In a feat never before attempted, a single album has gathered musicians from every nation on earth – 197 artists, 93 languages, 121 genres – and among them, Estonia’s own Paula Hakkaja, known as Freya Algiz.
Released on Friday, The World Album – International Artists Project is an epic 200-track compilation running 12 and a half hours from first note to last. It spans world music to hip hop, punk to ambient, stitched together with the idea that music is “a universal language, capable of transcending borders and bringing people together”, in the words of the album’s creator, California-based producer Brandon Beckwith.
Algiz’s contribution is an ethereal, experimental ambient piece that feels like slipping into a lucid dream – and staying there just long enough to forget the waking world. The Tallinn-born electronic musician first found her creative voice in the glow of modular synthesisers, using sound both as a technical craft and a tool for personal growth.
A human rights graduate and social rights activist, she works at the intersection of art and systemic change – researching how social and economic structures could be reimagined to enable self-sustaining artist communities. As co-founder of the co-operative record label Field Conspiracy, she champions democratic ownership, flat hierarchies, fair royalty distribution, skill-sharing across disciplines, and community-backed promotion.
Her work extends into curation for London-based Threads Radio and developing multi-stakeholder creative partnerships in Berlin and beyond, creating spaces where music, activism and collaboration meet.
The World Album has been two years in the making, following two earlier instalments – the first in June 2023, featuring artists from just three countries as a proof of concept, and a second in November 2024 that reached 80% of the world. This final release completes the vision: every country, one artist each, their work available on streaming platforms from Spotify to Apple Music, alongside an interactive website mapping every song’s origin and story.
For Beckwith, the project’s timing is no accident. “In an era of chaos and isolation,” he says, “this is about peace and unity.” For Algiz, it’s about something smaller and perhaps more enduring – the ability to share a dream and know that, somewhere, someone else is listening.
