The Heineken Transatlantic Festival, presented by Rhythm Foundation, returns to South Florida as the premiere local international music festival. This marks the fourth year of its running.

Four acts will headline this year's lineup, including Lenine and Javier Garcia, Nouvelle Vague, Amadou and Merriam, and Seu Jorge.

Due to our knowledge of the headlining acts, we at MPR have decided to focus on the Amadou and Merriam, and Seu Jorge shows.

For those unfamiliar with Amadou and Merriam, they are a married couple of virtuoso blind musicians from Mali, West Africa. Their music can be described as an innovative mix of Malian-style blues, French folk, Cuban son, and reggae. Their U.S. debut album released last year and titled, Dimanche a Bamako, was produced by international music sensation Manu Chao and won a Les Victoires de la Musique award, which is the French equivalent of a Grammy.

Wednesday April 26, at 8pm Amadou and Mariam will perform at the Artime Theater in Miami with their 7 piece group before heading out to the West Coast to play the Coachella Festival. Tickets are $20.00 in advance and on sale at the Rhythm Foundation website (www.rhythmfoundation.com).

As for Seu Jorge, he may seem recognizable as "Handsome Ned" from the film, "City of God," or as the guitar-playing member of Team Zissou in the film, "Life Aquatic." Either way, Seu Jorge is an ingenious samba/pop musician from Brazil. His renditions of David Bowie songs on the "Life Aquatic" soundtrack are truly a testament of his talent. Also, his debut album, "Cru" blends traditional Samba/Bossa Nova with reggae, rap, and other modern musical genres.

Friday April 28, at 7pm Seu Jorge will perform at the North Beach Bandshell in Miami Beach. Tickets are also $20.00 in advance and also on sale at the Rhythm Foundation website (www.rhythmfoundation.com).