From a "Chinese traditional bluegrass punk sound" to a "fusion of brass band and Indian wedding group," the sixth-annual Madison World Music Festival presents global music with an ear for the eclectic and an eye on entertaining.

A dozen acclaimed acts, seldom seen in the United States, fill the festival at the Memorial Union Terrace and Willy Street Fair from Thursday to Saturday. All events are free, except for one: Mystical Arts of Tibet, playing at the Union Theater Saturday night.

Any fest that jumps from Moroccan to Mongolian music may seem like a hodge-podge of international musical flavors. But the Madison festival is carefully planned and organizers have searched the world through YouTube and MySpace to uncover an impressive lineup.

UW-Madison senior Jenn Dunigan, the event's coordinator, said the festival committee began work immediately after last year's fest. Among the acts the committee booked are the Kusun Ensemble from Ghana. "It's very dance-y, very fun music," Dunigan said. "I saw a video of them and they feature two dancers who move faster than I thought was possible."

Dunigan's volunteer staff combed many press kits sent by performers' agents and listened to countless groups to form the event's roster.

The Madison World Music Festival also works with other festivals featuring world-music artists in September, including ones in Chicago, Bloomington, Ind., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Last February, representatives from each festival met to find acts each liked in order to ease tour routing for the bands.

Each fest staff picks 20 of its most-wanted acts. Then they listen to each act, usually on video from a live performance.

"Some rise to the top immediately," Dunigan said. "Some drop out immediately."

One festival urged everyone to watch the tape of a Bulgarian women's group, dressed as schoolgirls and playing punk rock. Dunigan laughed: "It was very bad."

Dunigan, a fifth-year senior majoring in history and theater, is working as a staff member for the third straight year.

"A lot of students are open to world music," she said. "So many students show up at the World Music Festival because it's free and it's at the beginning of school. When I attended for the first time, there was a whole group from my dorm that went to it. I liked Celtic music at the time and I heard a group from Nova Scotia and thought, 'This is Celtic music, but they're speaking in French.' I realized there's another world of music."

For the second year in a row, Madison World Music Festival will expand beyond the campus and present multiple acts at the Near East Side's Willy Street Fair. "It's a great partnership," Dunigan said, "and it spreads the music to another part of town."

The logistics of coordinating a dozen world-music acts is one of the biggest hurdles. Ethiopian singer Minyoshu and her band had their visas denied on Sept. 3 to enter the United States. It was too late to appeal the decision, so fest organizers booked another act.

To help each group navigate Madison, one volunteer liaison stays with the performers throughout their time here. Language barriers inevitably occur, but groups enjoy the enthusiasm from the few thousand fans who attend the festival, Dunigan said.

"We had a Latvian band and 30 older Latvians from the area came to the show. They met the band. They loved it," she added. "It's a great crowd and they appreciate the artists."

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