Think Global - End Poverty & Defend Human Rights

Think Global is the new label from World Music Network that combines the ideals of reducing poverty and defending human rights with superb collections of cutting edge music from around the world. In partnership with Amnesty International and Oxfam, all Think Global releases will use a novel type of packaging – using only 100% recyclable card with no plastic tray or plastic jewel case.

Think Global: Tango
Tango is a roots music, bursting with sensuality, red-hot passion and reams of rhythm. Born on the streets - from the outskirts of Buenos Aires to the ports of Montevideo - it served as a social connection for those living on the margins of society. From Juan Carlos Cáceres to Carlos Libedinsky, Think Global: Tango – produced in association with Oxfam - gives a sweeping overview of this fascinating and seductive music and dance genre.

Think Global: Tango demonstrates the truly global nature of the style, arising from many encounters between migrants and migrating dance rhythms since its birth in the Buenos Aires slums in the 1880s. This 15-track CD includes both reinterpretations of classic songs, and modern material that has come about since the emergence of bands like the Gotan Project. To understand and enjoy Tango, prepare to experience a rollercoaster of emotions, from passion, desire and elation, to desperation, solitude and despair.

Stand-out tracks include ‘Leonel el Feo' (‘Ugly Lionel'), where Daniel Melingo lends a dark twist to the song, giving us a Lou Reed-like narrative about a small time hood and his delusions of grandeur. The beautiful ‘Oblivion', written by Astor Piazolla , and sung by Beatriz Suárez Paz, with Fernando Suárez Paz on violin, is tango searching for the agonizing heart of love. Other outstanding musicians include Osvaldo Montes Y Anibal Arias (‘Milonga De Mis Amores'), Horacio Molina (‘Jacinto Chiclana') and Gustavo Beytelmann (‘Corraler').

Carlos Libedinsky's music can be seen as a truly Argentinian version of tango electronica, and his ‘Tres Son Multitud' is gloomy, cool and rhythmically interesting. Other notable electronic tracks include Otros Aires' ‘La Pampa Seca', Tanghetto's ‘Una Llamada' and Electronic Tango Group's ‘Fugaz'.

Think Global: Bellydance
Danced all over the world, bellydance is linked to some of the richest folk, pop and classical music traditions of the Middle East. Think Global: Bellydance presents some of the best contemporary bellydance musicians and singers to have set the world on fire. Whether you intend to shimmy or listen, this is a bellydancing extravaganza!

The literal translation of raqs sharki, the Arabic term for bellydance, is 'dance of the Orient'. However, Oriental dance was not always limited to women in Middle Eastern society but rooted in a folk dance performed in community celebrations and danced by all community members. With the rise of Islam came the segregation of women and children's quarters from the men's. The harem became the women's section of the home, forbidden to men who were not part of the immediate family and, where in festive occasions, women celebrated with other women.

Now danced all over the world, bellydance is linked to some of the richest folk, pop and classical music traditions of the Middle East.

Featuring Hossam Ramzy, Smadar Levi, Cairo Orchestra, Salatin El Tarab orchestra, Harem, Richard A. Hagopian & Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Fatme Serhan and Mahmoud Fadl, this album is a great introduction to the wonderful sounds of the dance of the Orient.

Think Global: West Africa Unwired
From the sumptuous koras (the West African harp) of Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko to the acoustic guitar legends Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck, West Africa Unwired presents some of the most beautiful classics from the acoustic West Africa repertoire. Featuring bluesy sounds from Mali, Wodaabe music from the Sahelian savannah and Manding rhythms, this album features griots, musical giants and rising stars, who reveal the vitality of these timeless and exceptional songs.

There is a West African proverb that states: 'When an elderly person dies, it is like the loss of a whole library of knowledge.' There is probably no other region where this saying is more appropriate than West Africa, a place where the histories of empires and kings have been passed down through song for centuries. Members of this caste of musical oral historians are known as griots (also known as jali in the Bambara language of Mali).

As West Africa has become electrically wired in recent times, it has resisted the tempting global musical trend of merely recording pop-rock hits in local languages. Although musicians frequently play the parts of traditional acoustic instruments with electric ones, the traditional acoustic instruments of the griots still have a place in contemporary African music. On West Africa Unwired , musical giants and rising stars reveal the vitality of these timeless songs.