Jaro/Harmonia Mundi****:The best of world music is right here in the sturdy roots and rugged peaks of the Warsaw Village Band.

The group's fourth album is a brave and accomplished setting of traditional Polish musical culture into a modern and multicultural frame. Elements of reggae, blues, raga, Swedish folk, African chants and DJ scratching are all assimilated effortlessly, rocking the boat without overturning it. The strings (violin, cello, dulcimer, native suka) are earthy and rhythmic, while the female voices are superb, full-throated and powerfully elemental. The combination has a gritty restless intensity, seasonably redolent of hard lives and wild wintry landscapes. Never a cosy listen, this is fierce, passionate folk music with a real edge and a thoroughly contemporary outlook. www. warsawvillageband.net

Download tracks: 1.5h, Heartbeat, Little Baby Blues