Customer Reviews

World Music Network Amazon Sampler

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

World Music Network Amazon Sampler is a very nice cross section of international music from Africa and Latin America. This was a good introduction for me to the World Music Network's catalog of disks. The best known world music series is the one from Putumayo most often played at Starbucks and bookstores. This company has a lot of disks covering every genre imaginable. This sampler is enough to make me want to explore their other offerings.

They have a large number of disks in the "Rough Guides" series, but the tracks on this disk come from The Rough Guide to African Music for Children (tracks 1 & 2), The Rough Guide to Latin Music for Children (tracks 5 & 6), The Rough Guide to Latin Arabia (track 4), Rough Guide to Flamenco Nuevo (track 3) and Rough Guide to the Music of Madagascar (track 7). I did a little searching to listen to some of the other songs that are on those disks and discovered that they come with an "interview track," for lack of a better description, where they give background information on the artists and music selected for their CDs. That alone might be enough to make those disks worth purchasing for fellow music junkies.

"Mama" and "Bula Bula" are both in African languages. "Era," the last track on this disk from the Madagascar CD, is probably one of my favorites. Though they speak French in Madagascar, this track appears to mostly be in the Malagasy language.

The other four tracks on this album are in Spanish, though track 3, "Perla De La Medina," by Javier Ruibal, also includes some Arabic. Ironically, this track was taken from the Flamenco Nuevo CD and not the Latin Arabia compilation. I had to check the original disk samples twice just to make sure. I guess that goes to show you how much of an influence Arab culture is having on Latin music lately. Maybe we all have Shakira to thank for that. :)

Only "Rumbero Soy" has a salsa foundation to it, though all the Spanish language tracks are a blend of styles, traditional and modern. All of this is good music, and the musically adventurous should definitely check it out. The only thing I wish is that they would have included a broader cross-section of music considering the many countries in their collection that are not represented on this sampler.

If you like international music or just want to be exposed to some new stuff, this is a very nice sampler. I for one plan on checking out the World Music Network's other albums.

Enjoy!

Love it! Love It! I have the Rough Guide to Spain and World Party. I do enjoy anything from Music Rough Guide. This compilation is a must have as well. Once I hear an artist I like from the rought guide I usually endup going into other world music and I love listening to all diffrent types of music. Keep up the good work Amazone. 5 stars from me!

Love this! I tend to have spanish guitar or other latin american influenced music on outside when we are at the pool or just hanging out reading. Stuff like this gives me a true escapist feeling of hanging out on one of those big lush patios at nice resorts. Great for relaxing and reading to. I will have to check out more of their listings.

I love this album! It's upbeat and fun. I play it on road trips or when I'm getting ready to start my day, or even getting ready for night out on the town. It makes me feel good every time I hear it.

This is a great album and a nice starter for some afro beat world music.

This album was free when I downloaded it. It's a good mix of world music to see if you would want more of any of the artists.

I don't understand any of the lyrics (since I'm only fluent in English), but the tracks are generally catchy and probably danceable if you're into Latin / Salsa dancing. For the promo price of free is definitely worth checking out to expand your musical horizons - even if it's only a little.