Desert eye

Vonda Shepard

Singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard enjoyed a unique career breakthrough, shooting to fame via the hit television series 'Ally McBeal' instead of through radio airplay or relentless touring. Her early career took a downturn after the flop of her second album, the 1992 'The Radical Light, Shepard'. She then turned to the LA club network where, spotted by TV producer David E Kelly, she signed for the comedy-drama. Be prepared for an audience of bland music lovers shouting 'We Love Vonda'.

inner coast

Ikue Mori + Christian Fennesz

New York meets Vienna in a promising collision between Japanese drum machine improvisor Mori and the Pope of the Powerbook, Christian Fennesz. As a former member of no-wavers DNA and frequent collaborator with John Zorn, Mori is a familiar face on the improv circuit and her beat tapestries should work well with Fennesz's glitches. These days Fennesz clocks up more air-miles than a Eurocrat and appearances in his home town are a rarity. On the decks is Mego's other jet-setter, Peter Rehberg aka Pita.

Albita

The Lincoln Center inaugurates its annual Midsummer Night's Swing festival of outdoor dance nights with a Latin flavour. Long before the Buena Vista Social Club attracted a global audience to traditional Cuban styles, the diva who calls herself simply Albita was popularising classic 'guajaro' and 'son' music. Having become an export product for the Cuban music industry with her acclaimed 1988 album 'Son de Tahurete', Albita moved to Miami in 1993. Her 1995 album 'Dien Que' established her in the US, and she's never looked back. Watch the city swing to the sounds of old Havana.

Mary J Blige

Mary J Blige re-invented herself as a classic soul singer with last year's album 'Mary'. Since her début album went platinum in 1992, with the help of a young and little known Sean 'Puffy' Combs, the diva hasn't looked back. In fact, in the ensuing years, her bad attitude gained her as much notoriety as her songs which were a mix of R&B with hip hop beats, and the 29-year-old New Yorker's never been out of the spotlight. Her raunchiness may be toned down now but Ms Blige can certainly deliver on stage.

Volksstimmefest

The Austrian Communist Party's mini Fête de l'Humanité is held every year in the Jesuitenwiese section of the Prater. Intended as a playful mix of political education, musical entertainment and boozing, the Volksstimmefest attracts most of the local left who wander from splinter-group stall to beer tent to one of the three stages in the knowledge they are among the like-minded. Reputedly the wealthiest political party in Austria, the Communists can afford to put on an entertaining festival with multi-ethnic musical attractions including Munich's Chicks on Speed, superb Brazillian songstress Celia Mara and Irish folk from Cran.