Guitarist and musicologist Ben Mandelson has played a seminal role in the growth of world music. A multi-instrumentalist, Mandelson has played on albums by Magazine, the Pogues, Kirsty MacColl, Shriekback, and the Oyster Band. A member of early-80s punk/power pop band, the Amazorbacks, he toured with Billy Bragg's Blokes and currently plays guitar in Anglo-Ghanaian highlife band, Orchestre Jazira.

Mandelson's greatest impact has been made as director of London-based Globe Style Records and GlobeStyle Irish and as the producer of recordings by Varttina, Tarika Sammy, Boiled in Lead, Dembo Konte, Kausu Kuyateh and the Jali Roll Orchestra, and the Klezmatics and Tiger Moth.