Lost in Bass: Artists from Kazakhstan, Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Slovenia, Georgia, France, Israel and USA. Dust off your subwoofers kids. This one’s based.
Wikipedia has two definitions for ‘Trap’ neither of which bear much resemblance to what you’re about to hear, which could be its own genre. Ethnic Chill Out probably best describes it, but that’s a bit long, so Trap it is. According to Wikipedia, Trap is considered a sub-genre of hip-hop, which makes this a series of sub-sub-genres. Slavic Trap, Balkan Trap, Arab Trap, Persian Trap. I could go on.
Not all of the material presented is technically Trap, but it all fits together so well that I decided to use it as a sort of complimentary mood to offset the repetitive nature of Trap. With Trap, it’s all in the bass. You can listen on regular stereo gear of course, but you need a subwoofer to really appreciate it.
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You’ll figure out which is which as you listen, so no need to go into detail, and information is in the track list at the bottom for clues. The basic theme here is ethnic vocals and instrumentals, but the artists are coming at it from different angles which resonates with the main theme of this channel - cultures in collision.
Some of the songs are drawn from the artist’s own cultures while some are simply hijacked by artists with no connection to the culture where the music originated. Some is studio work, some is performed live, although I’ve chosen the studio versions for reasons of quality. So fall into the Trap and please enjoy!
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TRACK LIST
01. Makpal Manasbay plays Korkyt Ata’s - Zhelmaya Kui. / An article on the Kazakh composer, Korkyt Ata and an explanation of the instrument played, the Kobyz. If you like the sound of the Kobyz, there’s some nice material here.
02. ZwiReK - Dawn / Polish music producer ~ Spotify ~ Instagram
03. Ivan Shopov & Avigeya - Eno Lyo / Bulgarian producer Ivan Shopov with Avigeya.
04. Ivan Shopov & Avigeya - Chichovite Konye
05. Luiku - Ethnic Females / Ukrainian performing band ~ YouTube ~ Spotify
06. EVG - България / Bulgarian music producer Evgeni Ivanov
07. AxLi - Ya Habibi / US based DJ and producer
08. Zwirek - Love In Damascus
09. Asadi - Caspian / US based DJ plays Persian Trap
10. Ankit Dahal - Balalaika / Produced by Venom Music
11. Konrad OldMoney - Jakarta Riddim / YouTube ~ Instagram
12. Acid Arab - Gul l’Abi (feat. A-WA) / Paris based DJ duo ~ Bio ~ YouTube
13. Biz - Mother Russia / Russian EDM producer BIZ (@Biz Production) YouTube ~ VK
14. Biz - Petrunko - Bulgarian
15. Slavic Affairs - Ruslana / Slovenian producer Jan Janko Močnik ~ YouTube ~ Bandcamp
16. A-WA - Al Asad / Yemeni-Israeli sisters ~ Website ~ Bio
17. Damir Alyoshin - Fiksiki Remix / Ukrainian DJ remix of theme for children’s TV show Fixsiki ~ YouTube ~ VK
18. Dato Kenchiashvili & Bichiko Navrozashvili (Georgia) - Taoba Ioro REMIX / Gangster City Production ~ Spotify ~ Instagram ~ Check out the original version of the song. These guys can really sing!
Sainkho - Tanola Nomads / Tuvan singer Sainkho Namatchylak
OK, I put off clicking on your link for a while because “a sub-genre of hip-hop” immediately turned me off, hip hop being only a simulacrum of music. But I don't hear any ghetto Negro aspects to these tunes. They're more like Western music played on middle eastern instruments, a la mebbe, David Bowie or even Jimmy Page in his Eastern haze/days.
Which means I can listen to this music with some pleasure. If my assessment (of hip hop) offends you (or your readers) I offer my appy polly loggies. This means I kinda like this mix of Eastern tunes.
That being said, the photo of Miss Scarlet is pretty amazing. Thanks, Ebear!