200WorldAlbums - Taking stock...

Joel Dwek & Danny Wiser
May 23, 2022
9 min read

As we reach our 200th nation from which we have reviewed an album, we take a moment to pause and look at where we have got to thus far.

When we started our descent into insanity, taking on the mission to search for and write about an album from each nation back in 2020, we had no idea where it would take us or where this project would end up. The only thing we hoped to do was document our findings for ourselves and educate ourselves about the different cultures this endlessly diverse and fascinating world has to offer. We always knew we wanted to end the project with a list of our 200 favourite albums that we had listened to once we had completed our review of an album from our 200th country or territory. However, as the project, in its typical fashion, continued to spiral wildly out of control, with us listening to and discovering records at a faster rate than anyone could reasonably churn out top quality album reviews, we realised we had to have a change of tack.

Since the original ambition of our endeavours has been fulfilled, in finding and reviewing at least one album from each nation (we’ll pretend that our Nauruan EP counts, for now) we have decided to take stock and instead provide a snapshot of where we stand today. Though the list will evolve as we have many more albums to come, at this point, these are our favourite album that we have reviewed on the site from each country. The Beatles and Stevie Wonder aside, you may spot that some global music powerhouses are missing, such as ABBA and Bob Marley; that is not because we think they are unworthy of inclusion but rather we wanted to shine a light on musicians whose work we were less familiar with before this journey begun.

Buoyed by the incredible response we have had from people across the planet, we realised that we have accidentally tapped into something rather special and as such have exciting plans ahead. Not only will we continue interviewing musicians from across the world, each with their own nuanced perspective and stance on things that we can all learn from, we will also soon be launching our ‘Country In Focus’ series, in which we will be doing a deep-dive into the music culture of certain nations, exploring a whole host of albums that represent the diversity of many of the countries’ music that we have only been to scratch the surface of thus far.

You might say the project is done and that we should pack up our bags and call it a day…Yet, whether it be our loyal readership from all four corners of the world or the many musicians from each continent who have reached out in support of our project, we have been overwhelmed by how much positive feedback we have received and the connections we have made along the way and as such have no plans of stopping now. We have realised that in bringing to the fore the music of each nation, in so doing we are celebrating each people group, taking the narrative away from politicians who often dictate the headlines and reputation a country may have. Over the course of this journey we have realised how much we have in common with all of humankind, regardless of nationality, and yet at the same have so many differences that make each culture special and unique that deserve their moment in the sun. As the old Native American adage goes “we all come from the same root but the leaves are all different”.

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