"Traditional" music is generally considered as music that originates from a certain culture or location. The cool thing about music, though, is that each artist is influenced, either subtly or directly, by many others. If a global map of music were to be created, it would be a very intricate project. These three imaginings of this idea visualize the interconnectedness between music and culture. Open in a new window to view them full size.
Recent musical history based on a map of the London underground, done by The Guardian
Wikimedia map of American music styles
Wikimedia map of Cuban music history
Since music's relationship to culture is both strong and convoluted, finding pieces of yourself in a song is something no one can tell you how to do. For what it's worth, though, feel free to peruse the above maps for an artist or style you're interested in, or check out the below sampling of artists from around the world, followed by a brief summary of the sort of music they play. From there, I'd go to pandora.com, where you can create a streaming playlist based on an artist you're interested in, discovering other similar artists. Pandora is powered by the Musical Genome Project, which uses a set of almost 400 attributes to create a giant musical family tree. You can use it to find the music that feels the most you at any moment.
These artists are listed alphabetically, and clicking a band or artist's name will open their website in a new window.
