Putumayo: Women of the World

Released in time to celebrate International Women’s Day, Putumayo’s Women of the World explores acoustic music by some of the world’s leading female artists. The eleven songs sound more like roots or folk rock than the diverse instrumental stylings of the world genre so popular today. Women of the World highlights gifted women who are carrying on the musical traditions of their homes. Some of the artists, like Canada’s The Wailin’ Jennys (a favorite of Garrison Keillor) or Sandrine Kiberlain (an accomplished actress from France), may be well known already for their traditional sound. But others, like Algeria’s Mona, a former rap artist, adopt a softer sound. While the diversity in this compilation assures that all songs will not prove appealing to everyone, it is a worthwhile sampling of accomplished female musicians from across the globe. Cameroon’s Kaissa pays tribute to her late sister; Lura sings in the Creole dialect of her Cape Verdean home; and the Istrian folk songs of Croatia inspire Tamara Obravac. But despite the different springs feeding into these women’s inspirational homes, the album is successful at uniting these unique, accomplished musicians.