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[Timpsi]

Ethnic music is something I've always steered away from (mainly due to the horrible mistake my parents did when I was 5. To save you people from the painfulness of it, let's just say it involved traditional dances. That should be enough). However, thanks to my girlfriend - whose taste in everything seems to be just perfect - I have now discovered that some of ethno is bloody good, and I wish to share my findings.

For example the Swedish-Finnish band Hedningarna is totally awesome. The mix of modern and old instruments with two (sometimes three) languages, and the haunting sound of the female vocals works perfectly. If you have Real Player or Real Alternative, you can listen to them online at http://www.silence.se/jukebox/default_eng.htm (choose "Play the Jukebox" (pop-up opens) -> Pick "Hedningarna" from the list -> Choose "Trä" -> Choose a song. I recommend "Räven". Push play, wait, and find your mind be blown away). Lyrics translated in English over here.

Gjallarhorn is a Finnish band that plays in Swedish (for some reason the Finnish-Swedish cooperation seems to work in music). Their approach is mode medieval than that of Hedningarna, and they're a little bit less experimental. The great skill of each member of the band is easy to hear, but especially the vocals are impressive. Real Audio available at http://www.gjallarhorn.com/audio.html (I recommend for example the second song of the Ranarop album). Unfortunately in this case the sound quality isn't as good as it should be, but you can still hear their excellence.

More later.

(Oh, and should you not wish to install Real Player, I recommend Real Alternative. It allows you to play real audio and real media through Media Player Classic without installing the evil Real Player. And it's free.)