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Boukman Eksperyans, Bob Marley Top Week's Album Releases

Mexican singer Chalino Sanchez, guitarist Boubacar Traoré also have discs due.

Albums by Haiti's Boukman Eksperyans and Mali's Boubacar Traoré are standout new releases in another slim week for world music.

Also due is music from Mexico and India, while early ska sides from Bob Marley and the Wailers will be reissued.

Mexican ballad singer Chalino Sanchez, whose songs deal with the underworld, has old work recycled on Corona de Mi Padre (Sony International). Though he was reportedly killed in 1995, Sanchez's music continues to appear, leading to persistent speculation that he might be alive. Shaggy, the Jamaican-American singer whose recording of "Oh Carolina!" kicked dancehall music into high gear in 1993, returns with his "dog-a-muffin" sound on Hot Shots (MCA).

Named for a slave who led an 1804 uprising, Boukman Eksperyans have been uncompromising in their musical and political stance against Haiti's politicians since their formation in 1979. They return to mix the country's rara rhythms, voudou and political radicalism for their sixth album, Vodou Adja, released on Converge/Balenjo Music.

Traoré, the veteran Malian guitarist known affectionately as Kar Kar, whose spare, bluesy style invites comparison with the great Ali Farka Toure, sees two albums released on Indigo. Sa Golo (1997), which returned him to his roots in the city of Kayes, in eastern Mali, is repackaged, along with a new disc, Maciré, which includes "Kar Kar Madison," Traoré's personal take on the '60s dance craze.

The late Marley and fellow Wailers Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer began their careers in the early days of Jamaican ska, in the 1960s, and were local stars almost from the beginning. Climb the Ladder goes deeper into the vaults from those days, including such songs as "Lemon Tree" and "The Jerk," all recorded at Kingston's famous Studio One and produced by Clement Dodd.

On a more classical front, Mexico's Luis Cobos, the conductor who's worked with such performers as tenor Plácido Domingo, has Viva Mexico (Universal Latino), featuring orchestral interpretations of contemporary and traditional Mexican folk music, while India's Wajahat Khan, the son of Ustad Imrat Khan and a famous player of the sarod (a type of lute), offers Rang Desh (Koch-Schwann).

In compilation releases, classical Japanese theater music gets an airing on Kabuki and Jiuta-Mai Music (Saga Ethnic), and Ocora reissues Hungary, le Dernier Passage, featuring traditional music played on hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes and zither. In their International Music Series, Nouveau explores both Music of China and Music of India, and from the Andes of South America, Le Chant Du Monde has Bolivia, Music of the Calcha, showcasing the music of the remote Calcha tribe.

Finally, the Celtic world not only brings forth Celtic Harp (Nouveau), but also the intriguing and unlikely concept of Celtic Panpipe Moods (Edeltone).

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