The Rough Guide To African Song: A Thrilling Immersion

Hip travelers have long appreciated the savvy guidance given in books under the Rough Guide imprint. Now world-music fans have a smart line of discs carrying that same trademark. Although the ties between the books and CDs are loose -- the books sometimes refer to clubs where musicians on these compilation discs can be heard -- the strong link is a freewheeling appreciation of diverse cultural styles that should appeal to open-minded wanderers. Listening to the three African discs in this series -- The Rough Guide to the Music of Kenya and Tanzania, The Rough Guide to the Music of Zimbabwe, and The Rough Guide to West African Music, all on the UK's budget-priced World Music Network label -- offers a thrilling musical immersion in many Africas.

Africas? The plural is correct, since it's absurd to package so many diverse musical expressions under one label. The Kenya/Tanzania disc is a case in point. There are flashy examples of electric-guitar twinings, chattery percussion, and high vocal harmonizing, as exemplified by Afropop dance bands like D.O. Misiani & Shirati Jazz. Then there are groups like the Culture Musical Club, who sound like an Islamic choral group from anywhere in the Middle East -- the antithesis of a pop-music sound. There are also delightful oddities like Henry Makobi, a bluesy acoustic guitarist and folk composer who sounds like an African parallel to Mississippi John Hurt. All of which is a reminder that East African music takes from the East, the West, and all points between, adding to these borrowings traditional African work and dance rhythms as well as lyrics reflecting local lore.

The Zimbabwe compilation also modulates between Afropop-flavored sounds (the electrifying singer and songwriter Thomas Mapfumo, who's considered Africa's equivalent to Bob Marley in terms of lyrical militancy, opens the disc) and traditional fare. Again surprisingly offbeat selections make their mark. Black Umfolosi, an a cappella group along the lines of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, offer precise and dramatic harmonizing. Machanic Manyeruke & the Puritans, as their name might suggest, present African gospel music full of electric-guitar figures, suggesting an unpuritanical relish in erotic beats. Zimbabwe's most famous traditional instrument, the thumb piano or mbira, can be heard in the hands of various artists who make its gentle metallic plunks sound like raindrops percussing on zinc roofs or palm fronds.

The West African disc is the weakest of the lot -- not because the variety or quality of the music wavers, but because it fails to deliver on the promise of its title. How can a West African compilation completely neglect Nigeria -- home of Fela, Africa's supreme political funkster, and of juju music? This is tantamount to a US blues collection that omits Mississippi. Half of the 12 selections are from Mali, another quirk. But remember that the "rough" in Rough Guide can mean "unfinished" as well as "tough." These three Rough Guides on disc are faithful to both meanings, making for a spirited introduction to many Africas worth exploring in depth.

-- Norman Weinstein