Music from Russia

Russia has a long history of classical music innovation. The first important Russian composer was Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), who added religious and folk elements to classical compositions, composing pioneering operas like A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila; though these operas were distinctively Russian, they were based on the Italian tradition. Lidiya Ruslanova performing for Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War.Lidiya Ruslanova performing for Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War.

Glinka and the composers who made up The Mighty Handful after him (Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Borodin and César Cui) were often influenced by Russian folk music and tales. This same period saw the foundation of the Russian Musical Society in 1859, led by composers Anton and Nikolay Rubinstein. The Mighty Handful and the Russian Music Society were rivals, with the former embracing a Russian national identity and the latter musically conservative. Among the Mighty Handful's most notable compositions were the operas The Snow Maiden (Snegurochka), Sadko, Boris Godunov, Prince Igor and Khovanshchina, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade.

Other prominent Russian composers include Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and in the 20th century Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Shostakovich and Alfred Schnittke. Of these, Tchaikovsky remains the best known outside Russia, and his fame as the country's most famous composer is unquestioned. He is best known for ballets like Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.

During the 19th century, Count Uvarov led a campaign of nationalist revival which initiated the first professional orchestra with traditional instruments, beginning with Vassily Andreyev, who used the balalaika in an orchestra late in the century. Just after the dawn of the 20th century, Mitrofan Pyatnitsky founded the Pyatnitsky Choir, which used rural peasant singers and traditional sounds. By the time of the Soviet Union, however, it had become one of many groups playing sanitized folk music, now often called fakelore.

Music from Greece

The musical legacy of Greece is as diverse as its history. Cypriot music has certain similarities to traditional Greek music, and their modern popular music scenes remain well-integrated.

Greek folk traditions are said to derive from the music played by ancient Greeks. There are said to be two musical movements in Greek folk music: acritic songs and klephtic. Akritic music comes from the 9th century akrites, or border guards of the Byzantine Empire. Following the end of the Byzantine period, klephtic music arose before the Greek Revolution, developed among the kleftes, warriors who fought against the Ottoman Empire. Klephtic music is monophonic and uses no harmonic accompaniment.

Traditional dimotiká are accompanied by clarinets, guitars, tambourines and violins, and include dance music forms like syrtó, kalamatianó, tsámiko and hasaposérviko,as well as vocal music like kléftiko. Many of the earliest recordings were done by Arvanites like Yiorgia Mittaki and Yiorgios Papasidheris. Instrumentalists include clarinet virtuosos like Tasos Halkias, Yiorgos Yevyelis and Yiannis Vassilopoulos, as well as oud and fiddle players like Nikos Saragoudas and Yiorgos Koros.

Greek folk music is found all throughout Greece, as well as among communities in countries like the United States, Canada and Australia. The island of Cyprus and several regions of Turkey are home to long-standing communities of ethnic Greeks with their own unique styles of music.

Being largely unaffected by the developments of the European Renaissance, due to the almost four centuries of Ottoman occupation, the first liberated Greeks were anxious to catch up with the rest of Europe. The flourishing Greek culture of the Ionian islands, which were under the Italian rule and influence, was in sharp contrast to the Ottoman cultural poverty. It was through these islands that all the major advances of the European music were introduced to mainland Greeks. The songs of the islands known as Eptanissian, became the forerunners of the Greek modern song, influencing its development to a considerable degree. For almost a century all later musical attempts had to borrow elements from the Eptanissian music.

Music from Bolivia

Out of all the Andean countries Bolivia remains perhaps the most culturally linked to the indigenous peoples. Like most of its neighbors, Bolivia was long dominated by Spain and its attendant culture. Even after independence, Bolivian music was largely based on European forms. In 1952, a revolution established nationalistic reforms which included cultural and political awareness of the Aymara and Quechua natives. Intellectuals in the country began wearing ponchos and otherwise associating themselves with native cultures, and the new government promoted native folklore by, among other methods, establishing a folklore department in the Bolivian Ministry of Education.

Awareness of native music, spirituality and art continued into the 1960s. In 1965, Edgar 'Yayo' Jofré formed a quartet called Los Jairas in La Paz. With Bolivian folk music gaining popularity throughout the country, Jofré, along with Alfredo Dominguez, Ernesto Cavour Julio Godoy, and Gilbert Favre used traditional music in modified forms to appeal to urban-dwellers and Europeans. Later groups like Wara, Khanata, Paja Brava, Savia Andina, and especially Los K'jarkas helped further refine this fusion. Following a close but different path, groups and singers like Luzmila Carpio, Ruphay, and Grupo Aymara started touring abroad and gained international praise for their compositions, tunes that have brought indigenous Bolivian culture and history to the world's attention.

Los K'jarkas consists of three brothers, the Hermosas, who play primarily Huayño or, more rarely, Sayas. These are both dance music influenced both by native forms as well as African music imported to Bolivia with slavery. Los K'jarkas are known internationally for their Caporales classic "Llorando se fue", which was adopted and transformed to the popular beginning of the lambada dance craze of the 1980s, along with forró and carimbo in northern Brazil. The song was popularized by a French group, resulting in a successful lawsuit from the Hermosa brothers.

In the 1980s, Chilean nueva canción was imported to Bolivia and changed into canto nuevo, which was popularized by performers like Emma Junaro. Traditional Bolivian (and other South American) musical instruments include the charango, charangón, ronroco, hualaycho, zampoña, quena, bombo, huancara, reco reco, chiapya box, pinquillo, tarka, toyos, moseño, pututu, Andean saxophone, and sheep hooves formed into a kind of shaker, as well as European musical instruments such as the violin and guitar. Musical forms such as the Huayno, Bailecito, Kullawada, Tonada (or, directly Tinku), and Cueca are prominently featured in Bolivia's cultural music.

World Music

Peruvian music is an amalgamation of sounds and styles drawing on the Peru's Andean musical roots and Spanish musical influences.Native Peruvian music is dominated by the national instrument, the charango. The charango is a type of mandolin, and was invented in Bolivia by musicians imitating Spanish lutes and guitars. In the Canas and Titicaca regions, the charango is used in courtship rituals, symbolically invoking mermaids with the instrument to lure the woman to the male performers. Until the 1960s, the charango was denigrated as an instrument of the rural poor. After the revolution in 1959, which built upon the Indigenismo movement (1910–1940), the charango was popularized among other performers.

Raul Romero's recordings of saxophone and clarinet ensembles from the Mantaro Valley have proved extremely influential.

Contemplate the imperial ruins of mighty cities and dabble in the Amazon Basin. Peru had a rich cultural life thousands of years before Pizarro turned up in funny clothing. Wander around colonial cities that echo the legacy of Spanish conquistadors, explore the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, visit the lost city of Machu Picchu and ponder the enigma of the Nazca Lines.

Peru also boasts some of the most spectacular scenery in South America. The beautiful Peruvian Andes issue a siren's call to top-class trekkers. These mountains are also home to squillions of indigenous highlanders, who still speak the ancient tongue of Quechua and live a traditional way of life.

Peru is currently in the middle of its wet season; the government has declared a state of emergency in the departments of Tumbes, Piura, Ucayali and Lambayeque due to severe flooding. Travelers should monitor weather forecasts and expect some disruption to transport services.

Recent demonstrations in the city of Ayacucho over agriculture laws have resulted in injuries and fatalities. Travellers should exercise extreme caution and avoid any large public gatherings.

Areas where the government is conducting counter-insurgency campaigns have been designated 'emergency areas' and should not be entered. The Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) guerrilla movement is still known to conduct occasional operations in the Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Huanuco, Junín and San Martín areas. Border areas with Ecuador and Colombia are dangerous due to the presence of drug traffickers. The Cordillera del Cóndor region, near the border with Ecuador, is planted with landmines.

Music from Australia

The music of Australia ranges across a broad spectrum of styles and genres. Whilst most modern trends in Australian music are based on similar trends from the United States or United Kingdom, traditional indigenous music dates back to the prehistory of Australia.

Rock music in Australia first became popular in the 1950s , with artists including Johnny O'Keefe and topping charts around the world. This tradition was continued into the 1960s, by groups such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, The Easybeats, and The Bee Gees. Throughout this time, Indigenous Australian music and Australian jazz remained consistently popular.

Pub rock was immensely popular in the 1980s, and the era was typified by Mental As Anything, Midnight Oil, The Angels, Cold Chisel and Icehouse. INXS and Men at Work also achieved fame worldwide, and the song "Down Under" became an unofficial anthem for Australia. Australian hip hop began in the early 1980s, primarily influenced by overseas works, but by the 1990s a distinctive local style had emerged, with groups such as the Hilltop Hoods achieving international acclaim for their work.

The 90s saw an increase in the popularity of indie rock in Australia. AC/DC and INXS continued to achieve commercial success in the United States, whilst a multitude of local bands, including Regurgitator, You Am I, Powderfinger, Silverchair and Something for Kate, were popular throughout the country. A small electronic music scene emerged around Sydney and Melbourne, with Severed Heads, Ollie Olsen's No, and Foil all peaking in the 90s.

Australian music experienced somewhat of a rock renaissance in the 2000s with groups such as The Vines, Jet, Airbourne and Wolfmother charting internationally. Hilltop Hoods were the first Australian hip-hop group to reach the top of the ARIA chart. Channel 10's Australian Idol program was highly popular locally, as were the many "idols" produced.

Music from Tibet

ecular Tibetan music has been promoted by organizations like the Dalai Lama's Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. This organization specialized in the lhamo, an operatic style, before branching out into other styles, including dance music like toeshey and nangma. Nangma is especially popular in the karaoke bars of the urban center of Tibet, Lhasa. Another form of popular music is the classical gar style, which is performed at rituals and ceremonies. Lu are a type of songs that feature glottal vibrations and high pitches. There are also epic bards who sing of Tibet's national hero Gesar.

Tibetan "street songs" were a traditional form of expression particularly popular as a means of political and other commentary in a country that was previously without newspapers or other means of mass communication. They provided political and social commentary and satire and are a good example of a bardic tradition, akin to that that in medieval Europe or, more recently, the role calypsos played in the West Indies. As song lyrics in Tibet usually contained stanzas of 4 lines of 6 syllables each, the lyrics could be easily adapted to almost any melody.

Tibetan music has had a profound effect on some styles of Western music, especially New Age. Composers like Philip Glass and Henry Eichheim are most well-known for their use of Tibetan elements in their music. The first such fusion was Tibetan Bells, a 1971 release by Nancy Hennings and Henry Wolff. The soundtrack to Kundun, by Philip Glass, has helped to popularize Tibetan music. Foreign styles of popular music have also had a major impact within Tibet. Indian ghazal and filmi are very popular, as is rock and roll, an American style which has produced Tibetan performers like Rangzen Shonu. Since the relaxation of some laws in the 1980s, Tibetan pop, popularised by the likes of Yadong (Tibet), Dadon (now living in the US), Jampa Tsering (Tibet), 3-member group AJIA, 4-member group Gao Yuan Hong, 5-member group Gao Yuan Feng, are well-known. Gaoyuan Hong in particular has introduced elements of Tibetan language rapping into their singles.

The Lama Mani tradition - the telling of Buddhist parables through song — dates back to the 12th century. The songs were performed by wandering storytellers, who travelled from village to village, drawing on their own often humble origins to relate to people from all backgrounds. Vividly illustrated Buddhist thangka paintings depicted the narrative and helped the audience understand what was essentially a teaching.Alan Dawazhuoma is the first and currently only Tibetan artist to break into the Japanese music industry.