VA - The Rough Guide to the Music of Eastern Europe (19998)

As with most of the Rough Guide music releases, this one casts a wide net, hauling in innovative folk groups like Musikas and Taraf de Haiduks, edgier jazz from Ferus Mustafov and Ivo Papasov, and new musical excursions by bands like Zsarotnok. The set also includes well-known vocal groups like the Mystery of Bulgarian Voices ensemble and Trio Bulgarka. There are some surprises, too. Apparatschik offers a folk-punk sound somewhere between the Pogues and Spike Jones. The "Oriental" brass band Kocani plays Macedonian Rom music with verve. Poland's incredible fiddle orchestra, the Trebunia Family, will be a new surprise to almost any North American listener with its raw power, and Albanian lute player Mark Pashku's 1965 solo recording is superb. Brief but descriptive liner notes tell you what you need to know and no more, but the Rough Guides are meant to help you explore, and they give you the source material to begin your journey. --Louis Gibson