Help me find good international music

August 3, 2009 6:15 PM

I'm responsible for providing music for a local soccer tournament styled after the World Cup. It is a celebration of the various cultures of the immigrant communities here, and I'd like to play as much music from the participating countries as possible. Can you help?

I have asked the team captains to help out, but I don't want to rely on them as they have many other responsibilities between now and the weekend. The countries represented in this year's tournament are Columbia, Macedonia, Ecuador, Ireland, Brazil, Iraq, Jamaica, Guatemala, Iran, Liberia, Albania, Togo, Ghana, and El Salvador.

It's non-profit and I'm a volunteer committee member, so free music would be wonderful. Music available via Amazon, iTunes, and emusic would otherwise be preferable because I have accounts on those sites already.

posted by rollbiz to media & arts (6 comments total)

Iran: Andy and Googoosh
posted by k8t at 6:46 PM on August 3

Albania: Kejsi Tola's bit from Eurovision in Albanian?
posted by kldickson at 6:54 PM on August 3

Ireland: Kila are on emusic.
posted by jamesonandwater at 7:05 PM on August 3

Available on iTunes:
- Colombia: Carlos Vives, Juanes. Probably best to use Juanes' most recent stuff, which isn't political

- Iran: Arash is popular; I also like Afshin and Juniors 5 but don't know if they're popular or if the lyrics are political

- Macedonia: the song Jovano, Jovanke is a classic folk song that Macedonians happily sing along to, though it's not exactly lively. There are several versions on iTunes.
posted by PatoPata at 7:22 PM on August 3

I remember hearing Ricky Martin's La Copa de Vida ("Go, go, go, ole, ole, ole!" or La Cancion Oficial De La Copa Mundial, Francia '98) for months on end. I'm not sure if soccer lovers would associate it with France in particular, Spanish speaking countries because it's in Spanish, or with the World Cup in general.
posted by cocoagirl at 7:35 PM on August 3

Brazil-Ponta de Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma) - by Jorge Ben.
posted by jade east at 3:31 PM on August 4