World Music CDs

Putumayo has been the leader in ‘various artists’ world music collections for several years now, specializing in what I call ‘ear candy music’ that is so sweet almost anyone can enjoy it.

Their latest collection, WOMEN OF THE WORLD ACOUSTIC, doesn’t disappoint: so many beautiful voices from so many different places all strung together so well it can only be described as a harmonious flow.

We already have some of these artists on cds that we love – works by Lura, Kaissa, Marta Gomez, Marta Topferova and more – but many others are new here. One artist we’ve even seen live: Marta Topferova, originally from the Czech Republic, is a specialist in South American music, especially Venezuela.

New to us was Emiliana Torrini, who claims both Iceland and Italy as her home but sings ‘Sunnyroad’ in English in a delightful child-like voice.

Like so many Canadian artists the world finally gets to hear the ‘Wailin Jennys’ sound Celtic: what great voices this group has – 11 different cuts, all great.

WOMEN OF THE WORLD: ACOUSTIC is a top pick for any who would explore contemporary acoustic music by some of the world’s most diverse and talented artists.

Like so many of Mike Marshall’s recordings on the Adventure label, NEW WORDS with Bandolin (Brazilian or ten-string mandolin) virtuoso Hamilton de Hollanda will knock your socks off with amazing virtuoso string and fret work.

Mike Marshall really has met his match in Hamilton de Holanda: most of the tunes on NEW WORDS are not only a challenge for the player, but also for the listener: not the easier to hear and enjoy work Mike did with David Grisman and Darrel Anger.

It’s modern bluegrass – a style of music Mike Marshall is a graduate of – and progressive rock and some type of jazz mixed together. While many feature artists playing almost as many notes per second as these two mandolin whiz kids do here, few people in the world have ever heard anything like this.

The everyday listener may not be pleased but you can bet many musicians who understand the special challenges involved will be amazed, "wearing out the grooves" in NEW WORDS and trying to figure out "how did they do that?" or "is that really possible?"

It feels a bit strange writing about and praising a cd not available to the general public, but National gegoraphic sent us WORLD MUSIC MIXTAPE and it’s become one of our favorites of the past year.

MIXTAPE is very informative: great artists from many different corners of the world, some we were already aware of and some that are brand new to us. There doesn’t seem to be any theme to this anthology, yet most of it fits together almost like one of Putumayo’s famed theme anthologies.

Some artists new to us stand out: Gigi Shibaban of Ethiopia singing ‘Anten’ for example. Like most Ethiopian pop it’s exciting but easier to listen to than other Ethiopian hits.

Sidesteppers from Columbia was another eye-opener- and Gogh-Bi System of Senegal provides that rap doesn’t have to be threatening and nasty to be hip.

Acoustic instruments, electric instruments, guitars, brass, drums – all kinds of instruments. Soft or hard sounds: it’s all here – track down this MIXTAPE and watch for more National Geographic world music releases – they’re worth it.