Grant's Favorite Music From Overseas

Most of my favorite music artists and what I primarily listen to are all from America so I had to look around to find other things that I liked for this blog but I think I landed on some music that I really enjoy. Two of the songs I knew from the start I would put on this list because they are my favorite non-American songs but outside of that the other two are new to me as well.

My first recommendation and my personal favorite is "Luv(sic) pt2" by Nujabes. This is my modern song and I cannot praise Nujabes enough for this song and the project it comes from. The song itself is a beautiful old school rap production by Nujabes and on top of it are amazing vocals by Shing02, the song itself is a beautiful story about enjoying life and others and the production replicates that vibe perfectly. Some background on Nujabe,s he is a Japanese producer who died in 2010 who influenced the Japanese hip-hop scene and is a founder of the atmospheric jazzy sampling that can be scene in modern hip-hop genres like cloud rap and trip hop.

Second recommendation I couldn't decide on which song I wanted to present for this one so I'm just going to recommend the entire album, "LAGOON (Remastered 2017)" by Shigeru Suzuki. LAGOON is a Japanese Jazz album entirely produced by Shigeru Suzuki and it is an incredible Jazz piece and my personal favorite jazz album I've listened to. The entire project has a upbeat tune that almost sounds like elevator music but in a good way, like how when you notice it it's catchy and gets stuck in your head til way after you left the elevator and go wherever you go. This version of the album was remastered in 2017 but the original was released in 1976 so I say this passes as not that modern, what is modern however is the influence of Shigeru Suzuki. This project and all of his other work is the backbone of Japanese Jazz and modern Jazz in general, even if you haven't heard his work before I can guarantee there is at least one song in his discography you have heard before. My personal favorite off this album is "8-NOTE SONG".

Now for the undiscovered territory for even myself, the first song that I want to shout is "Coleção" by Cassiano. When looking for the two extra songs I needed for this I stumbled upon Cassiano and his story combined with his music forced me to have a section on him. Cassiano was born in Campina Grande (a city in Brazil) and during his early life didn't have much connection to music, it wasn't until he moved to Rio de Janeiro and worked as a bricklayer he was taught some guitar. After his early life he developed into a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, he has always had an influence from American Soul music and you can hear that influence in his work. During his later time as an artist he had a serious respiratory problem and lost a part of his lungs so his career had an abrupt end as a singer but stayed as a guitarist with others interpreting his lyrics like Tim Maia. My favorite song from him that is song by him is "Coleção" and is an amazing blend of American Soul influence with Portuguese lyrics and other influences.

For my final recommendation I need something traditional so I'm going to revisit Africa and specifically Egypt with Shaabi. Shaabi is a traditional street music in Egypt and originates back to the start of the 20th century, Shaabi is basically Egyptian pop music that takes heavy inspiration from past iterations of Egyptian music and is constantly evolving. I choose this because it was unique in the aspect of that it is still popular today as a genre now and has the longevity that these others do not have, the closest thing to it was The Blues which inspired everything we listen to in modern America. The most popular song that I could find from this genre was "Shik Shak Shok" by Hassan Abou El Seoud and is definitely something you could see being played on a street corner by a group of friends having fun.