Living in The Netherlands, I grew up listening to all kinds of music. Music from all over the world.
So maybe it's nice to place here your favorite 10 or 15 musical acts, who perform in another language than English. Here's my list of favorite acts from around the world:

01) Banda el Recodo - Mexico
02) Värttinä - Finland
03) Yulduz Usmanova - Uzbekistan
04) Blof - The Netherlands
05) Sierra Maestra - Cuba
06) Grupo Gallé - Columbia
07) Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn - Pakistan
08) Tröckener Kecks - The Netherlands
09) Rammstein - Germany
10) Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares - Bulgaria
11) Ibrahim Ferrer - Cuba
12) Zebda - France
13) Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Argentina
14) Khaled - Algeria
15) Laura Pausini - Italy

I'm very interested in your list(s).

Hi Vermic, don't worry, I haven't forgotten your question here. Just had to think.
THere are way too many to mention. I mean some artists I've discovered here won't ever go anywhere else if they only use French. Acts, I'm not too good at acts so to speak, I never go to concerts much!

1. France-Daft Punk
2. France-Francis Cabrel (for his poetic song writing, integrity as an artist, devotion to Occitan)
3. FRance- Gerard de Palmas (new artist, very interesting)
4. France- Jean-Jacques Goldman (a great songwriter)
5. Italy-Eros RAmazotti ( an interesting performer)
6. Italy-Andrea Boccelli (I love his voice the purety)
7. Greece-Nana Mouskouri (the top selling international artist in the world for women)
8. Sweden-Abba (Ooops English language)
9. Brazil-too many to mention. From the fado to the samba to other things, I have many CDS.
10. Spanish language-Julio Iglesias (yes, I admit I like his voice and his gift to fans)
11. Spanish-too many others to even mention
12. Tzigane, French Spanish- Gypsy kings (Trista Pena number one song for me)
13. Trio de Esperanza, I think they are Brazilian, three sisters who have the most beautiful harmony you might imagine. They sing in French on some records but I have their CD and it's just a marvel to listen to.
14. Celtic singers-Dan Ar Brazh, French Breton, plus anyone singing in Gaelic, I have many CDs like this.
15. Italy Angelo Branduardi, now there's someone who has a unique voice. He also uses a harp on stage.

Kasey Chambers - Australia

In no particular order....

Serge Gainsbourg
Laibach
DAF
Front 242
Young Gods
Plastique Bertrand (Tee Hee)

...and I can't think of any more who are any good. What a mad idea, to sing in a language other than English.....

Hi SFA! have you heard rap in Italian or French?
It's really funny.

I thought Australians spoke English, uh oh Copago put that pitchfork down! It wadn't me! 'Shaggy?

Here in Quebec, we have some very good singers or bands that sings in French... In all Quebec, one of the most popular rock singers here is Eric Lapointe... I like his songs, I have two of his four albums. However, I doubt anybody have ever heard of him outside of Quebec...

He comes over here to France too. I hate it when they make a little fun of the Quebeçois accent too.
But hey, "Pour que tu m'aimes encore" by Céline Dion is one of the best songs I've heard in the century.

Although I'm an American, I'll list a 'foreign' band as my all-time favorite. INXS - Australia.

R.I.P. Michael Hutchence.

He plays in France Heather?!

Well, okay, so I wasn't quite thinking when I posted an Austrailian... well she does sing in English, but it is with a twang if that counts...

Glad to see so many responses at this topic! I wonder, why do people in the United States, Australia, Canada en Great-Brittain seem to listen to so little non-English music? Is it because there simply not interested in it? Or is it because it is hardly played on the radio?

I think there's a lot of beautiful music from around the world, from Finland to India and from Africa to Eastern-Europe (and I'm not even mentioning my own (Dutch) cd, that I ever recorded). It would be sad if you all have to miss that, just because it isn't played on radio or television.

For example, the annual Eurovision Song Contest was won this year by Marie N from Latvia. In the old days the entries had to sing in their own language, nowerdays they can sing in English. A shame, because you miss 'strange sounding' song now. This year from the 24 countries, the only non-English songs were from Macedonia, Switzerland, France, Turkey and Slovenia.

My favorite is definately RAMMSTEIN. I saw them in Lafayette, Louisiana for the Family Values 98 tour. They blew Korn completely off the stage. Shoot, off the MAP. EVERYTHING WAS ON FIRE, LITERALLY. Excellent band.

lessee:

Garmarna - Sweden
Célia Cruz - Cuba
Ofra Haza - Yemen/Israel
Youssou N'Dour - i forgot, is it Senegal?
Laibach - fmr. Yugoslavia
Rammstein - Germany
Les Nubians - France
Alliance Ethnik - France
Flaco Jimenez - Mexico
Nina Hagen - fmr. East Germany (ok she does sing in english, sometimes)
Urzsula - Poland
Natacha Atlas - ?

here's some...many english speaking people are not introduced to "world" and/or international acts. The music biz itself is mostly to blame...

You got it, Vermic, there is never any non-English music played on the radio here. It's kind of aggravating. So I'm afraid I can't contribute 10 or 15 or however many - just what I know.

Les Nubians - French
Mizmor Shir - Hebrew (Note - this is an a cappella group at my college, so you've probably never heard of them, but they have released CDs and they do have a website. Their music is amazing.
That One Group My Best Friend Likes - Spanish. (Sorry I don't know their name, folks, but I'm going to see them when I go to Mexico with her so I'll be editing this post in August.)

When it comes to instrumental pieces, I love Hiroshima for their blend of jazz with more traditional Japanese forms.

Thanks for posting this thread - I hadn't realized that my musical exposure was so narrow! I'll try to improve this in the next couple months.

Hey. Well, I really like Manu Chao from France, as well as his old band Mano Negra. He sings in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, even English (rarely). I've been really into his music for a while now. Other non-English stuff..Molotov from Mexico, Fabulosos Cadillacs from Argentina, Julieta Venegas from Mexico, Aterciopelados from Colombia, Ely Guerra from Mexico and El Gran Silencio from Chile. I forgot my beloved Salsa! I'm not really a "salsera", I don't even know how to dance..well I know but I don't usually go to clubs to dance salsa lol. Some Salsa artists I like..Hector Lavoe from Puerto Rico, Ibrahim Ferrer from Cuba (not really salsa, more like Son or something), Raphy Leavitt from Puerto Rico, Tito Puente from NY/PR, La India from NY/PR..so many.

Manu CHao is intriguing.
In America if you live in certain areas like California, you at least hear the Latin influence. I myself played in a Latin group for two years as a saxophonist, so I can tell you they love live bands, they spare no expenses for their parties either.

I'm still thinking of some more French artists you guys might like.

Garou
Daniel Bélanger
Khaled
Gérard de Palmas
Lara Fabian
Kevin Parent
Eric Lapointe
Beau Dommage
Daniel Lavoie
Linda Lemay
Sylvain Cossette

Oh I should stop now

Good ones.
One sad note is that Daniel Balavoine died in a helicopter crash over the Paris Dakkar race during a project to put wells into villages there.
His voice was one of those rare descant ones...he had a very high range and I'd recorded him right before leaving France the first time and then found out about his sad end.
He was very well loved in France.

Earlier in the post, someone said had Heather ever heard people rapping in French or Italian? Well actually I have, this band called I Am, and other bands, the one that sticks out is Tribal Jam.
French artists I can remember listening to are.
Patrick Ruel.
Patrick Fury.
Lara Fabien.
Ophelie Winter.
Mireille somebody.
Dear...looks like my musical knowledge is narrow too, although I wasn't very impressed by most of the French music I heard in France. I only like Air, Daft Punk and Deep Forest, and they don't really have any lyrics.

Bruno Pelletier!!! I heard him in the musical "Notre-Dame de Paris" (well, I saw him on the video, too... he's SUCH a hottie ) - a Canadian singer with a really excellent voice. He mostly sings in French.
Being a German, I know loads of German bands, but I don't like them all. I love everything which has to do with rock music, and most of the German rock bands sing in English (and we have some really great ones, like Reamonn, Guano Apes, Subseven, or H-Blockx, to name a few). Of course, we have Rammstein - I saw you mentioning them. They're really extraordinary, I wish I could see them live in concert...
Other foreigners... well, what about Shakira? I know she switched over to English, but she started singing in Spanish, and on her album "Laundry Service" (great record!), there are still some Spanish songs on it. Shakira's very popular here in Germany, and I must confess I first thought she was just another one hit wonder, adored for nothing. But well, I had to admit that she's a really talented singer (I simply admire the way she can control her voice!), and after all, she does a lot more than the Britneys of this world

Someone listed Garmana earlier, and I have to agree. I've just discovered their music and it's amazing.
I'm surprised so many people from Europe know singers from Québec by the way... Jean Leloup is a good one, Les Colocs were a great band also.
As for other bands, I've recently heard music from Control Machete, I think they're from Mexico. Great funky/rap/alternative/different sound.
Then there's celtic groups like Dervish and Solas (they sing in Irish and English).
As a kid I used to have a tape of a chinese pop singer. My dad told me his name was Allan Tang, but since all the text on the tape is in chinese, I have no idea if it's his name or if my dad invented it. I still sing to it from time to time, reminds me of my childhood. Pretty cheasy.

Some of these artists have sung in English but mostly they don't or didn't.

French:
Keren Ann
Françoise Hardy
Francoiz Breut
Brigitte Fontaine
Jane Birkin
Les Nubians
Dumas

Japanese:
Petta Booka
The Portugese Japan
The 5-6-7-8's (as seen in "Kill Bill")
Gitu Gitu Hustler (all girl Japanese garage-punk bands are so great)

Nigerian:
Fela Kuti

There are a lot more Afro Funk artists similiar to Fela I could mention though I'm exactly sure which African language they are singing in (a few albums by such artists feature songs in a variety of languages- which I really enjoy).

A good multi-language electronica rock back is Stereo Total which sings a variety of songs in French, German, Japanese and English.

Manu Chao
Garou
Gigi D'Agostino
Tiziano Ferro
La Factoria
Krezip
Kosheen (though everything I hear from them is in English I couldn't not mention them)
Daft Punk
Bangra Knights
Natasha St. Pierre
Axelle Red
Praga Kahn
dEUS
Tatu
Infected Mushroom

I recently bought an album by a Turkish singer named Selda. Her music on this cd was psychedelic-folk, though I've read she sings various types of music. What an amazing voice she has. The booklet mentioned she was a protest singer in Turkey during the late 60s-early 70s. Because of this, the government had forbid her from touring outside the country. I hope they reissue more of her music, this album is perfect.

Steppeulvene was Denmark's first rock band to sing in Danish back in 1967. Before them everyone sang in English which tends to take away much of the country's cultural identity. The name is Steppenwolf in English but shouldn't be confused with the 'Born To Be Wild' group. They had one very successful and highly influential album, then the singer mysteriously died the following year in India at the age of 25 which added to their legend over the years.
They had a type of electric era Bob Dylan sound ...hey no one could understand his voice at times either!