Just a quick one today! 

When it comes to songs, I love finding hidden gems from around the world. I’ve written a few blog posts on my favourite world music that I have found so far, and I have another one coming. But, in the meantime, I thought it might be cool to tell you how you can find songs from different countries. 

I have a variety of ways through which these songs have come into my regular rotation. Some of these apps came into use as a result of my incessant need as a teenager to find every song I ever liked the sound of, regardless of how little I heard. Others have been recommended to me because they’re unique ways of preserving and showcasing rare songs. 

What I Use to Find World Music 

Eurovision – Of course, who can go without it? Every year we get 20-30 new euro-pop bangers to buff out our playlists. Last years was absolutely shite tho – too much focus on ballads and not enough of the crazy stuff that came to define the noughties’ and teens’ shows. Eurovision is also a good way to find new acts and fall down rabbit hole of one country’s very specific relationship to horns.  

Shazam – A staple app on the phone of any music lover, this is always my first thought, before remembering lyrics to google later. Its’ perfect for songs in different languages and, of course, it works anywhere, I’ve found songs thanks to this app in the queue at falafel shops, and wandering through piazzas in Italy. It’s very, very rare that Shazam can’t find a song when I need it to – the hardest part is just remembering you have it downloaded on your phone. 

TikTok – Yea I get it, but hear me out. I genuinely think that this app might have the highest concentration of cultures in one place on the planet. If you spend some time exploring and learning about a certain country’s customs through videos, you’re bound to come across new sounds you love. Because TikTok is used by people from those countries, rather than by media organisations trying to represent a country in a certain way, I find you get more authentic music this way, that people from different countries actually listen to. 

Radiooo – This app is an invaluable resource when it comes to finding the lesser known songs of the world. It gives you the ability to pick any country and any decade and will then give you a song based on your choices, sourced by music collectors from around the world. I’ve found some of my all-time favourites using Radiooo and this is definitely the site to use if you prefer the deep-cuts. If you try one of these methods, make it this one. They have an app and a website, so you can find world music on the go or at your desk. 

Spotify – Ok, so Spotify isn’t really that good for finding new music, but every now and again it’ll throw a banger of such extreme proportions at me that I immediately love and am shocked I’ve never heard before. Make sure you have Spotify Radio enabled, so that when you’re listening to world music it will play songs in the same genre. I wish it worked for vibe, but alas, it does what it’s meant to do very well. Put a random song on shuffle and enjoy. For older songs, possibly not from around the world, forgotify is another great music preservation site. It plays music that has never received any plays on Spotify. 

Ghost Capital – Ok, so this blog is the time-honoured collection of music preserved by a mysterious man named Nick. Not every song on here is going to be world music, but it will definitely be obscure. What makes this blog even better is that every song is given up to a few hundred words of summary recounting its history and style. I’m not sure if it’s still receiving regular updates, but if you’ve never been to the blog before then you have a few thousand records to dig into. Off you go.  

World Music Network – While not great for specific songs, learning about the history of a country’s music is super interesting. Entire genres are discovered and explained in easy to digest paragraphs, with lots of examples along the way. What better way to step into a different culture than to understand their music. 

RadioGarden – If you’ve been on the internet for a while you may well already be familiar with RadioGarden. Basically, using your VPN you can listen to a whole host of radio stations around the world – there’s even one in Pyongyang! This is perfect for eating up a culture since you get to hear the language too, and for seeing what constitutes ‘popular’ music in a certain locality. It’s also really cool to see what people in certain places are listening to at certain times. For example, the African islands in the middle of the night and the early morning are always playing bangers. Kyrgyzstan and any of the Baltics are always good choices, too. 

General Tips for Finding World Music 

Patience is Key – Listen to every song all the way through once. Ok, maybe not the 8 minute long ones that you hate, but sometimes it takes a while to get into a song. You have to give them enough of a chance. 

Note it Down! – Write your reviews down somewhere. You might not like every single song, but it’s helpful to remember the names in case they get stuck in your head, and fun to have a record of your thoughts about them. The same goes for lyrics of any song you like the sound of but don’t know the name of. You can Google these lyrics later.

Gossip – Any way that you can find out what your friends are listening to is a perfect way to find new music. Following people from other countries on social media is another easy way to come across songs you maybe wouldn’t have otherwise. 

Go Deeper – Any song you find that you like is an easter egg waiting to be cracked open. No matter what country the music is from, it likely has a long list of inspirations and made a difference in its genre. One song can lead you to a thousand other songs, so do your research.