The 10 Greatest Global Records of This Past Year

As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global music that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.

10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical drumming might not seem the most approachable musical proposition. However, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Directing an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive dialect across the record's 10 movements. His composition references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, everything tethered in the reiteration of a persistent, pulsing motif. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.

Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is soft and ruminative, singing delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a quivering, longing vocal technique over electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and subtle, yet this minimalism provides the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to shine through. The album proves to be truly deserving of the long anticipation.

Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down

From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for haunting reworkings of historical sounds. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm via layers of murk and hiss to generate a novel, menacing beat. At turns ambient and uneasy, Debit converts the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, spectral memory.

7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Maximalism is the key term for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become oddly freeing.

6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly compelling combination of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a party blend pioneered over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.

Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance

Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to offer 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 soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, pulling the listener into the gentle soundscape of her singular voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa

Channeling the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that lend a new, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim