Cool Breezes Out of Africa

When you follow world music, you can often hear mature artists and have no idea of the traditions that influenced them or the groups in which they developed their music.

Take Salif Keita from Mali. The albino vocalist’s two Mango records melded African roots with complex arrangements and a slick, Euro-pop veneer. But what did Keita’s music sound like when he was expanding on the Malian tradition to become one of African pop’s premier singers?

Or take soukous . The style originated in Zaire during the 1950s but became so popular throughout sub-Saharan Africa that bands in other places picked up on it. How does it sound filtered through Kenyan musicians, or when it makes the jump to African musicians based in Paris?

The different aspects of an artist or style is the focus of this African edition of On the Off Beat, a periodic review of roots, ethnic and non-mainstream pop music from around the globe.

LES AMBASSADEURS INTERNATIONAL “Mandjou” Celluloid (import)

1/2 KANTE MANIFLA “Diniya” Disques Esperance (import)

TATA BAMBO KOUYATE “Jatigui” GlobeStyle (import)

“Mandjou” has been widely--and accurately--hailed as a classic African album. Les Ambassadeurs was Keita’s band before he started his solo career, but the group is so strong that even Keita’s powerful singing doesn’t overshadow his compatriots.

The title track takes off from a desert variation of the Meters’ “Fire on the Bayou” riff, while “4V” and “Balla” add Caribbean and ‘50s R&B; flavorings, respectively. This sublimely relaxed but forceful music feels like a cool breeze, undoubtedly a valuable commodity in the parched climate of Mali.

Manfila was Keita’s principal collaborator in Les Ambassadeurs, and his most recent solo album heads in the same Euro-pop direction as Keita’s Mango recordings. But Manfila can’t come close to Keita as a singer, and “Diniya” never rises above being a solid, workmanlike effort.

On the traditional side, Tata Bambo Kouyate sounds like Keita’s clone on “Jatigui”--she lays into her singing with such ferocity that you fear her vocal cords are shredding. Yet those throat-lacerating howls are incongruously juxtaposed against very precise, pristine arrangements suitable for the Royal Court of Mali . . . or Bali, because there’s such a pronounced Oriental court flavor to the music that “Jatigui” falls into the “unfathomable mysteries of world music” file.

Other possibilities from Malian artists: Jali Musa Jawara’s”Yasimika” (Hannibal) for traditional sounds and Nahawa Doubia’s “Didadi” (Shanachie) for a female singer performing contemporary arrangements that aren’t Euro-pop influenced.

1/2 PAPA WEMBA “Papa Wemba” Sterns Africa (import)

1/2 SAMBA MAPANGALA & ORCHESTRE VIRUNGA “Virunga Volcano” Earthworks

Singer Papa Wemba went to Paris and became the central figure of a scene that stressed contemporary fashions and intensified the low-key lilt of the Zairian sound. Produced by Martin Messonier, that harder electronic punch made “Papa Wemba” a major African pop album. It’s easy to hear why--Wemba’s an appealing singer, the arrangements are crisply varied and the buoyant energy of “Bakwetu” and “Bokulaka” artfully merge the traditional and the modern.

Some soukous artists migrated east--notably Kenya-based Samba Mapangala & Orchestre Virunga, whose “Virunga Volcano” was originally released in England six years ago. Their lighter attack places equal emphasis on Mapangala’s clear, piercing vocals and soukous’ trademark circular, crystalline guitar riffs. The real ace in the hole is Mapangala’s strategic use of horns for earthy, bluesy interjections--their mournful harmonizing is crucial in elevating “Maloko” to genuine classic status.