The mark of any established culture is its own music. Since Esperanto doesn’t have its own native culture to draw upon for its musical styling, you’ll find a wealth of existing cultures that Esperanto-speaking musicians tap into in order to create their own special sounds.

One band that I tend to favor is Dolcxamar (though they now go by Dolchamar). If we analyze their name in Esperanto, it means something like “Sweet Bitterness.” You could probably translate it as “bittersweetness,” if you so desired. Notice that they adopt Esperanto poetic convention, and omit the obligatory -o that usually denotes a noun. They hail from Finland, and have two albums out as of this writing: “Rebela Sono” (already a double meaning – either “rebel sound” or “continually beautiful sound”), and “Lingvo Intermonda” (Language Among Worlds). I classify their style as halfway between rock and pop. You can find samples of their work on YouTube if you want to give them a shot.

If you don’t want to immerse yourself in entirely Esperanto lyrics, you could always try easing yourself into an Esperanto mindset with the American band Sonic Youth. Most of their songs are in English, but they wrote a heavily instrumental album called “SYR3: Invito Al Cxielo” (Invitation to Sky or Invitation to Heaven). On it are three Esperanto-titled tracks. Sure, the Esperanto presence is minimal, but we all must start somewhere, vere.