World Party!
What’s the Story?
WORLD PARTY! opens with the carefully plucked strings of a Spanish guitar, and the album is off and running, touring the world of music from Cuban-inflected rumba flamenca, Italian tarantella, and a Moroccan school song accented with a copper drum.
Is It Any Good?
Many listeners may be familiar with "Awimbowe" ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight"), but perhaps not in the distinctive version played here with the mbira, a small wooden thumb piano with 28 reeds, and the udu, or African clay drum. Other standouts include "Canta, Canta Hermanito" ("Sing, Sing Little Brother"), set to a sinuous bossa nova beat with guitar and maracas, and "Sambahia," a Brazilian samba transporting listeners to Rio at carnival time.
In lieu of an atlas, this world tour is guided by helpful liner notes that identify the different rhythms, instruments, and traditions of each tune.

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