Various

Enter any patchouli-smelling, sarong-selling, braided-haired-girl-owning shop in Canada and chances are you'll hear one of Putumayo's 200-plus world music comps blaring over the speakers. Their latest release, Rumba Mambo Cha-Cha-Cha, may sound more like something for the staff party. Though rumba and mambo have been explored before (on their flamenco and yo-yo releases), Putumayo has never properly paid homage to this uniquely Cuban dance music. Surprisingly, Rumba Mambo Cha-Cha-Cha covers a lot of ground, showing how songs from Marseille (Conjunto Massalia's Rat-Pack-esque "Guajira y Chachacha"), Chicago (Angel Melendez & the 911 Mambo Orchestra's starkly traditional "Cereza Rose") and Moscow (Tes Muchachos & Companeros' drunken slow-jam "Pa' Mantener Tradicion") expertly uphold the classic two-step. But it's the Cubans that bring it all back home, as Tradicuba, Orquesta La Moderna Tradicion and J. Joaquin Oliveros inject such energy and enjoyment into Rumba Mambo Cha-Cha-Cha that Fruko y Sus Tesos' version of "Mambo #5" even manages to sound cool.