There Is No Cat

How many languages?

This one’s kind of frightening. Jason Kottke asks how many languages you have in your record collection. This could take weeks to figure out, but here’s a first cut based on a couple of hours looking through my CDs.

1. Albanian: 3 Mustaphas 3
2. Amharic: Alemayehu Eshete, Mahmoud Ahmed, several other volumes in the Ethiopiques series
3. Arabic: Khalifa Ould Eide and Dimi Mint Abba, Rasha, 3 Mustaphas 3
4. Azmari: Volume 2 of Ethiopiques
5. Balinese: Kecak
6. Bamanan: Rokia Traore
7. Bambara: Super Rail Band
8. Basque: Negu Gorriak
9. Belarusan: Pesnyarok, Neuro Dubel, Lyapis Trubestskoy
10. Bemba: Alick Nkhata
11. Beti: Les Têtes Brulées
12. Bulgarian: Mystere de Voix Bulgares, Ivo Papasov
13. Catalan: Dusminguet
14. Chewa: Kamwendo Brothers Band, Alan Namoko & Chimvu Jazz, Kasambwe Brothers, Alick Nkhata
15. Czech: Plastic People of the Universe, Matadors, Olympic, Vladimir Misik & Etc. Band, Sto Zvirat, Uz Jsme Doma
16. Dioula: Les Zagazougou
17. Efik: E. T. Mensah
18. English: er....
19. Estonian: Kirile Loo
20. Ewe: E. T. Mensah
21. Fante: E. T. Mensah, The Kumasi Trio
22. Finnish: Värttina, dozens others
23. French: Serge Gainsbourg, Francoise Hardy
24. Fulani: Baaba Maal
25. Ga: Saka Acquaye and His African Ensemble, E. T. Mensah
26. German: Blumfeld, Wir Sind Helden, Die Goldenen Zitronen, Attwenger, Hundsbuam Miserablige, Die Knödel
27. Greek: 3 Mustaphas 3
28. Hausa: E. T. Mensah
29. Hebrew: 3 Mustaphas 3
30. Hindi: 3 Mustaphas 3
31. Indonesian: Detty Kurnia, Sabah Habas Mustapha
32. Italian: Alan Lomax Italian Treasury
33. Japanese: Shonen Knife
34. Kreyole: Coupe Cloue
35. Latvian: Ingrid Karklins
36. Lingala: Franco & O.K. Jazz, Tabu Ley Rochereau, Grand Kalle, Wendo Kolosoy
37. Luhiya: Abana ba Nasery
38. Luo: D. O. Misiani and Shirati Band
39. Macedonian: 3 Mustaphas 3
40. Magyar: Muszikas
41. Malagasy: Tarika, Tarika Sammy, Jean Emilien, Jaojoby, Rossy
42. Mandarin: Cui Jian
43. Mandinka: Orchestra Baobab, Boubacar Traore
44. Myene: Pierre Akendegue
45. Ndebele: African Renaissance - Vol 5
46. North Sotho: African Renaissance - Vol 5
47. Norwegian: Kirsten Braten Berg, Annbjorg Lien
48. Nubian: Ali Hassan Kuban
49. Nyanja: Alan Namoko & Chimvu Jazz, Alick Nkhata
50. Okinawan: An Chang Project, Shoukichi Kina
51. Peul: Ali Farka Toure
52. Pidgin: George Telek, Not Drowning, Waving
53. Polish: Klinika, Magic Carpathian Band, Warsaw Village Band
54. Portuguese: Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, Os Mutantes
55. Pulaar: Baaba Maal
56. Punjabi: Bally Sagoo
57. Rapa: The Tahitian Choir (Rapa Iti)
58. Rom: 3 Mustaphas 3
59. Russian: Vladimir Vysotsky, Kino, Aquarium, Sergey Kuriokhin, Popular Mechanics, Leningrad, Tri Debila
60. Sami: Mari Boine Persen
61. Serbo-Croatian: Boban Markovic Orkestar, Sviraj, 3 Mustaphas 3
62. Shona: Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi, James Chimombe, Bhundu Boys
63. Sonrai: Ali Farka Toure
64. South Sotho: African Renaissance - Vol 3
65. Spanish: Manu Chao, Buena Vista Social Club, too many others to mention
66. Swahili: Abana ba Nasery, Mlimini Park Orchestra, Simba Wanyika
67. Swazi: African Renaissance - Vol 4
68. Swedish: Garmarna
69. Tajik: Oleg Fesov
70. Tigrigna: Volume 6 of Ethiopiques
71. Tolai: George Telek
72. Tswana: African Renaissance - Vol 3
73. Turkish: 3 Mustaphas 3
74. Tuvan: Sainkho, Yat-Kha
75. Twi: Koo Nimo
76. Ukrainian: Vopli Vidopliasova, Oleg Skrypka, Mandry, Pawlo Humeniuk
77. Urdu: Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan
78. Uzbek: Yulduz Usmanova
79. Venda: African Renaissance - Vol 2
80. Vietnamese: Ho! Roady Music from Vietnam
81. Wassoulou: Oumou Sangare
82. Welsh: Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
83. Wolof: Orchestra Baobab, Yousou N’Dour
84. Xhosa: African Renaissance - Vol 4
85. Yoruba: King Sunny Ade
86. Zulu: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Malathini & Mahotella Queens

Note that our albums are still in boxes, so there are probably more, and I couldn’t reach some CDs. Plus, some of the CDs I did look at, I wasn’t sure what languages they were in. So this is, at a rough guess, maybe 70-80% of the languages in my collection. Or maybe less.

Posted at 12:19 AM