Wearing a pink summer dress, with brown shoulder-length hair neatly clipped back from her pale white face, Marta Topferova had neither the appearance nor the name of your average Latin singer. But, as the title of this Brighton Festival concert indicated, she had the spirit.

As she sat on her wooden stool, tuning her toy-like cuatro guitar, she looked every bit the gentle folk singer but when Marta opened her mouth, the soul of South America poured out.

Deep, husky and intensely rich, her voice mesmerised as it moved effortlessly between the wandering rhythms of Cuban son, Argentinean tango and Venezuelan vals.

Although born in the Czech Republic and now living in New York, this remarkable singer dedicates herself to the folk music of South America.

Her unique interpretation of Latin rhythms, combined with her poetic expression and passion for the bittersweet yearnings of traditional music, make Topferova a powerful force in the new Latin generation.

After the distinctly feminine and folkish beauty of Topferova came the highly-charged world jazz of Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca - a stroke of programming genius from the Brighton Festival's Guy Morley.

Performing with a band of world-class musicians, their sound was fiercely tight, deliciously intricate and of a quality which quite rightly earned them a standing ovation.

Last at The Dome back in 2005, performing alongside legendary singer Ibrahim Ferrer, Fonseca has been hailed as the next generation of Buena Vista talent, but here he was much more.

With influences busting the Latin jazz box, he displayed a fever for global rhythm which saw him evolving a new era of sound as well as inheriting an awesome legacy.

At times, his Cuban grooves did cry out for the type of hauntingly beautiful vocals which his mentor Ferrer so elegantly provided.

Fonseca himself didn't really sing but accompanied songs with a melodic style of scatting.

This gave his music an interesting vocal edge but when combined with the jazz flute and smoochy keyboards, it occasionally verged on cheesy, as did his journey back to the early-Eighties for some fuzzy electro keyboards and a slightly cringeworthy singalong.

But experiencing two world class musicians side-by-side in this double headline gig was a powerful combination which presented an exciting vision of the future of Latin music.