ARTIST ... Origin
Title  Duration
(Album) [Label]

TRIBAL TRANCE .... Australia
River 8'03
(Didgin' in the Dirt) [independent]

Natacha ATLAS .... UK
(a) Kidda 5'00
(b) Ya albi Ehda 8'57
(Halim) [Nation / Shock]
The new album from Natacha ATLAS - a tribute to the great Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafiz. The former is a prime example of the dance material, and the latter (featuring the work of Essam Rashad) is with Egyptian orchestra in the style of Om Kalthoum!

Hossam RAMZY .... Egypt / UK
Wahda we bas 7'13
(Baladi Plus) [ARC Music]
with Essam RASHAD on oud.

Ali Farka TOURE .... Mali
Soko 5'06
(Radio Mali) [World Circuit]
with Nassourou SARE playing the ngoni. Toure admits to being inspired by Dimi Mint ABBA

Khalifa Ould EIDE & Dimi Mint ABBA .... Mauritania
Yar Allahoo 7'47
(Moorish Music From Mauritania) [World Circuit]
A brilliant disc of music rarely recorded. Moorish musicians in Islamic Mauritania are known as iggawin, comparable to the griots of Mali. The first half of the disc features the ardin (a 14 string relative of the kora) and the tidinit, a small lute similar to the ngoni. The electric guitar comes into play later. Some pieces feature clapping as you would hear in Gnawa music from Morocco.

Baaba MAAL .... Senegal
Ndaga 5'55
(Sunugal) [cassette release from Senegal]

Cesaria EVORA .... Cape Verde
Tchintchirote 3'12
(Cabo Verde) [BMG]

ROSANA ....Spain
Furia de color 3'02
(Lunas Rotas) [MCA]
Rosana ARBELO is the singer with this enjoyable Spanish pop album.

VÄRTTINÄ .... Finland
(a) Outona Omilla Mailla - A stranger in my own land 3'27
(b) Travuska 4'52
(Aitara) [Xenophile]
I couldn't resist another chance to try and convince you to see this high-energy Finnish pop outfit in Melbourne this week.

Lena WILLEMARK & Ale MÖLLER ....Sweden
Gullharpan 6'31
(The Planet CD) [ABC Music]
A great compilation album. Möller plays the madola with Jonas Knuttson on sax.

BISSEROV SISTERS .... Bulgaria
Az ti Postilam 3'24
(Global Divas 3 CD set) [Rounder]

Thierry ROBIN .... France
Portrait in costume, barefoot 4'26
(Le regard nu) [Silex]
An improvisation on the bouzouki, but most of this sublime disc features the oud.