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Musicians Johan Karlberg and Etienne Tron first met Malawi-born Esau Mwamwaya running a junk shop outside their studio. The two were eager to befriend Mwamwaya, in part because they thought he was an African drummer. Turns out, he was much more. The three have formed a group called The Very Best and released Warm Heart of Africa in October.

Dowland was an important and beloved composer at a time when there was no dichotomy between popular and classical music. He was, in effect, an Elizabethan-era pop musician. The dark, wistful mood that pervades Dowland's lute music was, in its day, a sign of maturity and intelligence.

If there are ghosts in the music, Ran Blake finds them and stretches their abstract melodies into an unknown ether. The 74-year-old pianist crosses streams of music, film and life in what he calls "recompositions," which amount to long strands of improvisation from multiple, original compositions. In his only concert of 2009, a small audience witnessed his recompositions unfold.

The Mexican duo Rodrigo y Gabriela is known for nimble-fingered classical guitar work and a diverse musical background that fuses traditional flamenco music with heavy metal and rock. The pair's new record, 11:11, features 11 songs dedicated to 11 different musical influences in Rodrigo y Gabriela's lives — from Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix to the jazz-fusion band Shakti.

Bazan's Curse Your Branches has already been compared to the work of Leonard Cohen. Amid melancholic arrangements, the disc finds Bazan detailing his struggle with faith in the Evangelical world. In this installment of World Cafe, Bazan gives a moving performance of songs from the new album.

Looking forward to his next album, songwriter Pete Yorn envisioned a series of male-female duets inspired by late-1960s recordings of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. For Yorn, finding today's Brigitte Bardot was easy; he called actress Scarlett Johansson to see if she would collaborate — and she said yes.

Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor demands the utmost from the performer in musical as well as technical terms. It's a piece that in the best performances can spark a powerful emotional experience in the listener.

A Mexican duo living in Dublin, Rodrigo y Gabriela just released an album called 11:11, which pays tribute to the pair's heroes

Singer-songwriter Diane Birch has all the trademarks of a seasoned veteran. On her first album, Bible Belt, Birch skillfully blends soul, rock and pop; the results have attracted rave reviews. Hear her in a session on World Cafe.

Vanderslice has released an album nearly every year this decade, and his latest is his most inspired so far. See him perform acoustic versions of his newest songs in this Tiny Desk Concert.