Various Artists: Musiche dal Mondo - Madagascar (2000)

This long-out-of-print Italian compilation is a great introduction to Malagasy music, featuring as it does some of the most interesting artists of this isolated and fascinating country’s contemporary scene, like Tarika, D’Gary, Solo Razaf, Madame Masy and many others. A real must for all lovers of inventive neotraditional music. For more info about (and more music of) some of the artists

Tanghetto - Emigrante (Electrotango) (2004)

«Tanghetto è una band argentina diretta da Max Masri (sintetizzatori e programmazione) e Diego S. Velázquez (chitarre), formatasi nel 2002. Il nome “Tanghetto” (la combinazione delle parole “tango” e “ghetto”) si ispira alle comunità di esiliati argentini all’estero.Negli anni ‘90, Max Masri (uno degli ultimi e più giovani discepoli del leggendario compositore Virgilio Expósito) torna a Buenos

Shelagh McDonald - Stargazer (1971)

«As much myth as musician, singer/songwriter Shelagh McDonald seemed poised to emerge as a major voice in British folk music when she abruptly vanished mere months after the release of her breakthrough LP. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, McDonald arrived in London sometime in the late '60s. While performing at the Troubadour, she befriended fellow singer/songwriter Keith Christmas, who

LS Kancara Sari - Kacapi Suling Bangbara (1997)

«The Sundanese are Indonesia's second largest ethnic group. They live in the province of West Java (also called “Sunda” by many foreigners), encompassing the interior highlands, the coastal areas, and Cirebon, a culturally distinct region. The boundary between West and Central Java lies at the eastern foothills of the Priangan Highlands, and a wide band of west-central Java from north to south

Postcards from Paris - Eiffel Fantasy

Cassandra Wilson - Glamoured (2003)

«Cassandra Wilson has garnered a deserving reputation for her soulful, visionary reads of songs by legendary composers old and new, from Robert Johnson to Van Morrison. On Glamoured, Wilson composed half the album, and her songs are as provocative and deserve the same weight of grace critically afforded her covers. She uses her trademark fluid, smoky delivery to redefine songs such as the old

Ska Cubano - ¡Ay Caramba! (2005)

«Take the propulsive backbeat shuffle of Jamaican ska and blend it with soulful Afro-Cuban son, and the result is Ska Cubano.The band is the creation of London promoter Peter Scott, who came up with the brilliant idea of blending two of the Caribbean’s most influential music styles. He brought London ska artist Natty Bo to Santiago de Cuba, where they collaborated with local musicians to create

Lobi Traoré - Duga (1999)

«Lobi Traoré was born in 1961 in Bakaridianna, on the left bank of the Niger, some 20 kilometers from Ségou. He's the son of Samba and Nana Djiré, both singers in the komo secret society. As such, Lobi was an "initiated" directly at birth. Generally in komo, men become true adults quite late. Before circumcision, the adolescent joins the komo, and for three or four months undergoes tests of

Postcards from Istanbul: Taksim Square

Taksim Trio - Taksim Trio (2007)

«The Taksim Trio gave one of the standout showcases of last year's WOMEX in Seville. Of the three instrumentalists, Hüsnü Şenlendirici, has the highest profile as one of Turkey's top clarinettists – his last album sold over 160,000 copies and topped the Turkish charts for weeks. But kanun (zither) player Aytaç Doğan and electric saz player Ismail Tunçbilek form a beautifully balanced ensemble in