As the countdown to the holiday season begins, there are a lot of new World Music releases coming my way. Here are only a few new and noteworthy CDs from a variety of artists and countries.
Thomas Mapfumo is one of Zimbabwe's premier artists. Full of energy and socially critical lyrics, his latest release Live at El Rey (Anonymous Records), recorded in New Mexico, highlights his band, Blacks Unlimited, and their use of the Mbira the African thumb piano. Equation is a folk trio from England which has been compared to 10, 000 Maniacs and The Corrs, and also with British icons Fairport Convention and Pentangle. Hazy Dazy, the band's debut CD (Putumayo), combines those influences and more, featuring brothers Seth and Sean Lakeman on fiddle and guitar respectively, and lead vocalist Kathryn Roberts. Fans of the Eastern European Jewish musical style Klezmer will be excited to know that Toronto's Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band has not one, not two, but three releases now distributed by Traditional Crossroads/Rounder. Tsirkis mixes klezmer with jazz, Agada presents musical versions of tales from Jewish lore, and Fire the band's self-titled album features the Bulgars doing what they do best -- high-spirited and energetic klezmer. Next week i will showcase even more new releases. Stay tuned -- you never know what might cross my desk (and CD player:-). Previous Features
