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Barclay/Licence Arion - with the voice of Arlette Thomas French poetry from the 14th to the middle 20th century played with the Lary/Baschet sonore structures. Absolutely beautiful. The Lasry/Baschet "structures sonores" are cristal sculptures with a sound absolutely unique and great.

This is a Yiddish folk song from a songbook collected by the great ethnomusicologist Moishe Beregovski. Performed by Inna (voice) & Ljova (viola)

The Roma's signifiers are still source of both reverence and derision in the West. While their cultural product, from the great Django Reinhardt to the pop chart-ready sound of the Gipsy Kings, has been happily consumed, as a people they have been held at arm's length by a Europe still fixating typecasts of the thief and the mystic. Today, the Roma remain one of the most persecuted communities in Europe.

A few fans may find Latin roots-pop pioneer Lila Downs' return to old-fashioned, romantic ranchera music to be a retrograde move, but her commanding presence and the astonishing skill and economy with which she embellishes these old-school Mexican ballads with modern rock, electronica and even a tasteful dash of hip-hop will blow your mind, if you give it a close listen. Similarly, she weaves in the rich rhythms of Cuban son and Central American cumbia, reconciling and uniting several strands of Latin American popular music. The repertoire blends striking originals with classics from Jose Alfredo Jimenez, while Downs' dark, husky vocals give more than a mild nod towards the great Mexican diva, Lola Beltran, while Tex-Mex accordionist Flaco Jimenez anchors the album in a solid border vibe. You have to be willing to get into the style (and not everyone is, including plenty of folks who listen to other kinds of Latin American music...) But if you give it a chance, this is a pretty cool album, particularly how it points the way to a canny revitalization and modernization of one of the hemisphere's liveliest and most musically conservative genres. Oh, and Downs' old fans will not be disappointed: she's as authoritative, innovative and charismatic here as on anything she's done.

His picks range from Amr Diab (Arabic Folk-Pop) to Timbalada (Afro-Bahian Percussion Ensemble) to Willie Nelson (Hippie Country)... Great tool for discovery!

The quijada (jawbone of a donkey or burro) is a great "guiro-type" percussion instrument. It's a rather large jawbone, fully-toothed. The variety of sounds a Quijada player can get is pretty thrilling (to me, anyway).

Impeccable technique and chops, Mamady is a great teacher of the djembe.

The ud, or oud, is a bit like a lute, sonically. The musical modes are very different from the lute played by guitarist Julian Bream, of course...but the instrument does resemble the lute somewhat. Yurdal Tokcan is my absolute favorite oud player. He's stunningly great! This 11-minute video's from Yurdal's February 2009 concert.

Great music (embedded mp3 player) and article from the music blog "Magic of Juju," October 2007.

Great bravery in linking traditional Turkish styles with western music, tackling subjects that challenged authorities. In 1970s, was 1stTurkish woman to write + publicly perform her own songs!

Zha Fuxi 查阜西 1895-1976 Yushan Great researcher and player of qin music, specialising in qin songs.

Great shekere trio! Worth a listen just for that...

Regino Jiménez and I got to know each other at Afrocubanismo! in Banff, Canada back in the late 1990s. A gentle, sweet guy, and a great teacher.

Rare footage of the great Rebbe Shlomo Carlebach performing at his last rally in this world. The awareness and acceptance of this awesome soul was not in full blossom until after he passed away.

Simplistic and reductive at times (jarringly so), this book is a great introductory guide for exploring Zappa's compositional strategies, styles, and objectives.

Homayun Sakhi is known as the "Great Grand Master of Rubab." He'll be performing in Paris on the 4th of May 2009.

Surprisingly clear information on video. First, learn to play a solo with only 4 notes. Of course, you can take it far beyond the lesson, using intonation, expression, style, different note-bending, polyrhythmic approaches, etc. Then...more notes! Great way to begin... And many more lessons available, even free, or for low-cost.