Customer Reviews

Putumayo Presents The Best of World Music, Vol. 2: Instrumental

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This disk introduced me to many greats, including Bela Fleck, Outback, and Ottmar Liebert. If you like instrumental music, this is a GREAT sampler! Not a dud on the disk!

This is a terrific album of world instrumental music. From American Bluegrass to East Indian, Andean to African, it is all here. It's a great place to start exploring the wide range of music that is out there. Some of the artists are pretty well known, like Loreena McKennit and Ottmar Liebert for example. Others not so well known but just as good and deserving of wider reknown. This album was one of the very first in the Putumayo series, and should be in all music lovers collections. The 11 page booklet includes info on each artist, but the booklet isn't as informative or as colourful as later Putumayo releases were to be.

If you are a fan of Putumayo, you need to add this CD to your collection. If you've never purchased a Putumayo CD, this would be a good one to start with. As Putumayo states on every CD "Guaranteed to make you feel good!"

Back in its early days,Putumayo claimed to have the "Best of World Music." They didn't have much competition;there was Peter Gabriel's Real World label,Narada,Celestial Harmonies,and not much else.Harmonia Mundi hadn't started its World Village label,Six Degrees Records wasn't promoting world techno,nor was Starbucks,along with its special label Hear Music,purveying "worldbeat" along with expensive coffees.

"Best of World Music:Instrumental" is an okay collection.Thankfully,Putumayo started out alright&progressed from there.This album is a flawed masterpiece in its own way.Strunz&Farah provide an Arabic-styled track.Acoustic Alchemy goes for a more salsa sound.Ali Akbar Khan shows his Indian classical music skills.Loreena McKennit's Celtic New Age music is haunting.The Balafon Marimba Ensemble provides a fun piece.Alison Brown's banjo is rousing.Ottmar Liebert provides his nuevo flamenco.However,the album has an overall easy listening to the point of sleeping ambience.

If you're into instrumental music,go for Putumayo's "Music from the Wine Lands" (which does have another banjo piece from Alison Brown),"Music from the Tea Lands","Sahara Lounge"&"Asian Lounge" instead.

This album "Best of World Music:Instrumental" is mediocre music;there's more variety now.