A Very Varied Menu at Tom Schnabel’s ‘Cafe L.A.’

Tom Schnabel was a world music guru before world music became a trend. His “Morning Becomes Eclectic” shows on KCRW-FM (89.9), from 1979 to 1990, provided the first introductions many Southlanders had to such artists as the Gipsy Kings, Cesaria Evora, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and dozens of other global performers.

“I’ve always liked many different kinds of music,” says Schnabel. “And I’ve been especially drawn to music with rich performance values, which is almost always true of world music. We helped put African music on the map in Los Angeles. We had to get the first Ladysmith Black Mambazo album from South Africa. And we were quite successful with reggae music as well.”

Schnabel left the show in the early ‘90s to take over A&M; Records’ Horizon label and develop a world music series. But the plans stumbled on the company’s sale to PolyGram and the then-recessionary environment of the record business. He returned to KCRW to create yet another much-listened-to weekend program of music from around the world, “Cafe L.A.”

“To find the jewels in music,” says Schnabel, “you have to cut away the rock--no pun intended. That goes for the record business as well as radio. And that’s what we’re digging for on ‘Cafe L.A.,’ both in the records we play and in the live performances we present.”

Schnabel also has moved beyond simply serving as an informative provider of unusual sounds. The Trance Planet series that he produces for Triloka Records now has reached three installments, extending his eclectic programming philosophy into fascinating collections of world music.

“I tend to get bored with many compilation albums,” he says. “But I knew that if I programmed in a way that really reflected the enormous diversity of music that’s available from around the world, that the albums would sustain interest. And I can listen to them even now and still find the tracks fascinating to hear.”

* “Cafe L.A.,” KCRW-FM (89.9), Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. “Trance Planet 3,” Triloka Records. All three Trance Planet albums will be released later this year in a boxed set.

Folk Archives: Alan Lomax’s pioneering work in gathering and preserving folk and traditional music in North America, England, Scotland and Europe resulted in an enormous body of work, much of it representing the first important exposure for the music of the world.

In recent years, only a few of Lomax’s seminal field recordings have been available. Rounder Records is making a significant effort to repair that gap with the creation of “The Alan Lomax Collection,” which features reissues of out-of-print discs as well as new material from the Lomax archives.

The initial seven releases include, among others, a sampler as well as individual collections examining “Ballads and Breakdowns,” “Delta Country Blues, Spirituals, Work Songs & Dance Music” and “Bad Man Ballads.”

Apple Bound: New York gets a chance to experience L.A.’s Samba Queen firsthand when Christiane Callil and her Brazilian song and dance revue, “The Girls From Ipanema,” open in New York later this month. After two years as the Southland’s best and brightest Brazilian act, the ensemble opens an extended run at Manhattan’s Tatou Club on April 24. Callil performs on Sunday at the Ash Grove on a bill that also features guitarist-singer Kleber Jorge (currently touring with Sergio Mendes).

* Ash Grove: (310) 656-8500; Tatou: (212) 753-1144.

Around Town: Club Caprice (formerly the Strand) in Redondo Beach features Strunz & Farah on Saturday and Black Uhuru on Wednesday, (310) 316-1700. Black Uhuru is also at the Ventura Theatre tonight, (805) 648-1936, and the Coach House on Monday, (714) 496-8927. . . . Senegalese singer-guitarist Ismael Lo, one of African music’s most vital synthesizers of pop and traditional sounds, performs at the Virgin Megastore, 8000 Sunset Blvd., on Monday at 7:30 p.m., (213) 650-8666. . . . The Madagascar roots band Tarika is at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library on April 12, (714) 248-7469, and the Ash Grove on April 13. . . . African-Belgian singer Marie Daulne brings her new version of Zap Mama to the Veterans Wadsworth Theater on April 13. . . . LunaPark’s always attractive world music schedule includes Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca’s blend of Zairian soukous and Cuban salsa on April 12, Meia Noite & Midnight Drums with their Brazilian percussion on April 19, and Sukay (high-energy Andean music) and Mango Bang’s Afro Cuban mambo on April 26. (310) 652-0611.