Forget 'Gangnam Style,' it's time for a Day of the Dead playlist

It’s all very well to drape weird cottony stuff around your yard or go to a party dressed as Psy, constantly horsie dancing through the assembled sexy vampires, but how meaningful is all that Halloween partying? Not at all, and that’s OK.

Still, if you want to consider death at the same time as having a party, maybe a better way is through the Mexican tradition of Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. It’s more about honouring your dead than it is about eating too many tiny, stale chocolate bars.

But while the Day of the Dead may have more depth, it's not all tequila and tears (or mezcal and tears if you’re in Oaxaca); there can be humour, too. Consider the ubiquitous sugar skulls, for example.

Then there’s the music. You could play tunes your dearly departed especially loved, or songs that remind you of your own loss. (Always cathartic.) Or you might celebrate the occasion with any of the songs on our Day of the Dead playlist, found below.

1. ¡Viva Calaca! is an animation project by Spain's Ritxi Ostáriz, featuring music by Voltaire.

2. Another visual feast, El Rebel X remixes Ozomatli's "Cumbia de los Muertos" (mashed with a studio of the same song, plus a fragment of "Carta de Che" read by Fidel Castro).

3. It's difficult to choose any one version of "La Llorona," a much recorded song about a woman who kills her children to be with the man she loves, only to be killed by him instead, whereupon she's forced to wander the Earth forever, weeping. You might want to listen to a version by Chavela Vargas, or a version by Beirut. Or just watch this one by Lila Downs.

4. This one's a little Halloweeny, but hard to resist with lyrics like:

The witch grabs me and takes me to the hills,
She sits me on her legs and give me little kisses.
Oh tell me, tell me,
You tell me.
How many little creatures have you sucked up?
None! None! None, can't you see?
I only intend to suck you up!

Tlen Huicani with "La Bruja" ("The Witch"):