By Rob Thomas

Ah, another weekend in Madison facing the same dilemma: which of the fine free music festivals in town should you attend?

On the one hand, there's the Madison World Music Festival at the UW Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St. today through Saturday. On the other, there's the venerable Willy Street Fair in the 800 through 1000 blocks of Williamson Street on Saturday and Sunday. Fortunately, you can make both, especially since several musical acts are planning to play at both festivals.

The Madison World Music Festival will take over the Union Terrace for three evenings, as well as the Union Theater on Saturday night, bringing artists in from Brazil, Mali, Palestine, Spain and other points on the globe.

Probably the biggest names on the bill are Brazilian singer Seu Jorge (9:30 Thursday), best known for his David Bowie covers for the movie "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," and African bluesman Boubacar Traore (8 p.m.), who has been called the Robert Johnson to Ali Farka Toure's John Lee Hooker.

Also among the many intriguing acts are Balkan Beat Box (10 p.m. Friday), a genre-hopping, hip-hop flavored duo that draws from both Arab and Israeli influences, and Los Martires de Compas (8 p.m. Saturday), a Spanish group that plays flamenco that is so hard-edged and politically aware that the band leader has nicknamed it "flamenco-billy."