I found the best singers and instrumentalists in Bikutsi Pop (my genre) in Yaounde, the town where I live in Cameroon, and started working with them on the songs, then I booked a professional studio, one of the best in the town, Studio Karel DC, for 12 days. We started the recording, using the programmed sounds with the background vocals and after three days we continued with the guitars and bass. We then took two days to edit those recordings before I recorded the lead vocals. I took three days for my leads, then a day for a break, which allowed us to listen to all this. Two days for the addition of my leads, then we prepared the mix. The genre I perform is Bikutsi Pop music. Bikutsi is a genre coming from the south province of Cameroon, and means "the hit of the floor," the dance of Bantu fighters. I add sounds to my music from South Africa and from some other African countries I visited while touring with another band I was in before starting to work on my solo album. These sounds, like flutes, xylophone, kora, etc., allow that new style to be appreciated by a larger number of people out of Cameroon and even Africa. The vocalists I used in this album were Lary and Henry-Georges, the bass guitarist was Gordon, and I did the guitars and the leads. The songs had been arranged by Mr. Isidore Modjo, Gordon and myself. I also helped Mr. Isidore Modjo in the production, as I myself am a sound technician.

Yale Strom: Klezmer - Cafe Jew Zoo

Andr� Toussaint was a native Haitian who made his home in Nassau, Bahamas, for most of his singing career. He was known for his golden voice, sometimes compared in his calypso lounge-style to Harry Belafonte, and thrilled guests everywhere he performed. Toussaint was a regular at the popular Bay Street bistro Blackbeard's and the famous La Fin, where one of his live shows was recorded. Several selections from that performance are featured on this collection.

Electric Highlife: Sessions From the Bokoor Studios

Jade Eru: Maori Love Songs

Takillacta: Music of the People. It dates back to the mid-eighties, when I was a newcomer to New York City. One day I was walking down through Soho and heard music that was familiar, but with a distinctive flavor in the sound. It turned out to be some of my future bandmates playing on the street. What I was hearing was a new way of expressing the folklore of our latitudes: Andean highlands and valleys; Patagonia; South American pampas; and the Tateyama Mountains of Japan. We, the members of Takillacta, come from different countries and musical backgrounds: Per�, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and Japan. Beneath the sound of our music are the life stories and traditions brought by each of us from those distinct places. This project is a reflection of those backgrounds and the folklore carried in each of us, the memories of which have nurtured us through our years of living in New York, the city where you can't escape blending with so many people and cultures. This album is dedicated to the native people of the Americas, and to artists and poets of all backgrounds who embrace tradition while letting it grow into new forms.

Man Wu: From A Distance - Pipa Music

Fong Naam is one of the great musical acts from the under-heard Southeast Asian nation of Thailand. It is a culture rich in sounds and tradition but the culture we are mostly exposed to is often just vapid exotica. To preserve and revitalize the country's music, Thai renat instrumental great Boonyong Kaetkhong and American musicologist Bruce Gaston formed the stellar group, Fong Naam. And they've been doing that for over a decade. Since the mid-90s though, Fong Naam has rarely been heard on record and sadly Boonyong Kaetkhong has passed away. However, they did record five sessions for the label, Marco Polo-an affiliate of the Naxos family. This re-release of the first of those classic sessions-made in 1990, before all of Fong Naam's other international releases-with Gaston's original notes will hopefully bring their eminence back into the world music spotlight. This mixture of the very old and the very new in the group's repertoire seeks to emphasize the ever-changing nature of this ancient but still-living musical tradition. With The Piphat: Siamese Classics Vol.1 Fong Naam has given us something fascinating and breathing. Similarly this re-release on acclaimed international budget label Naxos World aims to keep the legend of Fong Naam alive.

Recorded in Maputo, Mozambique in April 2000, this collection of southern African music brings together some of Mozambique's best musicians for a benefit record in aid of rebuilding and helping victims of the country's flooding disaster. The intensive recording session was made in three days in the living room of local residents, Elia, Myriam and Iwan Irawan. The South African Broadcasting Corporation loaned the use of a mobile studio van, which engineers Eugene Pretorius and Kevin Starbuck drove from Johannesburg to Maputo. Keyboard player Seppo Kantonen joined Koivistoinen journeying from Finland to Maputo, and supplied his talents on many of the tracks. Final touches and mixing was done in South Africa by Peter Pearlson and in Finland. A portion of the proceeds of Mozambique Relief will go to Oxfam for aid, reconstruction and development projects in Mozambique. This project is sponsored in part by the Optiroc Group (Finland) and the Mozambican-Finnish Development Co-operation Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Yale Strom: Garden of Yidn

Wedged between Turkey and Russia, the Republic of Georgia is older than both countries. Musically, it's more like an island, with a deep-rooted polyphonic vocal tradition (music in several independent voices) completely distinct from all cultures around it. Proudly carrying the folk music of Georgia into the 21st century is the vocal unit, Trio Kavkasia, who have immersed themselves into this original vocal styling which was in full bloom around the Ninth Century. Consisting of three Americas, tenors Alan Gasser and Carl Linich, and Stuart Gelzer singing bass; they have collectively dedicated more than 40 years to this unique East-European music. And they've done it with respect and an archeological attention to detail. Over 25 tracks of liturgical tunes and secular ballads, not to mention happy drinking songs sung at taverns and weddings, O Morning Breeze is a remarkable achievement and musical experience. While some aspects, such as Georgian liturgical music, have been documented since the Middle Ages, other folk elements are entirely passed on orally, with wax cylinders from the turn of the century as it's earliest snapshot documentation.

About the artist Originally formed in the early 1970s to play Afro-inspired music, the present group has maintained a consistent lineup since the early 1990s. While the band started performing covers of West African tunes, Good People has evolved to be a repertoire of original material with some traditional tunes with new arrangements. As more and more African immigrants entered Finland, they joined the band and now Good People can boast it features top West African musicians as well as some of the best Finnish professionals around. About the music Drawing inspiration from both traditional West African music and Western pop-based music, the group combines these distinctive styles for a special 'Good People' sound. The percussive beats make use of indigenous instruments like djembe drums, balafon, marimba while modern equipment like guitar and saxophones provide a contemporary air to the melodic proceeding. Mix in it's inspirational lyrics of harmony and fabled stories, and the result is a pulsing delight of Afro-Nordic jamming.

India/Canada Ritesh Das Toronto Tabla Ensemble: Weaving

Klezperanto: Klezperanto

The artists - percussionist Glen Velez, pianist Jovino Santos Neto, mrdangam drummer Poovalur Srinivasan, Qiu Xia He on the Chinese pipa, Harishankar on the kanjira (tambourine) and Ravikiran - tackle some very intricate compositions. They have made a concerted effort to study the music and then re-create them with ingenious interpretation. The production's nine tracks include well-known and exclusively composed pieces from different countries in various moods, tempos, melodies and rhythms, embellished with pure melodic, melo-rhythmic and pure rhythmic improvisation. Most of the CD was recorded in Seattle, USA, with a couple of tracks done in Madras, India. The tracks stretch the boundaries of Indian, Chinese and fusion with it's percolating warmth and energetic approach. Leader Chitravina N Ravikiran has established himself as one of the foremost performers, composers, teachers and ambassadors of Indian Carnatic music. His accomplishments extend back to being the world's youngest public performing musician ever. At the age of two, he stunned audiences in India by identifying and demonstrating over 325 ragas (melodic scales), 175 talas (rhythm cycles) and answering technical questions. Trained by his father, maestro Narasimhan, he commenced his career as a vocalist at age five. At 12, he switched to the chitravina, and once played a non-stop 24-hour concert in 1985. He has since performed across the world in a variety of settings including as a guest of the BBC Philharmonic. World music aficionados will recognize Ravikiran from his work with V.M. Bhatt and Taj Mahal on the CD, Mumtaz Mahal on Water Lily Acoustics.