music. Each of these Talking Books (thanks, Stevie!) is a fifty-minute compilation record with a twenty-page booklet stapled in the gatefold. Subsequent issues to this introductory survey focus on a region apiece (see listings). The nine researchers who put these things together have done a good job at mixing styles here. So what if African styles are most prevalent or that there are ads in the booklet?
Side one opens with a striking tune from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, followed by a kora piece by Amandu Jobareth, Sasono Mulyo’s Balinese Gamelan excerpt, a carnival calypso by Explainer, a Tanzanian dance tune by Orchestra Super Matimila, and finally a brilliant memorial cumbia by Tot La Moposina to the victims of a Colombian massacre. Side two opens with some powerful Aborigine selections by David Blanatji and Tjoli Lauwangka. African tracks follow by Mzee Mindu of Tanzania, the Ghanian British ensemble Orchestra Jazira, and Kpanglo drummer Ben Baddoo respectively. Irish piper Willie Clancy contributes a sprightly “Rakish Paddy.” The record closes
