Thomas Mapfumo to Lead the Lineup at Globalquerque

Thomas Mapfumo, the exiled Zimbabwean musician who is one of the world's most politically influential musicians, will be heading up the lineup at this weekend's Globalquerque festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

It's a cool addition to a really cool festival, to be sure. Globalquerque is only in its fourth year, and has already taken a solid place as one of the most inclusive and important world music festivals in the United States. I've been consistently impressed with their lineup since day one - the festival's organizers, Tom Frouge and Neal Copperman, take a decidedly curatorial approach in booking the event. They've got a knack for finding a balance between the well-known and the obscure, putting talent and cultural importance well above fame. They're also not afraid to put a hip, young band on the same stage as elderly masters, nor do they draw particularly thick lines around their definition of what world music means, thereby giving themselves the right amount of freedom to book what is, by all accounts, an amazing festival.

This year's festival, to take place September 19 and 20 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, also includes second-generation desert bluesman Vieux Farka Toure, 17 Hippies (Germany's best world-rock export - there are not 17 of them, and they are not hippies), Mexican songstress Lila Downs, Quebecois folk innovators Genticorum, and Native American flute master (and 2007 Grammy Award Winner) Mary Youngblood, among many others.