For as long as I can remember, I have always been in love with music. I grew up surrounded by music at a young age, with musical parents who encouraged me to explore my creativity. I am unsure of where my love for languages and cultures came from, but it feels like it has been part of me since birth.

I will never forget the first time I heard ABBA. I was 11 years old and my dad had switched the channel to vh1 which was playing ABBA: The Movie. I could not, for the life of me, get the melody of Dancing Queen out of my head! It was the catchiest thing I had ever heard up until that point and I instantly fell in love. I went to the library and borrowed ABBA Gold and continued to fall deeper and deeper in love with them. To this day, they are probably my favorite group of all time. But, don’t allow that to make you stop reading if you dislike them – hear me out!

Fast forward to 2005. A music channel by the name of International Music Feed (IMF) came into existence on Dish Network and forever changed my life. Through this channel I discovered Kid Abelha (Brazil), DJ Aqueel (India), The Sounds (Sweden), Lady Sovereign (U.K.) and so many more! A great piece written about the network can be found here. That channel was mind-blowing at the time, especially since they actually played music videos, but sadly, it was short-lived and that’s such a shame because there wasn’t anything else like it out there! I would be so lucky to even come close with this blog as they did with their music video network.

In college, I discovered even more artists through friends and the internet, which had now moved past dial up, thankfully. I have gone on to see many foreign bands perform (i.e. Tegan and Sara, An Horse, PuffyAmiYumi) and it goes without saying that there is nothing quite like experiencing them live! Shortly after college, I had the opportunity to travel to Europe and again in 2015, taking in the culture and sights, and of course -THE MUSIC. I made sure to stop into a record store in every major city that we went to, buying an album based on an employee’s recommendations.

So here we are: Sferikul. About 85% of the music I listen to now is foreign and I never get tired of it. My goal is to try and give you as much joy from a foreign artist as they have given me, by sharing them with you. I will try my best to give you a great variety of genres and languages, male and female artists alike! With the global music scene growing exponentially by the day, believe me when I say you won’t be bored of this anytime soon.

Every continent, country and language has something to offer when it comes to music and I am still discovering new stuff daily due to the vastness of it all. Who knew that South America has a flourishing alternative rock scene or that France has some awesome hip hop and rap being created? I didn’t at first, but I do now! I’ll do all of the hard work for you so you don’t have to, weeding out the good from the bad and bringing you things you might never have listened to or even known about. We at Sferikul can’t wait to share unique playlists with you along with artists news, live shows stateside and much, much more! Though this blog is geared toward getting Americans to listen to foreign music, I think it can be beneficial to everyone.

Let’s adventure together through music!