Putumayo

Without doubt one of the most beautiful albums from putumayo. Wonderful exotic music mostly popularized by the unforgettable "barefoot" diva Cesaria Evora, has Portuguese and African influences and is a gorgeous melange of elegant piano, acoustic strings, rousing horn sections, propulsive drumming, flamboyant keyboards, and superb vocalists. Enjoy a sweet and exotic journey to the musical paradise of Cape Verde. An album you'll want to hear again and again.

Special Christmas gift from Putumayo. They offer a memorable array of classic holiday songs by soulful jazz and blues legends and lesser-known artists. Celebrate xmas with B.B. King, Ray Charles, Riff Ruffin, The Dukes of Dixieland and other great jazz & blues artists, with the care of Putumayo.

Gypsy music from central Europe is collected in one of the most upbeat and happy putumayo albums. The "traveling people", or Roma, have one of the most colorful and complex musical cultures of the planet. Travel with Gypsy Caravan through various European countries and enjoy great Romani music in its many versatile forms like the klezmer style of Romanyi Rota, the more folkish quality of Ando Drom, the flamenco of both Thierry Robin and Miguel Angel Cortés, or the french jazzy guitar of Coco Briaval's tribute to Django Reinhardt. Another putumayo's "chef d' oeuvre".

There's plenty of food for thought in Putumayo's delicious Afro-Latin Party. Like the previous Putumayo compilations Afro-Latino and From Congo to Cuba, the 10 tracks here document the fascinating musical marriage between Africa and Cuba that has seen the original African rhythms brought to Cuba by slaves evolve and migrate back east across the ocean to influence a new generation of African music (and in the process produce offspring everywhere from Croatia to Portland, Oregon). Enjoy a happy and uplifting album that will transport you.

This eclectic Putumayo compilation shows the syncopated and seductive evolution of the African-derived Brazilian samba and its offspring, the bossa nova. The CD features a new-wave series of moods and grooves tailor-made for the 21st century. The burgeoning new scene in Brazilian music that began in 2000 continues to grow, as a new generation reinterprets and redefines the classic ideas of samba and bossa nova. Enjoy one more great album that, as Putumayo claims, is “guaranteed to make you feel good!”

Putumayo Presents Carnival is a rousing collection of world music suited for the purpose of annual street parades, large-scale block parties, and whooping it up in all the festooned finery of Mardi Gras. Only two songs here, Eddie Bo's "I Know You Mardi Gras" and Kermit Ruffins's "Kermit's Second Line," hail from New Orleans. The other eight tracks come from such carnival traditions as the world-famous Brazilian Rio de Janiero throw-down represented by Martinho Da Vila's "Canta Canta, Minha Gente" and Cuba's shindig celebrated here by the Cuarteto Patria, led by guitarist Eliades Ochoa, renowned for his Buena Vista Social Club contribution. Haitian band King Posse turn in one of the most fun performances with "Retounen," a booty-busting blend of reggae, hip-hop, and Haitian compas. With few exceptions, these cuts haven't been released outside their native countries, and as with all Putumayo compilations, Carnival comes with fantastic liner notes detailing both the artists and the carnivals of their homelands.

Music from the Chocolate Lands offers a rich selection of songs from the world’s chocolate producing countries. Chocolate has been enjoyed for thousands of years. Used for medicinal and religious purposes, as well as for pleasure, traces of this "food of the gods" have been found in early Mayan pots dating back to 600 B.C.E. Europeans added sugar to the exotic concoction, and the chocolate craze gradually spread throughout the world. Now the cacao plant, which provides the raw cocoa beans for chocolate, is farmed in tropical locations around the globe, often far away from its Central and South American origins.

No place is more defined by its music than Cuba. Music pours out of every doorway and vintage taxicab. A party in Cuba without music? Unthinkable. Indeed, there are three essential elements to a cumbancha (Afro-Cuban slang for party): good company, a bottle of rum and musical instruments (the rum bottle can work, as can tables, boxes, pots, pans and any other household object that makes a noise when banged or plucked). You don’t have to be particularly accomplished, just willing to participate.