I won't echo any of the above posters, even though some suggestions were excellent.
Kodo, the Japanese Tycho drum group, has some interesting stuff that I've used as background music. Check out their soundtrack to The Hunted (a Christopher Lambert movie) and Mondo Head (featuring musicians from all over the world).
Kronos Quartet and Phillip Glass have some interesting things.
3 soundtracks I haven't seen suggested yet- Clan of the Cave Bear, Legend, and Peter Gabriel's Last Temptation of Christ are all excellent, but LToC may be a bit jumpy if on shuffle-play.
For that matter, you can track down the LotR soundtracks. And Enya.
Also in the LotR family is Varttina, an accoustic group from Finland. They're doing a musical based on LotR, but have other releases based on things like the Kalevala.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5318114
For a ren-fair flare, Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night have a band called Blackmore's Night, and they have several albums.
Jonas Hellborg, a bass player, has some killer jazz-fusion pieces, some of which are influenced by Arabic themes, notably Aram of the 2 Rivers.
Rabih Abou Khalil is an oud player from Lebanon who fuses his native music with jazz composition & musicians.
The late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole had an unearthly voice- that's his version of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" you hear in that airline commercial. Some of his stuff is clearly Polynesian in style, some is fusion...but since he's a singer, you won't find any instrumentals (if that matters).
Kodo, the Japanese Tycho drum group, has some interesting stuff that I've used as background music. Check out their soundtrack to The Hunted (a Christopher Lambert movie) and Mondo Head (featuring musicians from all over the world).
Kronos Quartet and Phillip Glass have some interesting things.
3 soundtracks I haven't seen suggested yet- Clan of the Cave Bear, Legend, and Peter Gabriel's Last Temptation of Christ are all excellent, but LToC may be a bit jumpy if on shuffle-play.
For that matter, you can track down the LotR soundtracks. And Enya.
Also in the LotR family is Varttina, an accoustic group from Finland. They're doing a musical based on LotR, but have other releases based on things like the Kalevala.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5318114
For a ren-fair flare, Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night have a band called Blackmore's Night, and they have several albums.
Jonas Hellborg, a bass player, has some killer jazz-fusion pieces, some of which are influenced by Arabic themes, notably Aram of the 2 Rivers.
Rabih Abou Khalil is an oud player from Lebanon who fuses his native music with jazz composition & musicians.
The late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole had an unearthly voice- that's his version of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" you hear in that airline commercial. Some of his stuff is clearly Polynesian in style, some is fusion...but since he's a singer, you won't find any instrumentals (if that matters).
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