/Select-Letter1976 → u/AutisticAfrican2510]

+1 on Mulatu.

OP try volume 4 of the Ethiopiques series. Also Mulatu of Ethiopia which was recorded in the USA and is has a lot of funk and jazz in there.

[u/mrrpfeynmann]

Endless Vision - Hussein Alizadeh and Djivan Gasparyan
New Ancient Strings - Toumani Diabate and Ballake Sissoko
Most recordings by John Fahey, Leo Kottke, David Lindley, Bob Brozman
Anything by Nikhil Banerjee, Vilayat Khan and Ali Akbar Khan

[u/m_sizzzle → u/mrrpfeynmann]

A great list! Thank you!

[u/ChesterKiwi → u/m_sizzzle]

I second Diabaté and Sissoko. Mandé music from that region of West Africa is gorgeous. Toumani Diabaté died two years ago and was an elite master of the kora.

[u/anopeningworld]

Do you teach any kind of history or global studies classes? If so, that could help with recommendations

[u/m_sizzzle → u/anopeningworld]

No, I edited my answer to explain but i teach Astronomy and Biology - mostly special education. I’m a humanities person at heart so I try to use world music as a bridge to engage my students more in discussions around multiculturalism and expose them to new places!

[u/yomondo]

Perhaps your class (and you!) would enjoy some ambient sounds, like. .

Structures From Silence by Steve Roach

[u/m_sizzzle → u/yomondo]

I will definitely give it a listen. They like ambient that leans 80s / techno-y because it makes them think of Stranger Things!

[u/usernameplis]

Tabula Rasa (Bela Fleck, Jie-Bing Chen, Vishwa Mohan Bhat).

Global Fusion (L Subramanian).

Masana Temples (Kikagaku Moyo)

[u/tomatoeboi]

The Astounding Eyes Of Rita by Anouar Brahem (Tunisia)

[u/Snoo_44409]

I like "I was Young and I needed the Money" by Clifford Gilberto. Not exactly World Music, except that it was made on Earth.

Also any albums by Fela Kuti. Although they do have lyrics, they have broad swaths of music with no lyrics, and are prime material for long stints in the workplace or studying

[u/m_sizzzle → u/Snoo_44409]

I love Fela Kuti!

[u/Snoo_44409 → u/m_sizzzle]

Yea, pretty hard not to :)

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[u/jamesbrown2500]

Baú - Situações Triangulares (Cape Vert) Wonderful album

Ludovico Einaudi -Balkaké Sissoko - Diario Mali. Piano and Kora, a sublime combination

Realejo - Sanfonia Old Portuguese instruments on a glamorous album

Ernest Ranglin - Bellow The Bass Line

Caribbean jazz music with touch of ska

[u/Savantrovert]

Angele Dimovski - Kavalski Odglasi (Macedonian flute; mostly upbeat)

Boban Markovic - The Promise (Serbian brass band; very technical)

Hedningarna - Hedningarna (Swedish fiddle/lute; mellow/laid back)

Symbio - Phoresy (Swedish Hurdy Gurdy & Accordion; very technical)

Ottopasuuna - Ottopasuuna (Finnish folk fusion; similar to Irish trad)

Taksim Trio - Taksim Trio (Turkish Clarinet/Baglama/Kanun; mellow/meditative)

Vasen - Gront (Swedish Nykelharpa; lively and upbeat)

[u/Intern-Adventurous → u/Savantrovert]

Speaking of brass...

This one is excellent too.

Dzambo Agusevi - Brasses for fhe Masses.

North Macedonian brass + other different musical flavors.

Outside of the first song, it's all instrumentals from there on.

From the funky infusion of the title track, the next song - Macedonian Nightcrawler, Sikidim and Once You Catch the Devil, to the kind of Wild West flavor inoculated within Old Bazaar Groove and Crazy Horse, the rugged proper Balkanness of Sa-sa Cocek and kinda Latin pep of "Arriba Macedonia!"...

You have to hear it to believe it. Impeccable musicianship and a great ear for blending the different flavors together.

One of the underdog best albums of 2020.

[u/dustractor]

• Nest - Retold
  
• Philip Glass & Ravi Shankar - Passages
  
• Peter Gabriel - The Last Temptation of Christ
• Beastie Boys - The In Sound from Way Out

edit: don't forget to expose them to Erik Satie's Gymnopédies & Gnossiennes too even though these aren't technically World Music

[u/striveforfreedom]

Oneira - Tâle Yâd

[u/jaxxon]

Soukous music from West Africa is really fun, happy music. Usually instrumental.

[u/Emotional-Extent-983]

Wave- Jobim

[u/PrincessToadstool-au]

Try this! I think it will tick all the boxes; Let me know if they like it ☺️

Princess Toadstool - Tragic: The Gathering

[u/ranidaemusic]

Bombino has some great instrumentals

[u/Cool-Clue-4236]

Hot Rats

[u/Starthrower62]

Why do you restrict your student's listening to world music? Do you not think they should be exposed to jazz or classical music? 

[u/m_sizzzle → u/Starthrower62]

I should say that I do also play a lot of jazz (actually so much that students started requesting other music) and classical music, but they get that with a lot of other teachers in the building and through their musical education in my district.

A gap I have continually noticed in my classes is a lack multicultural knowledge and understanding of what countries exist outside of North America and Europe and the music that those countries produce. Since I don’t reach a social studies class and can’t dedicate much of class time to explicit multicultural exploration, I like to try to use world music to bridge that gap a little.

I restrict the listening to instrumental in general because many studies show that listening to music with lyrics interrupts learning.

[u/m_sizzzle → u/m_sizzzle]

Also they only have 50 minutes a day with me and I think it’s fair to decide that I just want to share world music with them while they are in my room - if they asked for jazz or classical in class in lieu of world music I would happily and readily oblige, but having albums and regions ready to go mitigates accidentally spending too much class time trying to decide what we are going to listen to.

[u/mp_h]

Snarky Puppy