In conjunction with the February Carnival Hot Spots Feature, we head to Trinidad for some great steel drum orchestras from the acclaimed Caribbean Carnival Series. We’ll also hear new music from the Either/Orchestra’s new album in the Ethiopiques series, the latest from the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, and some tsapiky music from Madagascar from Damily & the Toliara Tsapiky Band.

SPECIAL: In a special edition of the show, Global Village celebrates the birthday of Les Baxter – composer, arranger, band leader and pioneer of exotica. We’ll hear some classics from Baxter, along with classic and contemporary exotica from Martin Denny, L’Attirail, Yma Sumac, Don Tiki, and more.

It’s New Month/New Music time in the Global Village. Each month, Global Village devotes an entire show to the best of recently released and forthcoming world music albums. Among the highlights this time: Balkan sounds from elsewhere from Stockholm’s Lele Lele Orchestra and Toronto’s Lemon Bucket Orchestra; new Euro sounds from the pan-Scandinavian ensemble Viik, and Spanish folk ensemble Viguela; samba-inspired music from prolific guitarist Diego Figueiredo; mambo classic and contemporary from Orquesta Akokan, Jonathan Powell, and Sergio Pamies’ and blasts from the past with the Togo Soul 2 compilation, and a 50th anniversary special reissue of War’s classic album, The World is a Ghetto.

It’s New Month/New Music time in the Global Village. Each month, Global Village devotes an entire show to the best of recently released and forthcoming world music albums. Among the highlights this time: Cuban sounds from both Grupo Polo Montanez and Kiki Valera; Brazil meets New Orleans with Nation Beat; contemporary klezmer and Eastern European music from Dobranotch; Sixties music from Indonesia with the Arabic-Malay group M. Mashabi and His Kelana Ria Orchestra and the rock band Panbers; English folk rock legend Richard Thompson; a rare female-led Gnawa group – Asmaa Hamzaoui & Bnat Timbouktou; an Argentine project from guitarist Nora Buschmann and Sengelese guitar from Tidiane Thiam; and Spanish bluegrass banjoist Lluis Gomez.