Music from the Axis of Evil

As the Bush White House's list of naughty countries continues to grow, SoundRoots will continue to fight the dehumanization of the peoples of these nations by sharing music and information (much as axisofevilweather.com gives you weather conditions in the original Evil nations). Yes, it's been more than four years since Bush's famous "Axis of Evil" speech, but the bellicose approach to world problems continues.

It's a little hard to keep track, even with the work of Wikipedia. Really, the White House should issue regular updates of those nations unlikely to be invited to the Rose Garden. It appears that the present list includes North Korea, Iran, Syria, Palestine (or rather, the Palestinians), Libya, Cuba, Myanmar (Burma), and Zimbabwe. Hmm. Not Venezuela?

Well, we'll work with what we've got. Listen to today's Spin The Globe for a heap of music. Or check out this playlist with audio samples.

And it turns out that if one looks, one can find a fair amount of "evil" music lurking around the ether. One might find a site of electronica and such from Belarus. Or songs by the Korean People’s Army Concert Troupe and other North Korean stuff, such as "No Motherland Without You," which I'm assuming is some sort of love song. You say you want even more Korean music? Here's some, though I can't read the title. Or maybe you'd like the Korean version of the "Internationale" (more such tunes here).

Where else should we go. From Cuba we get "Cuba, My Love" - a song about the revolution and its leader. What was his name? The group Zanga Zanga gives us the Shona (Zimbabwe) tune "Shumba." Libya's got Ayman al-Aathar -- you can hear about him and his music on The World's Global Hit. Myanmar has a surprisingly strong musical presence, particularly at ayinepan.com, where one can find a number of rock mp3s, including the song "Guitar Cafe" apparently from a group called Zaw Win Htut. Just good old fashioned Burmese blues.

For more from the lands of Evil, be sure to check out the offerings of Seattle label Sublime Frequencies. Their CDs -- with names like Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar and Radio Pyongyang: Commie Funk and Agit Pop from the Hermit Kingdom -- feature an oddly appealing mixes of street sounds, unusual pop music, and radio jingles.

Alright...That's enough fun for one day. Let me know if you enjoy this, or if you have other recommendations from "evil" countries (or would like to nominate additional names to the White House list).