Ali Farka Toure / Red & Green / World Circuit - He's back with a more acoustic and blended sound, the organic music of early years on Red and more recent music on Green.
Rough Guide to the Balkan Gypsies / World Music International - it's intriguing to realize how influential the Balkan Gypsies have been in European music. You will hear the beginnings of Hungarian folksongs on the cimbalom, lovely French accordion tunes and the awesome Balkan women's choir music, all with an organic Roma taste.
South Pacific Islands / Putumayo - a surprisingly varied and very entertaining guide to the music of the South Pacific people due to their penchant for melody and close harmonies. Favorites are OK! Ryos and Whirimako Black from New Zealand. Includes a video on the enhanced CD.
Rough Guide to Madagascar / World Music International - includes new stars of this island continent such as Hazolany, Jaojoby and Ny Antsaly. Their roots in the music of their neighbors include Arab, Chinese, Persian and African music.
Baubacar Traore / Kongo Magni / World Village - great guitar based music will remind you of Mississippi bluesmen and African Kora storytellers.
Amadou et Mariam / Dimanche a Bamako / Nonesuch - produced by the French/Spanish pop star Manu Chao and including a rich stew of danceable melodies, this is one of the best of the year from Africa.
Lebeha Boys Garifuna Youth / Lebeha Drumming / Innova - teach kids to drum and they will learn their culture. Here the boys from the country of Belize show off their mastery of local drumming tradition from the Garifuna people.
Atlante di Musica Tradizionale (Roots Music Atlas) / Italia 3 / Dunya Records - the best of recent developments in the Italian folk heritage scene. There is roots music from just about every region of Italy. Included are Riccardo Tesi's jazzy takes on local folk roots with Banditaliana and the Napoli Mandolin Orchestra's experimentation.
Putu presents Mali / Putumayo - well produced and edited, liner notes in Fr, Eng and Span, includes live video clip of Habib Koite doing Batoumamben music by all the major like Boubacar Troare, Iss Bagayoyo, Tinariwen, and Mamou Sidibe
Putumayo Presents North African Groove / Putumayo - whodathunkit? - Algerians with Cuban son beats, Moroccans with Euro flavors, and the indominatable Rai from Khaled and Cheb Mami - expect the unexpected today from this part of the volatile world.
Warsaw Village Band / Uprooting / World Village - with even more attitude than their first release, these young musicians from Poland crank their hurdy gurdies, fiddles, and trumpets to new highs. Focus on rhythms more this time. Just a lot of fun. www.worldvillagemusic.com or www.jaro.de
Jason McGuire / Distancias / Bolero - very nice flamenco guitar from this US based artist. Technically he shines, but it is in the feeling for the music that he excels. Light percussion on some tracks help break it up.
Where the World Meets / Times Square - I usually don't put compilations from a label in here, but this one is much better than most includes tracks by Mariza, the Peruvian legend Eva Ayllon, Tet Alhinho, all of which have their own great albums out, but gathered here for your convenience. Mostly latin and Caribbean.
Jack De Johnette & Foday Musa Suso / Music From the Hearts of the Masters / Kindred Rhythm - percussion from two masters, one of the drums and one of the kora. They make straddling cultures look easy. With bonus video footage. www.jackdejohnette.com www.fmsuso.com
Ludmila Carpio / The Song of Earth and Stars / Haronia Mundi � This beautiful concept album presents a Andean musical fable based on folk tales. Carpio�s unique squeaky voice combines with light instrumentals centered on the octobasse and contrebasse and orchestral touches that enhance and uplift the music. With extensive liner notes in English and French.
Rough Guide to Kenya / World Music International � This new compilation of the deep well of Kenyan music focuses on Benga, rumba based Swahili and Congolese music styles, includes Queen Jane, and Mombasa Taarab style by Miraj Juma, and sounds of New Hip Hop generation like Nyota Ndogo. Look elsewhere for historical interpretations, this is now!
Wasis Diop / Everything is Never Quite Enough / Triloka - Some of the best afro-pop of the 2004. Using some brilliant friends like David Byrne, and Mariam Makeba, Amadou & Miriam From Senegal. Smooth and supple. smooth voice of Senegalese star, very accessible, based on his guitar, stories of Senegal. Firmly planted with Youssou N'Dour as the leading musicmaker in modern Africa.
Ojos de Brujo / Bari / World Village - incredible melding of Flamenco, some jazz and modern traditional instrumentation Various / The Musical Silk Road / Harmonia Mundi - spectacular introduction to the variety of music along the route from Greece and Turkey to China and Japan, mostly acoustic renditions of local songs, but modern investigations also.
David Darling & The Wulu Bunun / Mudanin Kata / World Music International - Eight part harmonic singing of the indigenous tribe of Taiwan, melded with Darling's beautiful cello. Most other crossovers lose much of the original sound, but here Darling shows how to get the most out of his compatriots. The singing is somewhat like Sammi joiking from Finland combined with Georgian Men's choirs,
Lo' Jo / Ce Soir La / World Village � A superior live disk from their nights in Toronto. Includes CD-ROM with film clip with the Acrobatic rope duo Les Selene. French folk mixed with continental mixture. French, Spanish and some other language thrown in with fiddles over percussion. Huge variety of instruments.
Rough Guide to Manu Dibango / Sax Makossa/ World Music International - Afro-Avant-garde- jazz and afro-pop signature tunes as well as funked out jams in this retrospective of the huge contribution made by this saxophone pioneer from Cameroon.
Lullabies from the Axis of Evil / Valley-Entertainment - Fifteen lullabies and songs about children by female duets, one woman from a mid-eastern country like Mahsa Vahdat from Iran and one from the west like Sarah Jane Morris. Very interesting and provocative, but most will never put a baby to sleep.