World Routes: On the Road Nascente*****

The BBC Radio 3 flagship show of World Music has long been World Routes, fronted, with easy erudition, by Lucy Duran. In its 11 years the programme has travelled to some 60 countries in search of musical traditions, and On the Road presents 30 of the artists discovered on these expeditions. Every performance here is a vignette of local culture, beautifully recorded in locations that include barns, temples, hillsides, hotels and even a volcanic crater. Duran's sleevenotes give context to each occasion, often with poignant references to the artists' lives and amusing asides on the vicissitudes of travel off the beaten track. Well-known names are scarce (Toumani Diabaté is recorded at home), but the quality of the music discovered is sublime. World Music at its exploratory best. demonmusicgroup.co.uk

Download tracks: Musu Maramba, Mar Azul, Samaja Vara Gamana