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Global appeal
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This review first appeared in the March 22, 1996 issue of the North County Times.
Outside Ellipsis Arts, perhaps no label brings as wide a variety of global music to its listeners as does Putumayo.
Originally founded as an ethnic clothing line, Putumayo's dozen or so releases over the past few years have featured African, Celtic, Jamaican and South American music.
This sampler covers much of that territory, giving a broad overview of the label's offerings.
What makes this CD somewhat different from other compilations is that most of Putumayo's other releases are also "best of" collections. Thus, the "World Music Sampler" has cuts from "Shelter: The Best of Contemporary Singer-Songwriters," "The Best of World Music: World Dance Party" and "The Best of World Music: African.
Given such an incredible array of material from which to select, it's hard to say any one track is "representative" of the label's output. What not hard to say is that with artists such as Black Uhuru (reggae), Strunz and Farah (new age), Freedy Johnston (folk rock) and Laura Love (Afro-Celtic), this is one of the best listens you'll ever find.