CD Review: Latin Garden: The World of Latin Grooves

German-based DJ Gulbahar Kultur has compiled and mixed this eclectic collection of Latin / Latin-influenced tracks by an unlikely group of artists from Japan, India, Russia, Belgium, Pakistan, Greece Turkey, Germany and England. Some of the songs are pretty good, some pretty funny, all are interesting. While these CDs are not for serious Latin music afficionados, they are a lot of fun.

DJ Gulbahar Kultur ("WDR/Funkhaus Europa") is a collector of world music and of the unusual. Some of his past compilations include Oriental Garden, Harem's Secret, African Garden, Gypsy Garden, Asian Garden , etc. In this album, Latin Garden: The World of Latin Grooves, Kultur presents us with a mixed bag of Latin music tracks performed by unlikely artists in unlikely languages.

With a liberal standard for defining Latin music and a planetary scope for artistic selection, the album delivers a mix of tracks that revel in the universality of Latin rhythms while fusing (and sometimes overshadowing) those rhythms with local musical traditions.

The result is an interesting fusion. "Milaya" by the St. Petersburg based Markscheider Kunst sounds a lot like Russian Gypsy music. The Crazy Ken Band's “Bossa Mapilla” at times segues to a Japanese scale. UK-based Ska Cubano gives us "Yiri Yiri Bon', West African Angelique Kidjo performs a nice "Congo Habanero", qawwali-grandmaster Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, from Sufi tradition, surprises with "Kinna Sohna". Mexico City’s Poncho Kingz bill themselves as the world’s only Hip-Trop band and show us what that sounds like in their “Space Cumbia”.

Add some Celia Cruz, Yerba Buena from New York and Ojos de Brujo flamenco fusion and you get 42 tracks of the unusual, unexpected and entertaining.