National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

On Wednesday night, the Copa on Congress Ave hosted the first world music showcase with a lineup that included Austin's own Middle Eastern-themed 1001 Nights Orchestra, Canadian tabla virtuoso and singer of traditional Punjabi ghazal love songs Cassius Khan, and Moscow's genre-bending percussion ensemble intuitive music orchestra. Interesting stuff, all. But it was the music conference's opening night and they were up against some stiff competition, including SXSW's first ever evening of contemporary classical music, dedicated to the works of Steve Reich – with an interview with Mr. Reich himself - and an impressive "Afropunk" showcase curated by filmmaker James Spooner (which forced me to break my vow of not seeing any bands that I could see at home in Brooklyn).

Thursday night's dancecard looked more promising. The "All Music Is World Music" showcase at Momo's was hosted by local radio station KUT and Marco Werman, of Public Radio International's The World, and offered up some of the biggest world music acts of the week. This is the second such showcase Werman has hosted and he shared some thoughts on SXSW.

"World Music continues to grow at SXSW, but not in any way that the average World Music aficionados would associate with what they know," he explained. "What SXSW does have are an ever-increasing number of artists who don't sing in English, and who challenge everyone's notions about what it is to make music in the world today. It's not ethnic. It's not copy-cats from out there. It's simply artists who are inspired to create, and create from what they know: local influences that Americans may or may not know banging up next to American influences that we may or may not like. But the overall effect is compelling and very much today."

The evening kicked off with a hard-rockin' set from Malian bluesman Lobi Traore and Dutch guitarist Joep Pelt (pictured). Their twin guitar attack was leavened with some fluid African banjo from special guest Bela Fleck. Traore and company were followed by Italy's irrepressible Vinicio Capossela, who took the stage with his band dressed in their best Spaghetti Western duds – and sounded like a cross between Tom Waits and Sergio Leone. With a Theramin. At first the audience didn't quite know what to make of him, but his loopy songs and sheer enthusiasm won the room over and by the end of his set – with Capossela dressed in full Roman Centurion's costume, and band providing an imperial fanfare – the crowd gave him a unanimous thumbs up.

After his set, a sweaty Capossela reflected on the SXSW experience over a bottle of Lone Star. "You know Austin is unique," he remarked. "There's nothing like SXSW in Italy. Where else can I come and play fake Italian cowboy music for real Texans? "

Next came Berlin-based group 17 Hippies, who manage to capture some of the dark dynamism of their hometown with a chugging, accordion-and-oboe driven mashup of Klezmer, cabaret and other central European styles. Fitting the huge group (actually, only 13, but definitely all hippies) onto the small stage was a challenge, but the band soon had the room on its feet and dancing. Of all the bands that evening, they seemed the most at home in Austin – and their merch sales seemed to reflect this: I was seeing their T-Shirts everywhere for the rest of the week (but the real trophy that eluded me was a coveted "Texans for Obama" T-Shirt).

17 Hippies were followed by Austin's own Grupo Fantasma – one of the hardest working bands at SXSW; playing almost a dozen times over 5 days. The tight 11-piece group plays an amped-up version of Mexican cumbia laced with funk and old school Latin sounds – a lot like Ozomatli without the egregious rapping and the Disney tie-ins. This is a good thing. They had me up on my feet with a killer version of Irekere's gritty '70s raveup "Bacalao Con Pan." I would end up seeing these guys over and over and I never got tired of them.

Last on the list was Louisiana zydeco stars Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, who powered through a set of originals, bayou classics and vintage soul standards that had the whole room doing the two step. The showcase's original closing act, Brazilian singer/rapper Marcelo D2 was nixed, due to visa problems, so I got my Brazilian fix elsewhere, with chilled-out Sao Paulo producer Curumin, who previewed his upcoming album with a cool set of downtempo tropical grooves.

Click here to read Part Four.