Tonight:
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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Richard Godwin's rating
Reader rating
Description: The winners of the Radio 3 Awards for World Music come from Cape Verde, Gambia, UK, Mali, China and Spain and include Mayra Andrade, Justin Adams And Juldeh Camara, Bassekou Kouyate, Sa Dingding and Son de la Frontera.
Phone: 0207589 8212
Website: www.royalalberthall.com
Trains: Tube: High Street Kensington 
, Tube / Bus: 9, 10, 52, 360 
Extra info: Pub, Food
Tonight's most glamorous draw: Cape Verde's breezy-voiced Mayra Andrade is already making her way onto discerning playlists
Tonight's World Music Celebration, undoubtedly a highlight of the Proms season, is a timely piece of programming from new Proms director Roger Wright.
A showcase for the winners of this year's seventh Radio 3 Awards for World Music - who include Cape Verde's breezy-voiced Mayra Andrade and the Malian master Bassekou Kouyate - it comes at a time when interest in world music is at a peak.
The internet has built bridges, as have regular festival performances by bands such as the supercool Touareg group Tinariwen. We can also thank a slew of global pop stars, such as Gogol Bordello's Ukranian-born Eugene Hutz, Brazil's electro sextet CSS, or even the preppy New York band Vampire Weekend, whose guitar lines set African high-life music in a hipster context.
While the term "world music" can encompass anything from Cambodian psychedelia to Swiss alpenhorns, what its devotees are really after is that secret chord, the missing link, the sound they have never quite heard before - something that, after a while, English and American sounds cease to offer. And once you've discovered, say, the ramshackle delights of early Seventies Nigerian funk, it seems absurd to go back to a diet of potato pop.
Mayra Andrade, tonight's most glamorous draw, is already making her way onto discerning playlists. A major export for Cape Verde, a small archipelago off the west coast of Africa, she presents a unique mix of Verdean, French and Portuguese influences that's at once a delicious, jazzy confection and a woozily disconcerting trip (check out the drunken-sounding guitars of her song Tunuca). She won best newcomer award for her heady debut album, Navega.
Bassekou Kouyate, who plays a form of the blues on a sort of African desert lute called the ngoni, was winner of African artist of the year as well as album of the year for the remarkably funky Segu Blue. Live, his Ngoni Quartet are a hypnotic, charismatic presence.
Gambia's Juldeh Camara and Britain's Justin Adams - winners of the Culture Crossing award - trace a similar blues line back to Africa taking a totally different route, while China's Sa Ding Ding, by way of total contrast, blends contemporary Western beats with ancient Chinese melodies. The Spaniard Son de la Frontera completesthe line-up with his dextrous-flamenco guitar-playing. As with all Proms, you can turn up an hour before kick-off and get cheap tickets for the arena or the gallery. A whole new world for a fiver sounds like a bit of a bargain to me.
• Tonight, 7pm. Information: 0845 401 5040; www.bbc.co.uk/proms
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
