With their new album  Marionette La Boum! is once again at the forefront of the boundary-crossing genre of World Roots music. La Boum! is one of the originators of the genre before the term was coined. La Boum!'s front man, Tom Salter, worked in Mali with Ali Farka Touré in
the late 80s. Subsequently he performed with Ali in England at WOMAD, as well as in Scotland and Ireland. The new album has echoes of this work but continues to cross musical frontiers to include the Folk, Latin and Jazz influences of Scottish band members - Mary Macmaster of the Poozies on vocals and harp,  Ben Ivitsky of the Eliza Carthy Band on guitar, Heather Macleod with her jazz inflections on vocals and Dougie Hudson of Salsa Celtica on percussion. The horn and vocal sections give the band a big sound live and this big sound has been boosted on Marionette by guests from the Indian band Mrigiya - Sharat Chandra Srivastava on violin and  Athar Hussein on tablas, Peatbog Faeries Iain Copeland's percussion and the voice of Eliza Carthy.

As Charlie Gillett says, the fear that World music would become a euphemism for 'third-world-rest-of-the-world-music' has proved untrue. Instead it has become a mark of distinction for the best music from anywhere. La Boum!'s new album  Marionette proves the point.

The opening song and title track of the album, Marionette, sets an exuberant carnival tone for the journey ahead, driven by the horn section and the backing vocals of the Wee Frees. The obvious Latin influence returns in the penultimate song The Sound of Leaving. Again the horn and vocal sections take us along the tracks to the dance floor. The Latin tinge in these songs recalls the Atlantic heritage that has bound the Americas, Africa and Europe in an amazing musical conversation for over a century. La Boum! cannot resist joining in.

In Shopping the beat of the dance floor continues to pulse. The lust for shopping that inspired the song also drew a good friend, Eliza Carthy, to add her distinctive voice to the chorus. Horns on top, an insistent Malian style guitar riff underneath and the percussion of Doug Hudson of Salsa Celtica and Iain Copeland of the Peatbog Faeries imbetween provide the backdrop for a showpiece guitar solo, inspired by the work of Zani Diabate, one of Mali's guitar heros.

Devil kicks off in a mellower mood, Doug Duncan, providing a trumpet solo and the Wee Frees holding forth before the whole band kick in to pull the music once again to the dance floor. The song Home brings us back to Scotland for the interplay of Salter and Ivitsky's guitar in jig time, before the musical journey takes us further a field. La Boum! invited guests from the Indian band Mrigiya - Sharat Chandra Srivastava on violin and Athar Hussein on tablas to join them on the Home to startling effect. On Power the Scottish influence is again evident in the harp playing of band member Mary MacMaster. The sound of the harp sets off another guitar tune inspired by Salter's time in Mali, where the kora is such an important instrument.

The band are in a more experimental mood on the track Believe. Ben Ivitsky's tune has its origins in a journey to Namibia when he was performing with the Peatbog Faeries. He was blown away by the rhythms he heard in the nightclubs and when given the chance to play with local musicians. What rubbed off on him has turned into the pounding drums, bass and dubbed up vocals of Believe.

In This Land Salter takes a swipe at ethnic nationalists in Scotland and claims the land for all the people who inhabit the island to the lilt of a catchy horn line. Falling sees the band in a pop-ier vein, with a tongue in cheek love song brought on by Ian Dury and the recent spate of war on the news. Bamako, the final song on the album, takes us all the way to the Malian capital where Salter was drawn into the world of the Super Rail Band in the capable hands of guitarist Djelimady Tounkara in the late 1980s. The song pays homage to the capital and the country.

Salter says of the new album:

'This band is a powerhouse and we have produced a formidable piece of work. I think we've managed to integrate what I love in Africa with what I love in cosmopolitan Scotland. Working in the past with Ali Farka Touré in Mali, Biggie Thembo in Zimbabwe and Bob Sen of Super
Diamono in Senegal it's great now to play at home. In this new album I've been working with Scottish musicians every bit as inspiring, who've made a real gem. The friends from India, England and Scotland we've invited to play with us on this album have really added important
new colours. We'll be touring the UK from Somerset to Wester Ross in April playing music from the new album.'

April 'MARIONETTE' UK tour dates

Thu 7 April SOUTH PETHERTON David Hall Arts Centre, 01460 420340, 7.30pm
£10/£9

Fri 8 April GRAFFHAM/The Empire Hall 01243 774641,7.30pm £10.50

Sat 9 April NORWICH/Arts Centre 01603 660352 8pm £10/£9

Sat 16 April GLOSSOP/Lift Club, The Globe 01457 852417 8.30pm £10/£9

Sun 17 April EDINBURGH/Bongo Club  0131 558 7604 10pm £3/free before 11pm

 Fri 22 April LOCHINVER/Village Hall 01571 844262 10pm tix price tbc

 Sat 23 April KINLOSS/East Grange Loft, 01343 850078 9pm £10/£9

 Sun 24 April INVERNESS/Hootanannys 01463 233651 9pm £5

 Thu 28 April LEICESTER/The Y   01162556507 8pm £10/£7

For more information please contact Heather on 0131 539 8239 or heather@stoneyport.com