NPR Deejay Playing to Global Ears : Radio: Georges Collinet brought American music to Africa via Voice of America show. Now he’s bringing modern African tunes to the U.S. as host of ‘Afropop Worldwide.’

Georges Collinet’s career in radio has come full circle.

As the voice of a Voice of America show broadcast for two hours a week throughout Africa since 1966, Collinet has been instrumental in bringing American music to African listeners and has become a continent-wide celebrity.

Now, as host of National Public Radio’s weekly “Afropop Worldwide” program, Collinet plays a key role in bringing to American ears the modern African music that was influenced in part by his Voice of America programs.

Produced by Sean Barlow for World Music Productions, “Afropop Worldwide”--broadcast in the Los Angeles area on KPCC-FM (89.3) Sundays at 11 p.m.--recently celebrated its fifth anniversary and is carried by 200 NPR stations nationwide.

“When we started five years ago, we had 50 stations,” the cheerful Collinet, 52, reflected recently in his Washington home studio. “I used to say to Sean that when we get to 100 stations, I will buy a bottle of good, expensive French Champagne.

“In no time we had the 100, so I said, ‘I’ll buy a case of Champagne if we ever get 200.’ In no time, bam!--we got 200 and I said, ‘Forget it!’ ”

The program is also broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in England. A Rockefeller Foundation grant will put it in Zimbabwe and up to 10 other African nations by 1994. The show publishes an annual Listener’s Guide with an extensive list of available recordings, stores, radio stations and nightclubs around the globe catering to world music.

“Afropop Worldwide” focused exclusively on African artists during its first year. Since 1990, it has also included the full range of African-rooted music, from the Caribbean to North America, Paris to Rio de Janeiro. Barlow, 36, who writes most of the shows, relies on a network of co-producers based in Europe, Africa and the United States to keep the show up to date.

A month of programs usually features one concert, two location trips and a historical or theme show. This Sunday’s show on KPCC is “Live From the World Roots Festival in Amsterdam,” to be followed by “Visit to New Orleans” Aug. 22 and “Kicking in Kingston: Current Hits in Jamaica” on Aug. 29.

“You have to show the real dimensions of African music,” Collinet said. “What’s exciting is to see the music go round and round. It’s like it goes into a jet stream, goes around and then comes back and goes blowing all over.

“Reggae’s big in Africa now and Latin music was the craze in the ‘60s. You’d see people in their tight outfits and high-heeled black santiagos (shoes) dancing away like they were real rumberos .”

“Afropop Worldwide” was the brainchild of Barlow, a Washington, D.C., native who studied West African and South Indian music and dance at Wesleyan University in the late ‘70s. In 1981, Barlow headed to Alaska, working in fishing boats and processing plants for three years to finance research trips to India and Africa.

The African trip produced a one-hour “Afropop Special” for NPR that became the pilot for the current series. Barlow proposed 13 shows; the Corp. for Public Broadcasting upped the ante to 52 and tossed in extra funding to finance field research in Africa. Barlow’s search for a host ended when Collinet contacted him.

“Georges has that warmth about him and the radio chops, plus he’d been involved in the African music scene for 25-30 years,” Barlow said in World Music Productions’ new storefront office in Brooklyn.

“He knew Franco, Rochereau and all the greats. He had stories to tell from before I was involved with the scene, so our two worlds complemented each other and we clicked personally, too.”

Born in Cameroon but raised and educated in France, Collinet came to the United States in 1960 as a student. He was influenced by the great personality deejays on R&B; radio in the ‘60s and combined that approach with a shift in musical direction for Voice of America.

“At the time, the Voice of America wanted to play more ‘sophisticated’ music, Broadway shows and classical music,” Collinet recalled. “I said, ‘Bag it,’ and started playing the soul music of the time and everybody went crazy.”

Voice of America built a studio in Paris to accommodate his broadcasts when Collinet moved to the French capital for a decade starting in 1970. He became a key figure for the African musicians who were beginning to filter into Paris to record, advising them on musical matters and lining up free studio time for recording sessions.

Currently, Collinet is pursuing two television projects--a one-hour monthly newsmagazine called “Africa the Magazine” and “Makossa,” three one-hour segments of a musical road trip from Paris to Capetown, South Africa, that Collinet described as “part MTV, part National Geographic.” He added: “There is a richness in Africa that has to be shown.”

Barlow is expanding World Music Productions beyond radio. Kanda Bongo Man’s “Live in Central Park” CD on Rykodisc is the first in a projected series of live concerts broadcast on “Afropop Worldwide” to be released commercially.

“Beyond our show, we want to help the music survive and eventually flourish in this country,” Barlow said. “I view the world music scene as a process of slowly but surely creating an audience and building a human infrastructure of journalists, local broadcasters, record store retailers and record company people.”

* The “Afropop Worldwide Listener’s Guide” is available by sending a $1.21 self-addressed stamped envelope, business size, to: Afropop Worldwide Listener’s Guide, National Public Radio, 2025 M St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20036.