Listen along with our 
World's Top Ten, Winter 2012 playlist.You know that holiday season/beginning-of-the-year lull in new music everyone always talks about? Well, forget about it. The world of world music has been busy the last couple months, churning out a ton of new releases that are both high profile and highly interesting. We've got some stragglers who snuck out in late 2011 and ended up being some of the year's best releases, like Sia Tolno's vibrant Afropop effort and the Hawaiian folk-drenched soundtrack to George Clooney's Oscar-nominated film The Descendants. We also stretched back a bit further into 2011 to pinpoint some things you might have missed, like Buraka Som Sistema's über-hip global club cuts and Sevara Nazarkhan's intimate neo-traditionalism.
But we didn't even need to look backward: 2012 has already been offering up a wealth of riches, from flamenco punks Rodrigo y Gabriela's excursion into Cuban big band to Novalima's sleekly innovative reworkings of Afro-Peruvian traditional music. If you've got the winter blues, we've got the cure for what ails you right here. Dig in!
1. NovalimaKarimba
Four albums in and Novalima have finessed their always-fascinating project into a sound that's both tradition-steeped and novel. Karimba's first half delves more deeply into the group's Afro-Peruvian folk touchstones than ever, expertly spinning through a festejo here, pulsing with classic landó rhythms there ("Revolucion") -- even as it hipsterizes them with a sleek, clubby sheen. But beginning with "Zarambe," things get downright experimental as donkey jaw rattles fade into shivering beats, cajón thumps meet dub bass, and the world goes avant-ambient-trippy on "Luna Ciega." [Rachel Devitt]
2. Sia TolnoMy Life
Think you know Afropop? Sia Tolno begs to differ, and she'll convince you in just four tracks. My Life bursts open with the belching saxes of "Blamah Blamah," full of rippling marimbas and uncontainable joy. Then "Odju Watcha" throws on some ringing, sunnily politicized classic Afropop. Then "Di Ya Leh" makes you think with its quiet interlocking guitars and soulful grace. Finally, the title track breaks your heart and puts it back together with a wistful accordion and Tolno's swooping, hopeful sob. The rest of this Guinean singer's autobiographical album is, if not as gut-grabbing, just as delightful. [R.D.]
3. Buraka Som SistemaKomba
In a year owned by bombastic, globe-trotting dance beats, Portugal's Buraka Som Sistema know how to set themselves apart: skin-scorching energy that clips along to a syncopated, kuduro-laced shuffle; soul-shaking beats culled from Euro-dance, Afropop, baile funk and more; and mood-setting guest vocalists, most thrillingly Bomba Estéreo and Cape Verdean singer Sara Tavares, who coaxes "Voodoo Love" around her little finger. A little heavier on the electro and lighter on the "ethno" than their debut, Komba is exhilarating, Pop-Rocks fun that will get all sorts of fans wiggling. [R.D.]
4. Various ArtistsThe Descendants
The soundtrack to this much-lauded George Clooney vehicle has gotten almost as much attention as the film itself -- and no wonder, given the gorgeous collection of Hawaiian folk and pop music assembled here. No Elvis kitsch (or even many electric slide guitars) here: just rolling, intricately worked acoustic guitars swaying around flowing, complicatedly harmonized vocals in the contemporary folk tradition. It's all lovely (if, with the exception of Lena Machado's juicy vintage cut, male-dominated), but your ears will gravitate to all the great tracks by dearly departed master Gabby Pahinui. [R.D.]
5. Rodrigo y GabrielaArea 52
We shouldn't be surprised by any new direction Rodrigo y Gabriela take off in. Yet hearing the metalheads-turned-flamenco-infused-acoustic duo rework their songs Cuban-style is, indeed, surprising. We're used to R & G getting raucous sounds out of two acoustics. But Area 52, which was recorded in Cuba with a full big band, is awash in big, bold sonic textures: the thundering flamenco-salsa-rock breakdown of "Diablo Rojo," the Santeria call-and-response of "11:11," Anoushka Shankar's sitar grooves on "Ixtapa." Unsurprisingly, Gabriela and Rodrigo sound perfectly, elegantly at ease amid it all. [R.D.]
6. Sevara NazarkhanTortadur
Positioning herself at the crossroads of concept album, research project and work of art, Sevara Nazarkhan abandoned the sleek beats of her debut to delve deeply into Central Asian traditional music. The Uzbek singer assembled renowned master musicians to help mentor and accompany her on traditional instruments like the doutar lute. With her honeyed voice, Nazarkhan embodies the yearning of the Sufi ballads and love songs here, whether she's dancing close with a haunting nai flute, or accompanied only by a clinking saucer ("Yovvoi Tanovar") or a rumbling train ("Qarghalar"). Exquisite stuff. [R.D.]
7. Ritmo MachineWelcome to the Ritmo Machine
Both excitingly fresh and satisfyingly classic, Ritmo Machine are a new collaborative project between Eric Bobo (Cypress Hill and Beastie Boys percussionist, son of Willie Bobo) and Chilean DJ Latin Bitman that cuts indie-hop through with thick Latin dance and pop grooves. These two clearly enjoy working together: Welcome crackles and pops with an easy vibrancy as Bobo and Bitman sketch a continuum between sizzling Latin jazz, beachy alt-electronico and sunny, scratched-up backpacker hip-hop (a Chali 2NA collection helps solidify that reference). It's a warm, fuzzy thrill of an album.
8. Ladysmith Black MambazoLadysmith Black Mambazo & Friends
Ladysmith Black Mambazo have always been able to make friends anywhere. As this massive compilation of their collaborations attests, the legendary South African choral group has seamlessly fit into everything from the Paul Simon-hosted soirees that originally made them global stars to newer duets with Emmylou Harris and Betty Griffin. At times, like the lackluster Josh Groban collabos, one wishes they weren't always quite so friendly. But the bosom-buddies moments -- like with Taj Mahal, Dolly Parton and, especially, Zap Mama -- make all that networking worth it. [R.D.]
9. K.G. OmuloAyah Ye! Moving Train
K.G. Omulo seems to have recorded this album at a mythical crossroads where Afrobeat, reggae, New Orleans funk, jam rock and possibly hip-hop (at least the dubby variety) meet. Singing in English and some Swahili over ringing guitars, brazen horns and scattershot snares, the Kenyan-born singer builds a rollicking party train of an album that manages to corral the energy (not to mention the politicized fire) of those touchstones without blurring them into some kind of stanky, soupy mess. Tighter editing here and there wouldn't be a bad thing, but for the most part, it's a fun ride. [R.D.]
10. Celtic WomanBelieve
Step into Celtic Woman's world, a misty, innocuously mystical fairyland where everything from Simon & Garfunkel to "Ave Maria" is kind of vaguely Irish, every instrument sounds sort of like the bagpipes or the bodhran (even the guitars), and everyone sings with the sweet-and-high precision of a Disney princess. It's a pretty, if predictable, place that this five-woman troupe has long claimed ownership of (with corners rented from Celine Dion and Michael Flatley). They especially own their turf when things get jiggy, as on traditional reel "The Foxhunter" or Clannad cover "Teir Abhaile Riu." [R.D.]
Honorable Mentions
Fidel Nadal, Forever Together
Rebelution, Peace of Mind
3BallMTY, Inténtalo
Mauricio Maestro, Upside Down