Brazilian maracatu drumming is to the Recife and Olinda Carnival scenes what the second-line beat is to good old New Orleans Mardi Gras, so it was only a matter of time before the two styles merged.

This EP represents a collab between Mardi Gras Indian funkateers Cha Wa, the new century’s answer to The Wild Tchoupitoulas, and world-music darlings Nation Beat, already known for infusing those maracatu rhythms with funk and blues and zydeco.

As you’d imagine, the percussion is Afro-Cuban gone panoramic, a pan-cultural groove that comes down hard on the one but fills up the cracks with hipswaying sass, and both groups have wisely stuck to each country’s native classics, which is why “Casa Diamante” and “Canto da Ema” exist in seamless harmony next to “All on a Mardi Gras Day” and “Golden Crown.”

Oddly, only “Liza Jane” sounds one-dimensional, merely halting the brass-band mayhem for a Latin breakdown, but there’s plenty of time to fix that between now and the Western Hemisphere’s spring bacchanals.

If you ever wanted to experience carnival celebrations on both sides of the Equator at once, this is the closest you’re ever gonna get without a plane ticket.