When I played tracks by DJ Dolores and DJ Click on BBC Radio 3 recently, two long-time and consistently supportive listeners protested loudly in this forum. “Awful” wrote David Flower next to the name of DJ Click, and “rubbish” next to that of DJ Dolores. Garth Cartwright agreed, grumbling, “why do u persist with this type of club fusion Charlie when u never go to clubs and aren't doing a dance show?”

It is true, I never go to clubs and my radio programmes are not billed as dance shows. But I’ve always included danceable music, even though most of my selections are made while sitting down. There has to be something beyond the beat to attract me, and this week’s programme starts with two that passed the test.

In the past I’ve found the productions of the German producer Shantel to epitomise everything that David and Garth complain about, sounding as if he switched on a dance beat and just let it run while adding stuff over the top. But several tracks on his latest album Disko Partizani sound much more organic, and I particularly like ‘Koupes (I’ll Smash Glasses)’ featuring Brenna MacCrimmon, an Istanbul-based Canadian who sings flawlessly in Turkish.

The first time I noticed the name of D J Click was on another Shantel track played here recently, from the soundtrack of The Edge of Heaven. But the French producer has been around for a while and made at least one album before this new one, Flavour, in which a dubby reggae flavour permeates most of the tracks. A previously-played track featured a Romanian opera singer’ ‘Sevglim’ is sung in Turkish by Tansay Omar.

Since the Dutch label World Connection introduced Mariza to the world, it has released albums by several other Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) artists from Africa, without finding another with comparable appeal. Hardly surprising, since Mariza is one of a kind that comes along every thirty years if you’re lucky. Ever resourceful and optimistic, the label now offers Neco Novellas, a family group from Mozambique, whose sound is a sort of all-purpose melange trying to please everybody but likely to impress few. ‘Hi Rwama’ is much the best track, and even this had to be faded early to avoid a bit of indulgent grand-standing towards the end.

Compay Segundo became widely known outside Cuba as a member of Buena Vista Social Club, but on the island, he had been celebrated for sixty years, normally performing as half of the duo, Los Compadres, his baritone taking the low harmony while Lorenzo Hierrezuelo's tenor took the lead; hence his name, Segundo meaning second (voice). As Cuban Pearls Vol 2 played away in the background, one artist following another, his was among the tracks that stood out.

On first listening to Simphiwe Dana’s most recent album I found myself wincing often and skipping quickly through it. Fortunately, I was prevailed upon to go back and listen again to the penultimate track ‘Bantu Biko Street’, which lacks the hotel-style electric piano that pervades all the others. Simphiwe is obviously a very good singer, and by all accounts a charismatic live performer. What she desperately needs is a record producer who doesn’t want to make another album to be played in the background during an evening meal .

I chose a different track by Taksim Trio as recently as March 22, and have nothing new to add here beyond identifying the musicians again:  Hüsnü Senlendirici (clarinet), Aytaç Dogan (qanun) and Ismael Tunçbilek (baglama).

If you have any comments, queries and corrections, please post them in the Forum (choose the 'Forum & Playlists' link on menu bar at the top) where they can spark off further reactions from other listener/readers.

The programme is available online for seven days after each first broadcast, linked from the World Service link in the menu bar at the top of this page.