Hooverphonic - Gentle Storm [HQ - full screen]

Belgium is the anomaly of Europe, the country that resulted from the push and pull of colonial powers flexing their muscles, comparing the lengths to which they would go, and usually coming up short. So Belgium is a mixture of Dutch and French (and a bit of Germany), Romantic and Germanic, and Capital of Europe, with the largest Muslim 'hood north of Tangier next to the largest red-light district south of Amsterdam. So English is often the language of choice in Europe's multicultural Trinidad, their Fiji, their Swahili coast on the North Atlantic, where mixed messages make interesting cultures. and so it is with the music, more often than not in the international lingua franca, more often than not in mixed genres, more often than not pretty darn good...

Kobo Town - Mr. Monday

Trinidad is something of an anomaly. Equal parts English, Spanish, African and Indian, this is something like the Fiji of the Caribbean, a (not-so-pure) Commonwealth creation. But the resulting mix can be as disappointing as it is inspiring. Frankly, for the birthplace of calypso and soca, I'd expect a better mix of music, but what's there is not bad, including these guys, who might actually best be considered as Canadian. Welcome to world music...

Ляпис Трубецкой. Капитал

Belarus is part of that so-called 'axis of evil' of vestigial Communist countries that stretch from North Korea hop-skipping over remnants of the old USSR and fellow travelers. So maybe a satirical song about Karl Marx called 'Das Kapital' doesn't seem so strange, after all--or maybe not. It's all up in the air, countdown to springtime...

Emel Mathlouthi Oum ezzin el jamaliya آمال مثلوثي ـ أم الزين الجمالية

Tunisia is famous for the mezoued, that bagpipe-like mouth organ that takes you away somewhere somehow, whether you like it or not, but there's much more than that to the eastern style of Maghrebbi music. Like neighbors Algeria and Morocco, Tunisia is more European than most Arab states, so that means many diverse influences and manifestations. Arab Spring started here, remember. Check out this guy's violin playing. And hang around for a few songs, and Emel will sing Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' for you, sublime...