LUBO ALEXANDROV & KABA HORO ****
Contrabanda
CCM/Fusion 3
Move over Kim Mitchell, Lubo Alexandrov is a wild party. Upping the adrenaline from his Juno-winning debut album, Montreal’s master of Bulgarian fretless guitar comes back strongly. The title track starts with a Balkan Beat Box-ish rhythm, but Alexandrov and his band Kaba Horo (“raw dance”) soon deploy saxophone, accordion and clarinet to diversify the rhythms, moods and time signatures. The ferocity and complexity of the album’s highlights “Smeseno” and the sexy, jazzy “Opa Jones” are among my favourite grooves of the year. Though there’s some too-showy jamming at times, it goes with the territory and does not detract overall from the disc’s excellence. DAVID DACKS

LUBO ALEXANDROV AND KABA HORO PLAY LULA LOUNGE (1585 DUNDAS W) NOV 27.

AMADOU & MARIAM ****
Welcome To Mali
Because/Warner
Welcome To Mali is the greatly-anticipated follow-up to the Malian duo’s 2005 disc, Dimanche A Bamako, surely one of the albums of the decade. Welcome To Mali finds Amadou and Mariam discovering new ways to exploit their catchiest elements: their keening vocals and Amadou’s hard-driving boogie guitar. The pair try on a wide array of pop styles, sounding like John Mellencamp one minute, then venturing into Auto-Tune–driven synth-pop as imagined by guest producer Damon Albarn the next. What could have been a strange patchwork of voices and production styles is expertly tailored here, perhaps because it was recorded at Studio Davout, Paris’ home base for forward-thinking African sounds for more than 25 years. DD

BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB *****
At Carnegie Hall
Nonesuch/WEA
Since so many of the Club’s members have died, this set has been viewed as the last kick at a franchise which has sold millions of copies as well as spawned more than a dozen albums. But any cynicism you harbour will be melted away by the sheer warmth of this music. Thanks to Wim Wenders’ illuminating documentary, we already know how excited the band were to play this iconic live venue, and on this recording it’s audibly apparent. The extended jams on the second disc are truly transcendent and showcase pianist Ruben Gonzalez’ genius; in general, the Club’s gentle nostalgia gets pumped up by the reciprocal energy with the adoring audience. For once, the double-disc length is wholly justified. DD

JUANECO Y SU COMBO ***
Masters Of Chicha Volume 1
Barbes
Ayahuasca is a hell of a drug. In the case of Juaneco Y Su Combo, the psychedelic brew of the Amazon jungle led to intense flashes of Farfisa organ, surf guitars and delay-accented whooping. Last year’s Roots Of Chicha collection introduced their 1970s roughneck cumbia hybrid to non-Peruvian audiences. While this collection displays too few variations on a theme, it’s a pretty interesting theme.  Andean melodies, bongo fury and Bakersfield twang swirl around in this pop culture Petri dish. This music should intrigue anyone interested in the many intersections of folk, country and rock. And thankfully, there’s always more cowbell. DD

THE SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA ****
Manifesto
Do Right
Critics have a tendency to pit Afrobeat bands against one another, as if the genre were a zero-sum game. Often only the most brilliant are hailed, while the merely excellent are scorned. The Souljazz Orchestra aren’t breaking any boundaries, but they are battle-hardened from their continuous gigging, and their execution of these tunes is flawless — Manifesto is nothing but hard-hitting dance grooves from start to finish. Their vintage-leaning sound is somewhat like Antibalas Mark 1, but comparisons matter little when the funk is so strong. “People, People” is an instant party-starter, while “Kapital” and “Interested Benevolence” analyze the nature of the party itself. DD