Byline: MICHAEL CHURCH

If you want a global conspectus, complete with the best new fusions, this list makes a very decent start. Like any best-of, it will also enrage: Fela Kuti's fans won't be pleased by his omission; nor will the devotees of Caetano Veloso or Ravi Shankar. But those who worship at Cesaria Evora's shrine will be delighted that the CD chosen to represent her is not the meretricious Afro-Cuban fusion that she brought out last year, but the 11-year-old Miss Perfumado.

But some of the other choices are a bit too up-to-the-minute. Youssou N'Dour may be represented by a CD that is mercifully acoustic - good to see yet another mega-star renouncing electronica - but for many of us, his best work was done before Peter Gabriel discovered him and put him on the map. Likewise, Taraf de Haidouks' latest CD - on which they are accompanied by Bulgarians and Turks plus the Macedonian Kocani Orkestar - doesn't have that exquisite balance of fury and fragrance you find on their earlier Dumbala Dumba.

In the same vein, good though Orchestra Baobab's Specialist in All Styles is, it doesn't match the serene poise of their re-released Pirates Choice.

And how global is this "global"? The truth is, we're only scratching the surface: there are infinitely wider worlds beyond the world reflected here. The 12 CDs from Central Africa do an excellent job for that region; as do the nine from Latin America and Cuba (even though I'd have put in Ruben Gonzalez's wonderful swansong disc); but great swathes of the globe remain to be filled in, and the past is still there to be delved into. We get the marvellous Portuguese fadista Mariza, but she's still only a pale reflection of the sublime Amalia Rodrigues. We get Astor Piazzolla, but not that god of the tango, Carlos Gardel.

Geographically, this list leaves the would-be explorer spoilt for choice. Where to start? Look no further than the Balkans. Greece's rich instrumental heritage is abundantly available on the Topic label, while the extraordinary choral music of Albania is on Harmonia Mundi. Then, look to the Caucasus. Georgia's vocal harmonies are one of the wonders of the world, and, though there are dozens of ace choirs, Rustavi is probably the best. Armenia's duduk-king Djivan Gasparyan is everywhere in the shops, as is praise-singer Alim Qasimov from neighbouring Azerbaijan: listen to these and be serially knocked out.

Look north and you find Russia, both vast and, musically speaking, vastly unknown. Occasionally a band break free and hit the West (and even, like Loyko, settle here), but there's a wild profusion of musical styles out there on the steppes. Some of them have been carried there by the Gypsies, whose music tends to take its colouring from wherever it is put down but always remains superbly itself (check out Road of the Gypsies from Network).

Then there is the little matter of Asia. We have, of course, the excellent Tuvanese Huun-Huur-Tu - throat-singing is...