I'm not entirely sure how popular "World Music" or "Folk Music" (whichever you prefer to call it) is outside of the hippy backpackers who treasure their hemp jewelry and sandals, sitting around foreign hostels talking about how enlightened they've become just because they went to some touristy Buddhist temple in the middle of the giant tourist trap of Lijiang and waved some incense around in the air before retreating to smoke pot behind some dirty, shit-hole of a Malatong restaurant. However, I happened to like it long before I ever went to Lijiang or smoked anything behind any Malatong restaurants. If you're into ambient music, then you could very well like this, too.
A good way to start off is with an Iranian singer named Azam Ali. She's belted out albums since the 90's, sometimes alone, sometimes with other groups. I'm not entirely sure which album I should recommend first, but I think I'll go with "Portals of Grace", because it's a mix of different regional types from the distant past. Things like Judeo-Spanish Shephardic, Galician-Portuguese, 12th Century Latin, Brittany instrumentals, Byzantine-Arabic, Swedish, French-Provençal, etc. You get the picture. So with this album, you get a good idea of what she's capable of.
Azam Ali - Portals of Grace
1. Lasse Pour Quoi (Anon. early 14th century, French Provençal)
2. La Serena (Sephardic, Judeo-Spanish)
3. Breton Medley (instrumental, Brittany)
4. O Felix (12th century, Latin)
5. Ben Pode Santa Maria (13th century, Galician-Portuguese)
6. O Quanta Qualia (12th century, Latin)
7. Sackpipslät (instrumental, Sweden)
8. Aj Ondas (Early 14th century, Galician)
9. A Chantar M'er (Late 12th century, French Provençal)
10. Inna-I-Malak (Byzantine, Arabic)
11. El Rey De Francia (Sephardic, Judeo-Spanish)
So far, though, my favorite of her songs was one she did with the group Niyaz, titled "In the Shadow of Life". So, if you get a chance, download that here.
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