Album: Various artists, Otro Mundo (Another World), (Warner Bros)

The press release boasts 34 artists from 34 countries, which is admirably democratic but hardly the point.

The great thing about BBC DJ Charlie Gillett's essential annual compilations is that they function equally well as a primer for world-music beginners, and a place for the seasoned expert to find new treasures. So there's familiar names such as Miriam Makeba as well as relative newcomers such as Afro-Peruvian sonic cubists Radiokijada, and thunderous Hungarian violinist Felix Laiko.