Another musician from a small country, Andy Palacio, released a breakthrough album earlier this year, "Wátina" (Cumbancha). I've written about Palacio before, but the album is a wonderful update of rhythms and vocal styles from the African-descended people called the Garifuna, a minority community in several Central American countries.

Palacio made his name playing the dance-oriented punta rock, but his new music is for the heart, not the hips. Still, it is a lively album that doesn't get bogged down as it delivers some poignant soulfulness. Palacio brings his multi-generational ensemble to S.O.B.'s Thursday and for free shows at the Huntington Arts Council's Summer Festival in Heckscher Park next Saturday and to the Metrotech Center in Brooklyn Thursday at noon.