Pop Music : Afro National Packs Mild but Pleasant Punch

Who says you have to be a known quantity to draw a full house of African music fans in Los Angeles?

Originally from Sierra Leone but now based in Washington, the Afro National Band enjoyed some success in the mid-’70s, but not enough to become a recognizable name to the new breed of African pop fans. L.A. world-beat band the Bonedaddys has recorded two of the group’s songs, but the capacity audience at the Music Machine on Saturday appeared to be predominantly expatriate Africans familiar with the original recordings.

The nine-piece group’s pair of 45-minute sets built on the guitar-dominated soukous sound flavored with occasional blasts of tenor sax and a heavy percussive undertow. The songs were shorter and more compact than the African norm, but the big problem was consistency.

Afro National never really failed to develop pleasant grooves, but only occasionally did the group punch them home effectively. The crystalline lead guitar lines of Mustapha sometimes wavered, and the vocal harmonies were often ragged.

Lead singer Patricia Bakarr’s presence during the second set injected some extra energy that partially compensated for the sporadic quality of the music. But nothing particularly bothered the crowd, which greeted favorites from both 1975 (“Sonjo”) and 1990 (“King Jimmy”) with raised fists as they moved en masse on the dance floor.