This Year's OWM Thanksgiving Disco Playlist

A few months ago, my step-sister made me a challenge that I couldn't resist: her new Belgian husband (another music lover, apparently) and I would go head-to-head on a Thanksgiving disco playlist.  Well, after going through a dozen permutations, I have come up with my list.  They're not all "disco" songs, but they're all danceable.  Enjoy!

1)  Baaba Maal: International (Senegal)
2)  Mexican Institute of Sound:  Bienvenidos a Mi Disco (Mexico)
3)  Timbuktu:  N.a.p.  (Sweden)
4)  Napoleon Solo:  Explota (Spain)
5)  Deichkind:  E.S.D.B. (Germany)
6)  Plasticines:  La règle du jeu (France)
7)  Madsen:  Mein Herz bleibt hier (Germany)
8)  BB Brunes:  Sixty Eight (France)
9)  Die Sterne:  Depressionen aus der Hölle (Germany)

10)  Model:  Şey. . . Belki! (Turkey)

11)  Movits!:  Sammy Davis Jr. (Sweden)

12)  Koalas Desperados:  All Night Long (Germany)

13)  Casino Royale:  Anno Zero (Italy)

14)  Nous Non Plus:  Catastrophe (USA)

15)  Jens Friebe:  Über den Weg (Germany)

16)  t.A.T.u.:  220 (Russia)

17)  Frida Gold:  Wovon Sollen Wir Träumen (Germany)

18)  Dodo:  Wett di hebä (Sweden)

19)  Mono & Nikitaman:  Komplizen (Austria)

20)  Ryo the Skywalker:  ****Japan (Japan)

21)  LaBrassBanda:  Bierzelt (Germany)

22)  Manu Chao:  Besoin De La Luna (France)

Music Video: Aydilge - Takıntı

Ah, the leaves have fallen off the trees.  The days are getting shorter.  The chronic depression is setting in.  All of this can mean only one thing:  Thanksgiving is coming!  And in celebration of "turkey day," Open World Music takes you - where else? - to Turkey.  Doing research for this first musical foray into the gateway between east and west was both fun and challenging.  It was fun because I found all manor of really interesting bands.  It was challenging because many of the bands I really liked use really common names, and when I Google them to get more information I come up with all sorts of irrelevant sites.  When I Google them with the descriptor "Turkey," I come up with all sorts of irrelevant and bizarre sites.

But then I came up with Aydilge, and her song Takıntı.  Aydilge comes from a rich lineage of poets and writers, and she has taken that background to work as a singer and songwriter.  As with much of the other popular Turkish music that I have discovered, Takıntı is an exciting blend of western rock and middle eastern rhythms.