Music of the world.

Ah, Saturday mornings. This is usually the day of the week when I wake up and realize with much horror that my apartment looks more like a disaster area than a place to live.

So, a couple of hours ago I set about cleaning it up and in an attempt to keep things more lively, I put on some music. Today I put in my newest CD which contains music from the country of Mali.

This probably wouldn't be the first choice for many of you out there, but it's really some great music. I recently discovered Putumayo, a company that produces CDs of music from around the world. After listening to a few different ones in Barnes and Noble, I picked out Mali. A lot of the songs sound Latin, with slow, swaying rhythms that sound more like flamenco music than what you'd expect to hear from a west African nation. A few of the others are like some of the early blues from Memphis or Chicago. It's great stuff.

This one is probably my favorite, but everything Putumayo puts out is awesome. I've previously purchased one with Zydeco music and also one called Brazilan Groove, which is obviously full of music from Brazil.

I'm sure I'll eventually pick up a few more and I highly recommend them if you want something different. It's definitely worth it. The only drawback...I can't understand a word they're singing!