Mali’s Habib Koite ranges all over the map

Mali’s extraordinarily rich musical culture has produced yet another major international star in guitarist-singer Habib Koite. In the past five or six years he has performed in every imaginable setting, entrancing not only his dedicated Malian listeners but fans of blues, jazz and pop as well.

Koite’s performance Thursday at the Skirball Center was a convincing display of why he has been so successful. Positioned at the front and center of his six-piece band, he was a musical chameleon, leading his players through a program of diverse but consistently engaging music.

Much has been made of Koite’s affection for flamenco music and the blues. (He toured with Eric Bibb during the Putumayo World Music label’s “Mali to Memphis” tour in 1999 and jammed with Bonnie Raitt during his 2000 visit to the Southland). And those elements surfaced from time to time, especially during one number simmering with the dark turbulent rhythms of a Delta blues.

Other colorful currents flowed through Koite’s program, sometimes with startling facets: a passage in which he suddenly tossed off a phrase that could have been played by jazz guitarist Joe Pass; a touching singer-songwriter solo number, done without his backup players; groove tunes mixing backbeat rhythms with the chattering of talking drums.

Koite’s program was further enhanced by his warm and amiable stage manner. At one point he interrupted the show to make an impassioned pitch for Oxfam America’s Make Trade Fair program in support of fair trade policies with developing nations (such as Mali). The brief moment afforded a further, in- sightful perspective on this musically eclectic, socially involved artist.