For its sixth-annual event held at Webster Hall here last Sunday, Globalfest hosted a dozen acts from Brazil, Canada, France, India, Iran, Spain and Tobago as well as Brooklyn, Chicago and New Orleans. But rarely was the music they played anchored in indigenous sounds of their homelands, as the groups eagerly explored musical hybrids. Some of the bands could have melted the ice on the nearby streets.

At these kinds of events, there's the temptation to listen for what's borrowed from sources beyond the musicians' regions, but what does the phrase "beyond the regions" mean when the music is a readily available influence? Videos of almost every act at this year's festival are up on YouTube, and the show was Webcast live on www.wnyc.org and will be archived on www.npr.org/music.

Mr. Shanbehzadeh, who's from Bushehr, Iran, but is now based in Paris, said his music is "very unknown, even in my country." During our telephone conversation, which took place before he flew here, he spoke of a mission "to introduce our music everywhere in the world, to communicate to people. I want to present the true face of my country -- the arts, the happiness, the love." At the same time, he said he must transcend nationality when on stage. "I am Iranian and I am a musician. When I am a musician, I have to forget my nationality and be in the art."

As for Mr. Kher, he's a superstar in India, where he's had big hits, sung in Bollywood films and is a judge on "Indian Idol." When I called him in Mumbai, he described his music as "very traditional with a contemporary theme. The essence is very Indian. There is a Sufi flavor -- a traditional, poetic, very mystical sound. We are experimenting yet trying to stick to our essence."

Now that Western filmgoers are enjoying the Indian popular music in "Slumdog Millionaire," Mr. Kher said he was hoping to find a new, receptive audience in the States for his own works. As for what he had planned for Globalfest: "I'm expecting to create some magic."

And he did. Mr. Kher packed the largest of the three venues at Webster Hall with a crowd that was a melting pot even by New York standards. His seven-piece band moved among styles without hesitation, adding elements of folk, reggae and rock to Indian pop; his guitarist, in one tune, played lines reminiscent of South African mbaqanga and, in another, channeled Carlos Santana. With its percolating rhythms, the Kher hit "Tauba Tauba" sounded not very different from the bubbling cumbia performed by the excellent Catalan group La Troba Kung-Fú a half-hour earlier.

Mr. Kher has a voice as appealing as it is thrilling -- he can unleash notes that bring to mind qawwali singers -- and he's an amiable entertainer. For one of his band members, a bearded, barefoot percussionist identified as Duke, the show was a homecoming. "He's from New York," Mr. Kher exclaimed. "Give it up!"

Playing new material as well as songs from his soon-to-be-released album on David Byrne's Luaka Bop label, Rio native Márcio Local suffered the misfortune of beginning his set while Mr. Kher was still on stage. The charismatic Mr. Local, with his funky take on samba and Afro-Brazilian dance music, is poised to become a leading voice in Brazilian music. But perhaps because Mr. Local left his horn section at home, his music didn't match the allure of his recordings that are available on his MySpace page.

Audience members had to pull themselves from the enticing polyrhythmic sounds of the Occidental Brothers Dance Band, which features Kofi Cromwell of Ghana and Chicago's Nathaniel Braddock, to catch the set by Iran's Mr. Shanbehzadeh, who performed with his 15-year-old son, Naghib, a dazzling percussionist. The duo began calmly, the serpentine music seemingly focused on ushering listeners into a trance as Saeid Shanbehzadeh played pipe, flute or neyanban, a double-reed bagpipe. Soon, the tempo increased and he started to whirl and dance. The audience, energized, clapped and shouted; when he encouraged a call-and-response sing-along, the crowd joined in and sounded great. "I didn't know in New York there are a lot of people from Bushehr," said the sweat-soaked Mr. Shanbehzadeh with a broad, satisfied smile.