This year's Respect Festival took a serious hit a week before it began, when news reached Prague that headliner Desmond Dekker, 64, had passed away peacefully at 4 a.m. May 25 from a heart attack. Dekker's hit "Israelites" in 1969 not only primed international markets for the Jamaican sound, but arguably also the world beat avalanche that followed on reggae's coattails.

Dekker's spirit and legacy will resonate on all the stages of this year's Respect Festival, which includes the planet's most cutting-edge purveyors of Saharan Desert Blues, Afro-beat, Klezmer and a sampling of local and legacy reggae artists.

Friday's opening night on Štvanice ostrov will offer a sultry lineup suitable for a Prague summer island night. Opening the set will be a local Czech and Slovak unit known as the Urban Bushmen, whose style, according to keyboardist Tomáš Vychopen, is "based on Jamaican roots reggae with influences of jazz, Afro-beat, dub, dancehall, soul, funk and other styles."

Following the Bushmen will be Tony Allen, the renowned "Emperor of Afro-beat" who has continued to break new ground after leaving the late Fela Kuti's band in 1979. Brian Eno once reportedly called Allen "the most important musician of the last 50 years." On Allen's 2006 CD, Lagos No Shaking, he and his crew bring Afro-beat forward in an accessible yet adventuresome mix of Nigerian funk and soul, taking the sound places that Fela Kuti only dreamed of going. For anyone interested in hearing the past and future of Afro-beat, Allen's act should not be missed.

"When I first heard them, I felt like this was the music I've been looking for all my life," is how Robert Plant described the Malian group Tinariwen to the UK Independent in 2003. With their earthy electric guitar-driven Sahara Desert Blues, Tinariwen has since continually brought the Sahara sound deeper into the frontiers of hard rock. Another glitch, though: At press time, we were informed by Tinariwen's management that the band's hometown of Kidal in Mali was the scene of fierce fighting May 23 between the Malian Army and Tuareg militias. But Tinariwen's UK office insists that while regional strife may affect the when, how and even whether Tinariwen's members can return to their country, they will be appearing at Respect. Which is very good news: Fans of the Saharan sound and guitar-driven world beat will likely find Tinariwen the centerpiece of the entire festival.

Jamaica All-Stars' legacy lineup of Justin Hinds, Skully Simms, Johnnie Moore and Sparrow Martin will finish out the evening with an authentic set of Mento, Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae.

"I just happened to have an 'out of body' experience playing for five hours straight in Krakow, Poland, with a whole room full of dancers" is how Klezmer Madness founder and lead clarinetist David Krakauer described his initiation to Klezmer. Coupling equal amounts of joy, rage and a soulful quality referred to as "doina," the Klezmer post-'70s revival has been led mostly by the American descendants of Central and East European Jewish exiles, of which Krakauer is a prime example.