World Christmas (various artists)
AllMusic; Amazon; Discogs; Wikipedia

This came out in 1996. It's not really a part of the "Very Special Christmas" series (it's from a different record label), but it was inspired by that series, and it too benefits the Special Olympics. I wish the album would say which country (or countries) each song is from, but it doesn't, so I have to do my best looking up the artists on Wikipedia.

1. "Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes (Angels We Have Heard on High)", by Papa Wemba and Mino Cinelu: The artists are Congolese and French, respectively, so the song is in two different languages, I think. I'm not sure. The whole song is decent, anyway.

2. "We Three Kings", by Bob Berg, Jim Beard, and Arto Tuncboyacyan featruing Zakir Hussain: There are American, Indian, and Armenian-American artists here, but it's essentially instrumental. It's pretty nice.

3. "Go Tell It on the Mountain", by John Scofield and The Wild Magnolias: Scofield is an American jazz musician, and the Magnolias are a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. (I didn't even know that as a thing.) The song is in English, but it's never been a song I cared much about. It's an interesting rendition, though.

4. "Zan Vévédé (O Holy Night)", by Angélique Kidjo: The artist is Beninese. She's one of very few people on this album whom I had heard of before. I definitely like this rendition. I think the language is French, or she might sing in more than one language, I'm not sure.

5. "Michaux Veillait/Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", by The Caribbean Jazz Project: I kind of lost track of whether or not I heard any singing or just instrumentation. I'm guessing the latter. I also don't recall hearing anything that sounds like the melody of "Santa Claus..." so, I dunno. But it sounds nice, anyway. Which is good, because at 7:40, it's the longest track on the album.

6. "Natal", by Cesaria Evora: The artist is from Cape Verde, so I think the language is Portuguese. Also a bit of English. The song is not at all familiar to me, but it's okay.

7. "Ave Maria", by Deep Forest and Lokua Kanza: The artists are French and Congolese, respectively. I heard very little that sounded anything at all to me like "Ave Maria", which is disappointing, but it wasn't bad.

8. "We Wish You a Merry Christmas/Rhumba Navideñe", by Vocal Sampling: They're an a cappella group from Cuba. The song is mostly in Spanish, I guess. It's not bad.

9. "Boas Festas", by Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso with Eliane Elias: The artists are Brazilian, so they sing in Portuguese. The song is completely unfamiliar to me, but it's nice.

10. "Cascabel (Jingle Bells)", by Yomo Toro and the Boricua All Stars featuring Ruben Blades and Dave Valentin: Toro is Puerto Rican, I don't know about the others. I guess the song is in Spanish. Very little of it sounds anything like "Jingle Bells", but it's fun.

11. "Twelve Days of Christmas", by Mino Cinelu and Dianne Reeves: The artists are French and American, respectively. This is the second longest song on the album. It's actually more spoken than sung (in English). The melody is nothing like the song usually sounds. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, it sounds nice I guess, but... it's just not for me.

12. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", by Joshua Redman and Marcus Miller: The artists are both American. It's mostly instrumental, with some vocals by Lalah Hathaway. At least the melody is recognizable. It's nice.

13. "Navidad", by Gipsy Kings: The band is from France, but they sing in Spanish. The song is completely unfamiliar to me. But it's okay.

Well, I feel like I haven't had much to say about any of the songs. There's a lot of jazz, but a lot of other stuff, too. All the songs sound good, but none of them feel very memorable, to me. This is definitely an album I think I'd enjoy more if I weren't trying to write about it, and if I weren't trying to think of it as a Christmas album. So I feel bad that my rating isn't higher.

See also A Very Special Christmas: Volume 1 * Volume 2 * Volume 3 * Volume 5