Cumbia is one of the world's great dance grooves. It is made up of merry guitars and accordions, torrid brass, and insistent, deep-toned drums and percussion, pounding out a lopsided, strutting 4/4 rhythm with a kick like nitroglycerine. Cumbia is the result of three colliding cultures that settled in Colombia at different times. Indigenous peoples were followed by the Spanish conquistadors, who added on Moorish influences from the sack of Granada. Finally, African slaves were brought in, and they supplied both the rhythm and the means to bring it forth. From its beginnings as a courtship dance among the slave population, cumbia gradually became the soul of the entire nation. The tunes on this compilation make it easy to understand why. They were licensed from the Sonolux label and date from the '60s through the '90s. Uniformly infectious and compulsively danceable, this is an essential party album, a good time on a disc. --Christina Roden

The cumbia is Colombia's greatest musical export, and vocalist Totó la Momposina is its most accomplished ambassador. This CD abounds with indigenous gouache gourds and flutelike gaitas, Spanish guitars, and African tambor/bombo drums. With the addition of the Afro-derived marimbula thumb piano and Papa Noel's Congolese guitar fills, Momposina's music is a beautiful blend of old and new worlds. The tracks comprise cumbia classics and original compositions. The horn-driven "Reparala" swings with a Cuban flavor, while the midtempo "Acompanala" rings with heavenly harmonies from Momposina and her vocal chorus. "Chambacu" is an awesome ancestral voice/percussion tribute to a historic black quarter of Cartagena de Indias, and "Bozaa y Media (La Acabacion)" is an instrumental laced with Amerindian woodwinds. This passionately performed and beautifully recorded work will do for the cumbia what Astor Piazzolla's Tango: Zero Hour did for the tango. --Eugene Holley Jr.

The artists gathered together here hail from nations and cultures noted for the growing and export of coffee. As with this CD's companion release, Music from the Tea Lands, one senses the possibility of lucrative product tie-ins, but part of the proceeds from the album are earmarked for charity and any catchy idea that gets the music out there is a good thing. Like the luscious drink itself, the tunes come in many intensities and flavors, ranging from a light-as-air ditty from Peru, to the more complex vocal stylings of Colombia's Claudia Gomez, to Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca's earthy Afro-Cuban Congolese rumba. The album is a lively and fascinating travelogue, making landfall in Cuba, Kenya, Brazil, Uganda, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, Hawaii, and Peru. As with many other Putumayo projects, aside from its musical pleasures, this set would make an entertaining and educational experience for younger family members. --Christina Roden

Colombian soap star-cum-singer Carlos Vives continues drawing from the colorful palette of vallenato with 2001's sunny, unfailingly upbeat, Grammy-winning Dejame Entrar. True to vallenato's rich folk tradition, accordion figures prominently, but the kaleidoscopic grocery list of instruments in use also includes electric guitar, flute, piano, and quite possibly a kitchen sink. Stylistically, son, merengue, and paseo rhythms are all checked. Vives's pleasant, almost giddy voice--most often concerned with expressions of love--infuses the material with a celebratory feel, and while his tentative foray into English language lyrics on "Carito" makes a strong case for sticking with Spanish, Vives nevertheless acquits himself well, particularly on the vivid, call-to-arms anthem "Papadió." This is electrified Colombian folk at its most electrifying. --Kim Hughes