Weekend Review : Pop and Music : Alpha Blondy Serves Up a Mix of World-Beat Reggae, American Soul

The Ivory Coast reggae singer Alpha Blondy has been handed the mantle of Bob Marley by many fans and critics, but at the Music Machine on Friday he seemed just as comfortable wearing the famous cloak of James Brown.

Ever the showman, the thick-voiced singer yowled like Brown, took extended offstage breaks during nearly every song like Brown, and infused his loose, world-beat reggae with shots of American soul, as well as such disparate styles as Cream-like heavy psychedelia and Jamaican ska.

Singing in English, French and a number of African dialects, Blondy delivered politically oriented material from his new “Masada” album with verve and authority, then dropped the serious tone for many party-flavored numbers.

Though Blondy’s music is certainly different from anything made in this country, perhaps what most set the performance apart from a typical American club date before a crowd of cognoscenti was its religious fervor.

He invited Jesus Christ to join him onstage for one number the way Southside Johnny used to announce a surprise appearance by Bruce Springsteen, and he frequently counseled that faith could help solve the world’s woes, from AIDS to racial prejudice. The spirited air of a revival meeting that permeated the night (his first of two at the Music Machine) was difficult for even the most hardened agnostic to resist.