On this disc, music from Barbados, Aruba, Haiti, Martinique, Belize, Jamaica, and Anguilla reflect the basic musical melange that the area is know for. My friend, Bernfreid, who travels into that region for vacation borrow has borrowed this disc to refresh his memory of great times. He is unable to keep his feet still, and better yet, he does that hip swaying, hands up in the air, fingers snapping away, shuffle that one often sees when one to many Blue Motorcycles have been drunk. And this is happening at the office! This rich stew of musical forms: reggae, soca, zouk, compas and biguine are featured in light hearted romps that give one a sense of summer year round.

This disc is the follow up to Caribbean Party, which was reviewed in SoundWaves, two years ago. It is also a part of a five release Putumayo Summer Party series that features collections of music from tropical locales such as Cuba, Brazil, and Africa.

How do they do it? Those tricky folks at Putumayo! Actually, the way it’s done sound like quite a superb gig. Dan Storper, founder of Putumayo World Music, traveled to 15 islands searching (yeah, real rough job, eh?!) for the appealing upbeat music found on this collection. Poor guy had to travel to the Dutch Antilles, including Aruba and Curacao. Think he had to travel and do this extensive, late hours research by himself? Nice, real nice job, must pay lousy, too. Bet he doesn’t know anyone who would trade places with him!