Prompted by a tag from KFD in Fatima’s rather impressive rollcall of personal best albums of 2025 to a new album last year from Yasmin Hamdan, I realized there might be other non-English language acts who released interesting and impressive albums in 2025.
I did a quick search for best Arabic albums of 2025 and Arab News had a rather fine collection of 8 different albums which I am listening to now.
Particularly wonderful is a compilation Al Anhar Wal Oyoon – seven womxn artists from across the Arab world. Blending traditional Arabic songwriting with experimental soundscapes, it’s a great listen.
Also really good is ‘Sametou Sawtan’ by SANAM ‘a poignant, unsettled collision of noise rock, free jazz, and Arabic folk that fizzes with tension’.
I’ll probably try to add some more Arabic and Latin discoveries in the comments below. I’d also welcome posting of any of your discoveries from beyond the Anglosphere from 2025
Sounds and Colours does regular reports on Latin music and culture, and its New Year’s Honours List for 2025 has a wide variety of acts who released albums in 2025.
For me the stand out is Jaime Ospina’s The Vessel – Afro-Colombian percussion and mix of jazz, funk, cumbia.
Brìghde Chaimbeul – Sunwise .
Dronetastic evocations of Gaelic winter’s arrival, bleak weather and a robust pensiveness.
As blogged on by KFD last year, I remember. Listening to it now, this track is the one I would return to
https://brighdechaimbeul.bandcamp.com/track/sguabag-the-sweeper
The new current issue of SONGLINES has a 50-page feature of the best 60 albums from 2025.
Here are the top albums from each category
https://www.songlines.co.uk/awards/2025
Thank you, fatima! I didn’t want to steal your thunder or take away attention from your fine thread, but rather to focus on selected elements inspired by it. I will look at the songlines page(s) with pleasure.
The number one album is by the Tamil artist GANAVYA, as featured in Barack Obama’s Best of 2025 list
This is from 2024, but gives a display of the power of her voice. Around 10 minutes in, it really reaches a crescendo.
Barack’s Favourites from 2025 have been made into a Spotify playlist
A mixture of mainstream favourites with some more esoteric stuff. Well worth a browse.
Well, as it happens, my Top 20 included 6 non-English language albums anyway, plus a further 4 who would presumably have not been in English, if they’d bothered to have any lyrics, including my top album of the year.
1. Juana Molina – Doga
2. Black Hauge – Black Hauge
3. War-Sav – Septet
4. Trio Roblin Evain Badeau – Vivons
5. Brighde Chambeuil – Sunwise (see above)
Le Vent du Nord were the other one.
That’s (Argentinian) Spanish, Norwegian, French/Breton, French/Breton, Gaelic respectively.
Ooo, quite a few. I too had a fair bit of foreign muck in my list.
Sian’s second, Araon was my second choice, I believe, and Ms Chimbeul was also in my list. (Actually, I surprise myself, she wasn’t, nudged out by Kim Carnie’s A’ Chailleach. These are all Gaelic.
An album that would have been in my list, had I heard it in time, was The Finishing, by N’Faly Kouyate, which is fabulous.
Hartwin’s Unfolding was in my list and, had any words been uttered or sung, I dare say they would have been French or Flemish.
I also enjoyed Electro Baghdad, by Sharon & Bakal and the 2 albums from Cerys Hafana.
Whenever I see the sign above the aisle in Booths for ‘international food’, I imagine others reinterpreting it as ‘foreign muck’.
You’ve met my dad then…. He was complaining about rice in the care home the other day.
I’m not really much of a fan of the accordion as a musical instrument – it bends too close to jauntiness or French cafe cliche for my taste. But Hartwin’s Unfolding is majestically beautiful – beatific and gently contrapunctal, soothing and evocative music – the accordion perfectly matched in weave with the violin:
Isn’t it!
Isn’t it though? For shiz, blud.
That is such a beautiful piece of music, @salwarpe. What a discovery.
Hartwin is now my musician of the week.
Here he is with his trio….
And now, here is the only rock we are likely to see on this thread’
Here is the Hartwin Trio playing for dancers.
Mayne @thecheshirecat has crossed paths with him….
But of course. It all started with Trio Dhoore playing Sidmouth back in 2016 and I’ve been buying his albums since then. Last year, he teamed up with Ross Grant, stalwart of Bromyard and Warwick Folk Festivals, to bring out a collaborative album. He’s a top bloke.
That first clip ‘Eagle’s feather’ is so smoking and erotic, it should be x-rated.
I posted UNFOLDING on my Facebook page and my Finnish pal, Juha, was very impressed.
Then to my delight, I got a comment from HARTWIN himself….
Thank you for listening and all the kind words. It means a lot to me.
I did not expect that. Great work @Salwarpe. This kind of thing is what we are all about.
Well, thank you, KFD. Though I feel Retro should get some of the credit – just a little, you know!
YES indeed.
Thanks a lot @retropath2 for opening our ear to Hartwin.
He’s on INSTAGRAM and his page is well worth a look. He writes the entries himself and talks a little about his family as well as the music
That Hartwin album sounds absolutely superb.
What a pity that it’s almost impossible to find as a physical product.
I had a chat with Hartwin on Facebook @duco01 and you will be delighted to hear that he is coming to Stallet. In SPRING 2087.
I suggest that you write to him about the lack of physical products, They must exist.
https://tradrecords.be/nl/shop
Is this any help? He and his other two brothers are behind, I think, Trad Records, based in the Netherlands.
I had a chat to Ross Grant about this over the summer, as there was no physical product available for their joint album. He was saying that there was just not enough demand for physical product in Europe to justify manufacture. I suspect Hartwin has moved away from CDs, but it does surprise and disappoint me.
There were only four vocalists in my top twenty. The best, by a mile, is Lux by Rosalia. It is extraordinary. If you haven’t heard it, you really must.
(Full disclosure: there is a bit of English on one track.)
It was played for me by one of my oldest friends just before Christmas. I think it’s a ‘grower’, with a lot of content that is not immediately accessible, not least because of the window it gives into the enormity of as yet unknown to me Spanish/Catalan culture. When KFD posted last year, 10 comments and 17 videos was a bit too much for me. Give me someone less high profile, less in the heat of public attention and fervour.
Some artists are so ambitious, so innovative, and too big to ‘get’ easily and take time. I can see Rosalia might be one of those for me.
Though this is quite spectacular:
This thread is going to be great fun.
Here are 10 top albums from France.
https://frenchly.us/best-french-music-albums-of-2025/
I’m delighted that Vanessa Paradis is still going strong..
And Gims is clearly still another major hitmaker…
Constantinople is the name of a versatile Canadian ensemble led by Tehran-born, setar maestro, Kiya Tabassian.
Last year, Kiya and percussionist, Patrick Graham, recorded an album with Norwegian Hardanger fiddle player, Benedicte Maurseth
A concert in Montreal……
Number 63 in the chart below, as it happens.
The Popmatters website has a list of 10 Best Global Music Albums of 2025:
10. Kayatibu – Ni Hui: Voz da Floresta (Da Lata Music/Mi Mawai)
9. Salin – Rammana (Independent)
8. Guedra Guedra – MUTANT (Smugglers Way)
7. Raúl Monsalve y los Forajidos – SOL (Olindo)
6. Elana Sasson – In Between (PKMusik)
5. Marlon Williams – Te Whare Tīwekaweka (Independent)
4. Brighde Chaimbeul – Sunwise (tak:til)
3. Ghazi and Boom.Diwan x Arturo O’Farrill – Live in the Khaleej! (Independent)
2. Florence Adooni – A.O.E.I.U. (An Ordinary Exercise in Unity) (Philophon)
1. Mulatu Astatke – Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut)
Florence Adooni’s album is described as “rapturous… music that runs the gamut from jazz to highlife to the warmer side of EDM, exulting throughout”. That sounds about right.
That Mulatu Astatke is absolutely brilliant. Can I also put in a word for Ze Ibarra’s AFIM that was released last year? From one of the key players on Bala Desejo’s brilliant Sim Sim Sim and with guest appearances from the other members. In my end of year list I think.
Thanks for that tip @paul-hewston. I will definitely give AFIM a listen. Bala Desejo really were a super group. Each of them are having a very successful solo career.
The wonderful Dora Morelenbaum for example.
I think we will enjoy this tv special even though we don’t speak Portuguese.
World Music Central has a chart of 100 albums – which is plenty to sink the teeth into. The Number one album, Buzz’ Ayaz – Buzz’ Ayaz -is a mixed Greek/Turkish Cypriot psychedelic collection which is interesting, if not as absorbing as I would like on first listen.
Working my way down the list, number 10 (Aboubakar Traoré & Balima – Sababu) is the first to really draw me in. A captivating and melodic pillow of sound from Burkina Faso to rest your ears on – it’s almost perfect for a chilly January morning – described as “soulful jazz and reggae inflections, more than a hint of western electric guitar tones, memorable melodies and vocal contributions, all underscored by sumptuous pan-African rhythms”
Maybe give it a listen?
Next up on my listening journey round the world – Korea
No.16 Park Jiha – All Living Things
An album of aural textures – minimalist, but with sufficient discordance and piercing notes to add that necessary acid drop of lemon to the balm of the harmony.Plus a hammer dulcimer that echoes Dead Can Dance. Quite lovely.
Jumping over no.17 (yet more music from Mali) how do you like your Polish folk reggae?
18. Kapela ze Wsi Warszawa / Warsaw Village Band & Bassałyki – Sploty / Twines
Possibly a bit world music by numbers, but it is as comfortable as a pair of old slippers
You are finding some very interesting treat @salwarpe.
I discovered this lot on a Spanish BEST OF THE YEAR list… Very promising.
Thanks, KFD – I am glad you like them. I’ve got about halfway through the hundred, and though there are other artists of interest, nothing has piqued me enough to post yet.
I enjoyed what I’ve heard of your tiny desk clip more than I expected to – lively and amicable music.
Starting the second half of the top 100 albums,
51: Matthieu Saglio & Camille Saglio – Al Alba
This is enchantingly beautiful – just cello and voice. This review does a fine job of giving more detail and background “This album is, without a doubt, one of the most dazzling listening experiences we will have at our fingertips in 2025, its strangeness filling our eyes with admiration.”
🎵album on YT here
What a find. This duo really hit the spot for me @salwarpe
I suspect @duco01 will be equally enthusiastic.
I see that they are on the excellent German label ACT..
https://www.youtube.com/@ACTMusicOfficial
Do you know it?
https://www.actmusic.com/en/
It is on my radar as many fine Swedish jazz artists are on their roster.
Well worth a dabble.
Here’s an interview from 2015 with the co-founder Siggi Loch
.https://exms.org/nyheter/interview-siggi-loch-act-music-talks-about-swedish-jazz
An emphatic thumbs-up for Saglio and Saglio.
I’ve ordered the CD.
Good morning! Today’s musical discoveries start with
59. Santrofi – Making Moves
A highlife band from Ghana, this is an album with funk sounds, beautiful guitar plucking, harmonious vocals. Best to leave it to a review to go into detail on the individual tracks. A rippling joy to soundtrack the day.
🎵album on YT here
As this thread slips away from the front page, my thanks for the contributions made. I’ve enjoyed a lot of music new to me. There were 41* more artists in the top 100, a wide range of countries and genres, but nothing that I need to post about for now.
Looking forward to what new music 2026 will bring!
*including another Korean act from the alternative music scene (that’s now 3 such bands I know. I may do a thread on it some time.
I haven’t contributed to this thread for a few days, as I’ve been too busy listening to the artists listed on this excellent site,
LIMuR – THE IBERIAN ROOTS MUSIC CHART
https://www.limur.eu/limur/whats-limur/
It is my discovery of the week.
Not only do they list the best releases, they also do fab playlists.
https://www.limur.eu/limur/category/anual/
Their album of the year is by a wonderful, Spanish band, RADIO TARIFA, who have just released their first album in 20 years.
I like LIMuR even more than lemurs, and tomorrow I’m going to start a new spinoff thread all about it and the new artists I have discovered.
Sounds like a plan.
Radio Tarifa drawing on Arabic as well as Spanish musical sources should be appealing to me, but it’s a bit too mainstream rock for my tastes. Though I note that over of the key members plays the crumhorn should be instant catnip roundhouse these parts.
I briefly popped into a charity shop the other day, having dropped off Offspring the Elder at a primary school (for a job interview, not as a pupil), and picked up a copy of Mlah by Les Négresses Vertes.
I first heard it in 1990 when my final year halls room neighbour, who had spent a year abroad for his French & Italian course, played me his tape. I then bought it on CD after we graduated. So it was nice to see it on vinyl and I happily handed over a fiver. I have no idea who would have bought it had I not done so.
It turns out that LNV are on tour again and playing in Camden at the end of April.
I saw them once back in the day @fetonsteve nd they were superb.
If they come to Stockholm, i will be there. I am sure they are still superb.
As KFD is going Iberian, here is one more album from the list:
94: Los Pirañas – Una Oportunidad Más de Triunfar en la Vida
Reminiscent of the sort of cultural collage and collision of 3Mustaphas3 and the guitar angularity of Marc Ribot, Los Pirañas exhibit a crazy, clattering creativity that comes from the imagination of the main musicians behind several of Colombia’s popular bands ‘Meridian Brothers, Chúpame el dedo, Frente Cumbiero, Ondatropica, Chúpame el dedo and Romperayo’.
🎵album on YT here
What a catch. I’d love to see Los Pirañas live….
Same goes for this Portuguese accordion quartet, Danças Ocultas, who I discovered on LIMuR-
https://www.cultureworks.at/en/dancas-ocultas/
This site describes them thus..
Danças Ocultas are four accordionsts from Agueda near Porto who are among the most innovative and most exciting representatives of contemporary Portuguese music. For 35 years now they have been rising on the international music scene – with an apparently very simple concept: tranquil, lyrical, more or less traditional, with only four diatonic accordions.
The quartet’s name, Hidden Dances, has nothing to do with mysterious domains but means that Dancas Ocultas play music for dances that have yet to be invented. Famous Fado plays a minor role, the band’s inspiration comes rather from traditional village music, Tango Nuevo and the chamber music exemplified by the Russian Terem Quartet.
Here is a track from their latest album.