Our 10 Greatest Worldwide Albums of This Past Year

Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide music that defied expectations. We explore ten notable albums that defined the year in music.

10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical percussion may not appear the easiest listening experience. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating work. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive language over the record's ten parts. His composition references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the repetition of a continual, driving figure. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive realm.

9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

After an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, yearning vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and understated, yet this austerity offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to take center stage. It is well worth the long anticipation.

Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas

From Mexico producer Debit specializes in eerie reworkings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through veils of distortion and static to produce a novel, menacing groove. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly afterimage.

7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Maximalism is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a tumult of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly freeing.

6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably captivating fusion of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.

Number Five: Enji – Resonance

From Mongolia vocalist Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.

4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow

Drawing on the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with woozy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They develop sinuous, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that give a novel, unconventional twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim