Nu Europe: From the Old Countries/The Best of New Roots Music

Disc 1
1	Te Bie / Think Of Me 5:04
2	Quien Engana No Gana / Ojos de Brujo 3:08
3	Ladino Song / Oi Va Voi 4:12
4	Waves / Kristi Stassinopoulou 4:25
5	Fado Curvo / Mariza 2:53
6	Sie Dan / Boban Markovic Live 4:01
7	Espinita / Banda Ionica 5:25
8	Sanacore / Almamegretta 4:04
9	Euchari / Garmana 4:22
10	Gypsies / Jim Moray 4:44
11	Non Me Mires / Mercedes Peón 4:54
12	Taranta Sound / Eugenio Bennato 3:27
13	La Fille du Selecta / Massilia Sound System 3:42
Disc 2
1	El Quinto / Radio Tarifa 3:55
2	Shaktar Donetsk / Stummer, Joe & The Mescaleros 5:57
3	L' Orient Est Rouge / Lightning Head 6:01
4	Lo Borrilh / La Talvera 4:41
5	Espina / The Amestoy Trio 4:03
6	Muineira Redonda / Faltriqueira 3:07
7	I Had a Lover / Warsaw Village Band 3:59
8	O Sole Mio / Pietra Montecorvino 2:37
9	Grimborg / Gjallarhorn 3:47
10	Cigansko Oro / Besh O Drom 4:44
11	Gschwind / Hundsbuam Miserablige 2:57
12	Memoire d'Homme / Lo'Jo 4:51
13	Mi Vida / Chao Manu 2:35

All Music Guide

Compiled by Ian Anderson, editor of the leading roots/folk/world music magazine fRoots, this two-CD, 26-track anthology is something of a snapshot of various forms of world music percolating in Europe at the beginning of the 21st century. Spanning 1997-2003 (though mostly dating from the early 2000s), the tracks were culled from all over the continent, with Spain, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, France, Sweden, and other countries represented. With a compilation that casts such a wide net, it's impossible to boil it down to shared characteristics; the only consistent trait to the set, in fact, is unceasing diversity. It could be said, though, that there's more of a Latin and African bent to many (though by no means most) of the melodies and rhythms than many listeners might expect. There are also reflections of the increasingly frequent collision of both cultures (with African and Middle Eastern influences making themselves known) and of traditional approaches with sophisticated electronic technology. While the sheer eclecticism of the music is the set's chief strength, it also means that you'll have to have extremely broad tastes to enjoy the nearly two-hour program all the way through. It might be more useful as a radio-programming tool to sample as appropriate than as something world music fans will play all that often. All the same, most of this is at the least interesting, and at its best intriguing, like Faltriqueira's lilting, bittersweet example of Spanish pandereteira ensemble women-sung music ("Muneira Redonda"); Besh O Drom, who use DJ scratching in their Bulgarian wedding music; Kristi Stassinopoulou's Greek electronica; Almamegretta's Italian reggae (mixed by Adrian Sherwood); and Sweden's Garmarna, whose haunting woman vocalist (unidentified in the notes) is the best singer here. For English-sung tracks that might be a wee bit more approachable to listeners coming from a pop/rock background, there's British folk performer Jim Moray's arrangement of the traditional "Gypsies" and Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros' "Shaktar Donetsk," though the latter is not among the more impressive cuts. Richie Unterberger