Late to the party but sod it.
Jungle Beat is immensely fun for what it is. It's the weird offspring of a rhythm-action game and a platformer, and it works surprisingly well: presuming you're playing with the bongos, you tap a bongo to move in that direction, tap it repeatedly to run, tap both to jump and then just follow the stage's in-game rhythm to barrel (literally) though enemies and earn bananas. It's very well-crafted and works a lot more efficiently than you'd imagine in theory, and is definitely worth it if you can find it on the cheap.
That said, as has already been mentioned, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Rare canon. Just forget that it's the same series: there is no overlap at all between the Country games and Jungle Beat, save for the title character. It's honestly not as endearing or as memorable as the Country games (it lacks the same quirky charm and knowing sense of humour, not to mention the levels are designed with rhythm and linear action in mind as opposed to exploration and intricacy), but it does try to establish its own niche and that's to be respected. I won't say "it's not Country ergo it's terrible", but it does lack that certain Country spirit.
All the same, it's worth playing. If nothing else, it'll offer some lighthearted entertainment for a few hours.