VA - The Rough Guide To The Music Of Africa (1999)

Africa is a musical world unto itself, characterized roughly by an accentuated tradition of rhythm and community. And while this anthology makes no argument for the essence of African music, it's extremely entertaining nonetheless. Why shouldn't the jittery pleasures of Senegalese mbalax (Cheikh Lo and Youssou N'Dour) rub shoulders with the gorgeously laid-back Afro-Cuban grooves of Guinea's Bembeya Jazz National or Eric Agyeman's punchy Ghanaian highlife? The middle of the disc takes a swing north to check out the pentatonic Nubian style of Ali Hassan Kuban, Ethiopian soul singer Mahmoud Ahmed, and techno-Algerian Hamid Baroudi. There's also rebellious South African star Miriam Makeba at her jazziest and Zimbabwe protest singer Oliver Mtukudzi. There's much more: from Zaire, the quicksilver guitars of Mose "Fan Fan"; the Afro-Congo-Portuguese experience of Mozambique's Orchestra Marrabenta; Toumani Diabate's kora virtuosity... And it's all, as they say, good. --Richard Gehr