Artist	Song
Armando Trovaioli - Alberta Lattuada (Italy)	Quand'ero un Bebe'
Alemayehu Eshete (Ethiopia)	Nefas endaygeban
Grupo de "La Alegria" (Cuba)	El Tambor de La Alegria
Shoukichi Kina w/ Champloose (Okinawa)	Tokyo Sanbika
Otomo Yoshihide, with Haco, etc. (Japan)	Boken Gabouten-jima [Takeo Yamashita cover]
Concord (Germany)	Rockits
ñ·¦Hc·ñH from Great 3 + John McEntire (Japan/USA)	ÑA½Bñd no Sutaato [Happy End cover]
Bebel Gilberto (Brazil)	Aganju
Iva Bittova (Czech)	Mravenci Sila
Black Ox Orkestar (Canada)	Stav Ya Pitu
Dengue Fever (USA/Cambodia)	Lost in Laos
Manhar, Alka Yagnik, Bhavna Shah (India)	Chandan Ki Chachi Ko
Linda Dela Cruz (Hawaii)	Ke Ala Ka`u I Honi
Kazuya Kosake (Japan)	I Love You
Chang Loo (Hong Kong)	¦1ºUñ@-Oºk / Give Me a Kiss
"Eñvíi3_+y¦+íj/ The Cow (Malaysia/Taiwan)	1n-¦¬¦ñk½-¼Y1L"O / Girl Over There, Look Over Here!
¬˜¬·ñy+Pºo¼¦+˜ / Kinmen Wang & Lee Pin-huei (Taiwan)	+k¦e¦(A_rv / Muddled Tailor
Femmouzes T. (France)	Je Nettoie
La Minor (Russia)	A Girl in a Cotton Dress
The Clippers (Taiwan)	Para Para Girl
Unknown (Germany)	Die Deutschen Bullen - Die Kraft und der Fortschritt

Comment:

I'm living in Taiwan and learning Mandarin Chinese. The students in my Chinese program come from all over the world, from South Africa to Kazakhstan, Ireland to Canada, Japan to Brazil, and like me, the United States. Of course, each student's Mandarin ability varies, so in conversation, where we're lacking in vocabulary or grammar, we substitute English. From my experience, English really is the language that crosses national boundaries, and I feel privileged to have grown up in America, where I didn't have to struggle with learning it.

I'm also teaching English as a Foreign Language to elementary school students. Most of them are so burdened with other courses and tests (as the school system here is very exam-oriented), they have little desire to study something as "esoteric" as English. Once, I went around the room and asked my students why they are studying English. The common answer was because they have to, because their parents or school tells them to do so. At the time, I tried to impress upon them the future practicality of English, but I felt like I was asking them to betray their cultural roots: Learn English so you can leave Taiwan and study in the West, where your opportunities for international business, engineering training, and material comfort are better! I fully understand that mentality -- it's what compelled my parents to leave Taiwan over 20 years ago, and it's what continues to make America the controversial superpower that it is.

However, the more I observe, the more I come to realize that this so-called American hegemony is an incomplete domination. We already exist in a multilingual global hybrid, one that resists sacrificing "native" elements in the process of absorbing and accommodating Western media, technology, and scientific rationality. This mix of songs without English (well, 3 songs include a tiny bit of English) is meant to show that language sets a boundary for understanding what some would call American cultural imperialism. What you hear here is only part of a longer story as to how and why a particular song emerged in the context of its broader music scene. I don't mean to say that without language fluency, one only has a "surface" appreciation of another culture's music. I do, after all, feel like I genuinely enjoy all of the songs on this CD, though I only understand what is being said in 3 of the 21 songs (Note: "Muddled Tailor" is in the local Taiwanese language, which is different from the "official" language, Mandarin Chinese). But I would be presumptuous to say that any of these are mere imitations of such-and-such American style or singer... I don't even know what they're singing about, let alone the circumstances that created them! In this way, language is an assertion of identity in context, and can be a way to bend power dynamics. The language you use is a kind of demand on your audience. These bands don't sing in English for a number of reasons. To know what they're saying, you have to know THEIR language.

I hope this will show something new and different to the 5 folks in Texas, New York, London, Idaho, and Oregon who are receiving this.

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