Playlist: All the World is One Stage

By Beth Campbell, Staff Writer

Music is everywhere and discovery is travel. Whether you are traveling literally or virtually, getting around is easier if you can read the maps and order from menus. 60% of the earth’s population has access to the internet, and English is the most common language. European and African musicians often record in several languages, including English, to appeal to international fans. On the internet, with some exceptions, borders disappear, the world is small, and every song from the last hundred years is a click away. To paraphrase Shakespeare, all the world is one stage.

It’s like phoning your friend you can see through her window. A Zoom to the other side of the world is like a local call, and a Spotify playlist goes seamlessly between decades, genres, and continents. Musicians recording in English are next-door neighbors.

That one big stage of earth is crowded though. So many musicians releasing so much content, and so much of it sounds like all the rest. And there is so much music history. Moreover, hit songs are no longer simply songs that sell the most or are played most in media, but songs that have been streamed millions of times.

Don’t let streaming monopolies and corporate awards limit your experience. Certainly you have favorite musicians who have millions of international fans. But great musicians are out there without dominating social media, making more music than publicity. Discovery just takes a few more clicks.

TikTok, a company that originated in China, makes it easier to discover music. If a song is new to you, it’s new. You crave current shared experiences. If this pandemic has changed anything about music, it’s that fans will pay to stream live performances. Live streaming will continue even as live venues reopen, because fans around the world will pay to zoom sold-out concerts. Attending and streaming concerts will be the current shared experience drawing the world together.

Here are a few good singles from around the globe that you may not know. They have catchy lyrics in English, complex melodies and arrangements, expert musicians, and have been released in the last year. Maybe these songs will draw you to travel, to rock and roam.

To continue discovering more global music and to help you create your own international playlist, download Radiooooo in the App Store or visit radiooooo.com. Radiooooo allows users to pick a country on the map of the world and pick a decade from the 1900s to today to hear music from every country and era.

NORTH AMERICA:

Canada:

Wild Woman, Meg Warren

Governess Shadow, July Talk

Slowly, ODIE

CARIBBEAN:

Antigua & Barbuda:

Energy, Skillibeng

Grenada:

Country Badness: Evil Heights Riddim, Boyzie

Trinidad & Tobago:

Fall In Love, Prince Swanny

SOUTH AMERICA:

Guyana:

Overflow, Samuel Medas

Chile/Norway:

hey girl, boy pablo

EUROPE:

Germany:

Girls Like Us, Zoe Wees

Ireland:

City Unfolds, Ailbhe Reddy

Falling In, Inhaler

Norway:

Stay, Sirusho & Alexander Rybak

Romania:

3 to 1, Monoir & Eneli

United Kingdom:

Wellerman, Nathan Evans

ATM, Bree Runway & Missy Elliott

AFRICA:

(many songs regionally bilingual)

Ghana:

Forever, Gyakie

Spiritual, KiDi

Kenya:

Suzanna, Sauti Sol

Nigeria:

Damages, Tems

Sierra Leone:

The Lion, Y.O.K 7

South Africa:

Find Me In The Trees, lordkez

AUSTRALIA:

Australia:

Fly Away, Tones And I

Christmas In July, Alex The Astronaut

My Happiness, Washington

Kim, Tkay Maidza & Yung Baby Tate

Love You To Death, Snowy Band

New Zealand:

I Wonder Why, Kacy & Clayton & Marlon Williams

JPA989, Thomston

PACIFIC ASIA:

Singapore:

Departure Song, The Great Singapore Replay & whirring

Off My Mind, RENE

Landmind, 10vacations

Blue Accordion, Islandeer