My list won’t come close to some of the others, but here goes:
Modern:
English
Italian
German
French
Spanish
Japanese
Gaelic
Creole French
Swahili
Maori
Polish
Russian
Magyar
Hebrew
Hawaiian
Ancient:
Latin
Greek
Invented:
Sindarin
Quenya
Not too terribly many. English, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Old English, and Navajo.
I don’t have a lot:
English
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Farsi
Swedish
English
Japanese
French
Italian
German
Yoko-Kanno-ese (an ecclectic blend of Japanese, French, Latin, and made-up words used in the extensive collection of music from Cowboy Bebop)
English
French
Spanish
Italian
German
Japanese
Latin
Tagalog
Russian
Whatever languages are in my Cirque du Soleil CDs
Whatever “Duel of the Fates” is in (I used to know this…)
the Tolkien languages in Lord of the Rings
Mostly English and French.
I have a song in Romanian!
The rest are all languages everyone else has mentioned (English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Spanlish [shut up, it is too a language], Swedish, I think I have an Enya Christmas song that’s in Gaelic [I don’t know what dialect, I obtained it illegally], and a Russian cover of the Romainian song), but I’m just excited that I’m the first one to have a song in Romanian.
Oh, I might have a song in Italian, too. Depends - what language is ‘The Pearl Fishers’ in?
Languages in which I have a whole song predominantly in the language (not just snippets here or there):
English, Gaelic, French, Italian, German, Latin, Spanish, Portugese, Yiddish, Aramaic (thanks mom for the CD of her synagogue’s cantor singing), Hebrew (modern and Biblical), Arabic, Russian, Turkish, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Chinese, Japanese, Tuvan (or whatever Tuvan throat singing is sung in), some Australian Aboriginal languages, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, a Mozambiquan language (Mabulu), whatever Ali Farka Toure sings in, whatever King Sunny Ade sings in, whatever Fela Kuti sings in besides French, whatever other languages Manu Dibango sings in, whatever Forward Kwenda (Botswanan mbira player) is singing in, Amharic, some Louisiana Creole, Icelandic, the made up language of Sigur Ros, Hawaiian, a few tracks here and there in some South American indigenous languages (the last track on Obscured by Clouds by Pink Floyd comes to mind), and of course, Dead Can Dance.
Crap, I forgot the CD that I’m on. That’s in Sanskrit, I believe. (Hindu Bhajans, devotional music).
Mari Boine? I have several albums by her. She’s the only Sami singer I know.
What’s that? Where from? Who?
Who? Mine are mainly female artists such as Marta Sebestyen (Hungarian), and Greek singers such as Haris Alexiou, Eleftheria Arvaitaki, and Alkistis Protopsalti.
I have everything everybody’s mentioned, except that I’m not sure about Provençal, Zulu, Xhosa, Haitian Creole, Swahili, Magyar, Malagasy and Tajik. But, I have SO many World Music CDs, and so many of them are compilations, I could have them and not even know.
I’m a big lyrics person, but good songs are so often ruined by inane lyrics. The thing I like about World Music is that, when you can’t understand the lyrics, it forces you to focus on the music, the instruments, and the vocals. For instance, I’m endlessly fascinated by the vocal work of Bulgarian singers, but the lyrics might be about something completely mundane like bringing in the crops or a girl sewing a shirt for her lover or something. If I don’t know the lyrics, it can be the most wonderful song in the world. If it were in English, I’d be saying “It’s a good song, but man, those lyrics suck.”
That’s also why I generally hate it when a “World” singer I love makes an album in English, with pedestrian lyrics. It just ruins the whole experience for me. That’s very shallow, but I can’t help it. Also, when they sing in English they’re not being themselves and it seems to change the way they sing, how they sing. There are several examples of the process working (Bjork in English is a good expample) but it so often doesn’t. I never ever want to hear Najma or the Bulgarian Chorus in English again.
Chinese
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Finnish
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latin
Norwegian
Polish
Portugese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Mandarin
Cantonese
Taiwanese
Japanese
Korean
French
Spanish
German
Portuguese
French
Spanish
Chinese
Does Jamaican patois count?
Sami:
Mari Boine
Wimme
Angelit (aka Girls from Angeli)
Occitan:
Rosina de Peira (who should also go on the “check this out if you like Dead Can Dance” list)
I also think one or more albums by Acid Mothers Temple has vocals in Occitan.
Hungarian: Yep, Marta Sebestyen
Greek: Sigmatropic
English and Liverpudlian, obviously. French in “Michelle.” German in “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” and “Sie Liebt Dich.” Hindu isn’t a language – maybe you mean Hindu or Hindustani, although I can’t think of a song in which they appear. I believe “Jai guru deva, om” is Sanskrit. For Spanish, “Besame Mucho” and “Los Paranoia” – maybe some other stuff that I’m forgetting. But where’s the Japanese? Something with Yoko on it? Also, maybe “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” could count as Yoruba, or maybe not, since it’s not much.
ultrafilter, what’s this ancient Egyptian business? I’m really interested.
In addition to the languages mentioned above (also attested elsewhere in my music collection), I have:
Japanese
Icelandic
Finnish
Italian
maybe Russian – or is
Shona and Ndebele and whatever else Oliver Mtukudzi sings in
some other African languages
Arabic, probably
Latin
Yiddish, maybe Hebrew
Turkish
Afrikaans
gibberish
Probably more, but that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
Read “Hindi or Hindustani.”
Oooh, I think I’m the first person to say Welsh!
Other than that, 98-99% of my music is in English. There’s some French, Spanish, German, Portuguese (thanks, David Byrne!), Irish Gaelic and whatever language Zap Mama sing in when they aren’t singing in French.
Limiting myself to languages that I have entire albums in :
English
Japanese
Chinese
German
Spanish
Nile, one of the more erudite deathgrind bands out there.