A fascinating array of international stars and upcoming artists were just a part of the allure of the fifth Reeperbahn Festival--held in Hamburg, Germany, late last week, and offering a fascinating glimpse to American eyes of how music can be celebrated on a worldwide level.

The three-day event, held in Hamburg's internationally famous Reeperbahn district, offered the same mixture of talent, art, and multimedia panels that Austin's more celebrated annual South By Southwest conference regularly provides, but its smaller scale--an estimated 20,000 were in attendance--allowed more access to artist performances and the  compelling atmosphere of the Reeperbahn. The latter, historically famous for its red light district, its teeming masses of colorful pedestrians, and its reputation, justifiably, as the birthplace of the Beatles as a live band, could not have provided a better backdrop for a 21st Century music festival.

The comparatively low-key stable of stars in attendance was in itself

Few albums bear a more deserving title than Guitar Heaven...The Greatest Guitar Classics Of All Time, the latest set from legendary musician Carlos Santana--the man whose grimacing facial expressions while wrenching sweet notes from his own guitar may be one of the most iconic and lingering images from 1969's historic Woodstock Festival.

The career that Santana launched since that time has been likewise legendary, filled with critical and commercial peaks that have been rarely equaled by any of his contemporaries. Whether via the aesthetic beauty of such classic early Santana albums as Abraxas, Caravanserai and Borboletta, or the commercial triumph of 1999's Supernatural, the guitarist has consistently crafted works that have resonated both with critics and the general public--a rarity--for over 40 years.

And now comes Guitar Heaven...The Greatest Guitar Classics Of All Time, a lofty collaboration pairing Santana with some of today's most popular vocalists and featuring a wealth of

With her icy '80s synthpop sound, theatrically shrill vocals, and asymmetrically moussed flaming coif, 21-year-old androgyne Elly Jackson (aka one-half of Brit electro duo La Roux) may have been one of the most interesting new singers to come out of Britain last year, but she seemed an unlikely Stateside pop star alongside the current chart's assortment of blatantly sexy pop vamps (Beyonce, Katy, Ke$ha, et al). And with a sound as unapologetically retro and Anglo as an '80s new wave cover band (comparisons to Yaz, the Eurythmics, and Altered Images have abounded), U.S. success for Elly and her La Roux partner, Ben Langmaid, seemed especially far-fetched.

But incredibly, a year after their self-titled debut album (one of 2009's best releases) came out, that's exactly what has happened. La Roux's breakthrough single, "Bulletproof," recently hit number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 6 on the Billboard Pop Songs chart, and number 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart (it

When Lady Gaga cried on the first night of this year's Lollapalooza Festival, she told the tale of her infamous Lollapalooza performance from 2007 when she played as an opener and left the crowd's jaws dropped. With so many headlining bands this year slotted during the same time (Gaga vs. The Strokes, Green Day vs. Phoenix, Soundgarden vs. Arcade Fire), seeing indie bands during the day was a great way to get the most buck out of the fest. Here's a list of Yahoo! Music's top 10 emerging artists that could very well get to near-Gaga headlining fame in the future.

1) Wild Beasts - This art-pop-rock outfit's dramatic tempo shifts and shimmering guitar lines can channel a more glam rendition of what Grizzly Bear has accomplished--maybe even some Fleet Foxes (without the sweeping, cheesy, Disney-forest vibes). But what distinguishes this English foursome is the shrillest, most androgynous falsetto from frontman Hayden Thorpe, rigorously tempered by bassist/vocalist Tom Fleming's erratic