New Music CDs

Accompanied by Anna Mayilian’s sublime voice, the Music Masters of Armenia trace the history of a music that straddles the East-West divide.

With original instruments and songs in the Occitan language, the members of Tenareze deliver a sensitive album based on theme of water.

Balagan sweeps listeners away on a journey through a world of European sounds with fast-paced and bewitchingly brilliant performances.

Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Rokia Traore's album was produced by English musician John Parish and recorded at Toybox Studios in Bristol, IK. Its lyrics are sun in the Malian-born Traore's native languages of French and Bambara, as well as some English.

Listen to the fifth album from the French singer/songwriter, Piers Faccini. The album is an intimate suite of songs focusing on the themes of love and desire; also it depicts the unknowable and indefinable spaces between these themes, spirit and animal, between the wild and the tamed.

Lo'Jo are a group of France-based musicians, performing and recording a blend of world music with strong North African as well as French folk elements. This is their 10th album and includes the songs Lila, Deux Batons, Zetwal, and more.

Guitarist Papa Noel, a prominent figure in African and Afro-Cuban music, and French accordionist Viviane Arnoux join forces for a musical collaboration that brings together an eclectic array of musical influences from all around the globe.

A hypnotic collection of electrified Syrian dabke dance cuts from the southern region known as the Houran -- issued here for the first time in the West. Heavy beats and polyrhythms, labyrinthine synths, swirling sound effects, compelling vocals, and the shrill drone and buzz of the amplified mijwiz -- a legendary double-reed instrument played throughout Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.

Raso called in several heavyweight friends to contribute to these sessions. These included legendary guitarists John Jorgenson and Rodrigo (of Rodrigo & Gabriela) and rock drummer Kevin Figueriedo. Reaching down to New Orleans, across the Atlantic to Paris, deep into the Balkans and back through decaying Detroit to Toronto's grandeur is the result. Together they have created a music rooted in jazz and the Balkans, a sound full of history but looking towards the future.

Grammy Award winner Angelique Kidjo builds upon her ever evolving legacy with a set of emotionally rich, rhythmically powerful expressions of female empowerment. The album also features dynamic collaborations with traditional women's choirs from Kenya and Benin.

The 25th studio release from the Iranian-born Armenian guitarist which includes twelve tracks of him experimenting with mixing his flamenco style with Latin jazz. Highlighted tracks are: Fronteras; Pasajes; Toledo Solo; and Passion and Grace.

Martin Alvarado's honey-sweet tenor tones take the lead and Horacio Avilano's strutting guitar provides the accompaniment on this unique album of unadorned Guitar Tango: Mas Alla.

Several genres of traditional Korean music, including court and folk music, are represented in a collection that also features rare selections from recordings made in Korea in the 1960s.

Inside The Big Top includes performances by the Circus Flora band of five, along with special guest musicians. Experience the magical music of the circus; there is an adventure in every track!

The late, great Malian griot Tiécoro Sissoko passed away in 2012, before the release of his first album under his own name. Born into a family of griots in Kenieba, in the westernmost Kayes Region of Mali, music surrounded him as a child. He started out playing tamani and ngoni but switched instruments when his brother Djelimady helped him buy his first guitar and instructed him when he moved to Bamako. Over the years Tiécoro Sissoko worked with many artists, including Toumani Diabaté who he performed with weekly, Mangala Camara and Zani Diabaté. He spent time in groups like Bama Sabba and Bambara Percussion Group before he formed his own band, Super Sabaiya, which evolved into Tomokorobogou Fulani.

Fremeaux releases the second volume of the Red Army Choir's performance of traditional Soviet melodies. Includes the National Anthem of the USSR.

A meeting of ancient and modern as classical Indian melodies blend with lush ambient grooves! Co-composer Tom Bailey is the former leader of the '80s British pop phenomenon the Thompson Twins, and has also worked with Madonna, Debbie Harry, Nile Rodgers, Foreigner, and Lee Scratch Perry.

An album made in celebration of 25 years of Riverboat Records, for the musically adventurous to broaden musical horizons. Featuring many of the most celebrated artists in World Music, including Mory Kante, Sierra Maestra, Debashish Bhattacharya, and Etran Finatawa.

Five years ago, when Erwan Keravec started talking about his desire for contemporary music for solo bagpipe, the unanimous reaction was: 'interesting, but a bit crazy.' Undeterred, his motivation was to hear his instrument in another context than its original culture, not to deny this culture, but to seek new forms.

Nitin Sawhney presents a seventeen song career retrospective, rearranged for his virtuoso nine piece band and recorded live at Metropolis Studios. Packed with career highlights, and featuring four new songs, OneZero features Nadia; Letting Go; Homelands; and Tides from the classic Beyond Skin album and four brand new tracks, including the single Accept Yourself and I Ask You featuring Joss Stone.

The Altai Khangai trio truly masters the art of transposing ancestral Mongolian music into a radiant, creative presentation. Their new album confirms this state of grace, as would the thousands of spectators the trio has met the world over in the last two decades. The two majestic morin khuur (horse-head fiddles) and the yoochin zither invite us to the immensity of the steppe, expressing the vitality of the Mongolian tradition and people with fiery orchestral strength.

Belgium's Paul Van Haver, known to the world as Stromae, releases his sophomore album featuring the European top five hit Papaoutai.

The Norwegian quintet's first full-length debut follows their acclaimed EP. The first single is Since Last Wednesday. The theme of the new album focuses on the undercurrent that's going on behind closed doors, the silent battles at home, and the longing to get away. The new CD introduces a darker side of their lyrics, but fans of their surrealistic and often innovative views of the world won't have to worry, it's still there.

Available for the first time on CD, this special 4-track EP features the amazing vocal talents of the Romanian maestro Paul 'Pasalan' Guiclea and the legendary and late Ilie Iorga. Lose youself in the intoxicating melodies and rhythms.

Renowned Houston harpist Therese Honey delivers a program of beautiful ancient and modern melodies from the British Isles, favoring Ireland and Scotland, with a couple of original compositions.

Sufi music of the Konya Dervishes.

Ana Tijoux is a Grammy and Latin Grammy nominated artist whose work has topped many critics polls and appeared on such shows as Breaking Bad. Her third album combines elements of Latin, hip-hop, and touches of jazz.

Debut solo album, written and produced in collaboration with Marc Collin. Yasmine is considered as an underground icon throughout the Arab world ever since Soapkills, the emblematic duo she founded in Beyrouth, which must have been the first Indie/Electronic band to appear in the Middle East, and whose music had become the soundtrack to the vibrant, young arts scene which developed in postwar Lebanon. Yasmine recorded the Arabology album with musician/producer Mirwais under the Y.A.S. moniker.