….here’s the calendar (repost from www.globalfest.org):

7:00 – 7:50 (Marlin Room) The Gloaming (U.S. Debut): Virtuoso Irish and American supergroup explore new traditions

7:00 – 8:00 (The Studio) BélO: Haiti’s acoustic innovator and social activist

7:30 – 8:15 (Grand Ballroom) Yemen Blues: Electrifying Yemeni sounds meet jazz, blues and funk

8:10 – 9:00 (Marlin Room) Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino: Passionate and exuberant trance and dance music from Southern Italy

8:20 – 9:20 (The Studio) Wang Li (U.S. Debut): Sublime Chinese jaw harp master-improviser

8:35 – 9:20 (Grand Ballroom) Zaz: Chart-topping French chanteuse

9:20 – 10:10 (Marlin Room) Mayra Andrade: Golden-voiced Cape Verde-born singer

9:40 – 10:40 (The Studio) M.A.K.U. Sound System: Furious rhythms of NY’s Afro-Colombian underground

9:40 – 10:25 (Grand Ballroom) (The Silk Road Ensemble: Virtuoso collective from around the globe

10:30 – 11:20 (Marlin Room) SMOD (U.S. Debut): Hard hitting, political folk-rap from Mali

10:45 – 11:30 (Grand Ballroom) Diogo Nogueira: Rio’s red-hot samba star

11:00 – 12:00 (The Studio) Debo Band: Slinky Ethiopian funk and searing jazz grooves

Now – here’s what you SHOULD do:

Get to Webster Hall on time so you don’t get stuck in line and miss half the concert. Then head to the Marlin Room for the Gloaming, who ought to kick this off with a jolt of good energy. If that doesn’t hook you up, get over to the big Grand Ballroom (the old Ritz space) at 7:30 for Yemen Blues, whose album from last year had some neat Middle Eastern grooves that make a promising platform for psychedelic jams. After that, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino will keep you going til 9 with their trancey, rustic Alessanda Belloni-style tarantella percussion. Then you’ve got 40 minutes to check out a little bit of Zaz or Mayra Andrade and get to the main space for the Silk Road Ensemble (if you caught any of the Kennedy Center broadcast on Xmas day, you know how phenomenal this group is). And then Debo Band – who absolutely slayed last year at Joe’s Pub, and slayed again this past summer at Lincoln Center Out of Doors – will whirl you away to an Addis Ababa of the mind with their ecstatic Ethiopian grooves.