The Chicago World Music Festival has proven itself, time and again, to be one of the most valuable resources in America for finding out what is happening outside the sonic boundaries of our oceans. Returning for its eleventh annual incarnation this year, from September 18-24, over twenty venues will showcase more than sixty events, ranging from French gypsy electronica to Hungarian folk songs, Indian classical music to Brazilian funk, Balkan brass beats to New York City global beats. It is no small stretch of the imagination to state this is the crowning programming achievement for international music in America.

I say that not out of a sense of local pride—if only my city of Brooklyn had a festival of this magnitude. Granted, for six years New York has boasted globalFEST, an ambitious evening of world music each January during the APAP conference, yet that is only one night. In 2002 I experienced the Chicago fete as a DJ, highly impressed with the depth and range of coverage the city offers residents on a yearly basis. Other cities have great festivals as well, but none match Chicago in terms of reach and scope.

Traveling to Chicago this year will be Watcha Clan, one of the most creative Mediterranean-based electronica projects out of Europe in years. The French quartet (although band members vary) uses a cornucopia of samples and loops for their live bass player and guitarist to ride over, while the energetic, sensual singer Sistah K trounces from Spanish-influenced gypsy song to Parisian swagger hip-hop. Equally excitable is Bucovina Club founder DJ Shantel, who brings with him the most eclectic mix of Balkan music imaginable. He’s remixed and produced top acts in Eastern Europe (Taraf de Haïdouks, Ko_ani Orkestar, Fanfare Ciocârlia), with his own beat-heavy albums evolving this brass-heady sound for 21st century dance floors.

The steppes of Mongolia invade the steps of the windy city when Hanggai offer their horse riding songs to an American audience. Their debut, “Introducing Hanggai,” is a beautifully textured album with hints of throat singing merged with two-stringed lutes and a heavy reliance on slow percussion. Another band divined with hypnotic powers is Taureg outfit Terakaft, whose two leaders are former members of breakthrough band Tinariwen—their sound rivals their former employers, albeit slightly less melodic.

Parno Graszt’s 2002 album, “Rágávok a zongorára,” fancies him as a Hungarian equivalent of Leonard Cohen or Paolo Conte. Only he’s got that overly hyper bull’s blood coarsing through his veins, so the songs often reach mind-boggling tempos on the cimbalom and violins. That will be a performance not to miss; the same holds true for Markus James & the Wassonrai, the Malian blues fanatic James’s latest incarnation. He adds a splendid desert touch to his Delta music, incorporating the best of Africa and America into his atmospheric songs.

Although based in the Netherlands, Minyeshu sounds like a contemporary from the Ethiopiques recordings, a high compliment. Her silky voice could be lifted from a Mulatu Astatqé track, or perhaps be featured alongside Mahmoud Ahmed, both to her credit. Silky is also a good word to describe Marta Gomez, as is the word “soft”; I’ve seen this Colombian singer twice, impressed by her sweet demeanor as much as her meaningful, quiet tunes. Her records are always pretty; they never match the web she weaves on the stage.

Coming from my side of the coast, two New York City collectives promise to keep Chicagoans dancing long into the night. Forro in the Dark is a Brazilian band playing an indescribably thick sound of modern dance music, heavy on the percussion and handclaps. Turntables on the Hudson has been rocking the city’s coasts for eleven years, and DJs Nickodemus andMariano and percussionist Nappy G are certain to keep hips shaking with their inspired fusing of African, Latin, Balkan, and Jamaican tracks. While they may not make your hips move quite so much, certain to move your hearts is Luminescent Orchestrii, possibly the most imaginative gypsy-fueled quartet this side of the Mississippi, in support of their excellent new release, “Neptune’s Daughter.”

While that merely scratches the surface of what’s about to go down in Chicago, the festival’s website, worldmusicfestivalchicago.org, has all venue and artist information. Most of the information about foreign cultures are piped into American media via political stories, which themselves are often biased by territorial and material concerns. If you want to enter the soul of a nation, you listen to its music. With the impressive amount of sounds about to be heard in Chicago, consider it education and enjoyment all at once.

Chicago World Music Festival 2009
September 18-24
worldmusicfestivalchicago.org