World Music Corner

I took a special interest in Charles Isherwood's critical review of "Fela!" in light of my incredible and unforgettable experience of traveling to Lagos, Nigeria with my band.

Her May 2009 German release, Saraba - Tales From the Flipside of Paradise, is, at once, a nod to old-school rap and also a blazing new direction for West African Hip-hop.

If you went strolling through NYC's Union Square in 2006, you probably crossed paths with a young black man clutching a stack of CD's, asking, "Do you like good hip hop?"

Balkan Beat Box's energy, seamless fusion of heterogeneous elements, attitude and sensibility all combine to make them one of the most dynamic live shows on the planet.

As a dancer and percussionist, Max Pollak blurs the distinction between dance and music by creating solid, percussive sounds and patterns with man's given instrument: the body.

For a country with a history of xenophobia towards its Roma population (a.k.a gypsies; or, in Spanish, gitanos), Spain is becoming increasingly fond of traditional gypsy music.

This is HuffPost World's regular feature that highlights interesting musicians and musical trends around the world. Know of a great musician doing gro...

This is HuffPost World's regular feature that highlights interesting musicians and musical trends around the world. Know of a great musician doing g...

What do you get when you take a bit of Bob Marley, a chunk of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, add some India Arie pre-mixed with Miriam Makeba and Angélique Kidjo and finish it off with Yoruba classics?

Forget Baile Funk. Make way for Angola's pulse-pounding Kuduro music. Spurring a new ghetto-born movement, Kuduro, or "hard-ass" in Portuguese, is set to take over nightclubs across the globe.

This Sunday's GlobalFEST will provide a space for promising artists to show their stuff to world music industry types, and in the mean time, throw a polyrhythmic, multi-linguistic, hip-shattering party.

Buzz-worthy afro-rock band, BLK JKS, are too big for one continent to hold. With an uber-hip look that seems just as essential as the music, the Johannesburg-based band is making waves worldwide.

In addition to the artists featured over the past month, here are 10 figures from around the globe who graced us with good sounds in 2008, and who are worth watching in the new year.

The seamless combination of Zaki's soulful music and socially conscious lyrics transcends cultural boundaries.

This is HuffPost World's regular feature that highlights interesting musicians and musical trends around the world. Know of a great musician doing g...

In an office nestled among garment, jewelry and perfume wholesalers a few blocks south of Herald Square in NYC, a small music production and publishing company is making waves as far away as Tehran, Iran and Freetown, Sierra Leone.