Oumou Sangare

Moussoulou, with its political messages and synthesizer-free instrumentation, changed the rules for African pop. Sangare released it when she was just 21 years old; within a year it had sold over 200,000 legal copies in Mali alone (a phenomenal amount), and introduced the rest of the world to a ferociously political singer who could enthrall a crowd for hours.

Cut in Côte d'Ivoire the week of this Wassoulou woman's 21st birthday, it'a a crucial quantum more pop than Stern's's far-from-folkloric Women of Mali collection, where Sangare's "Diaraby Nene" stands out even more proudly than it does here. But it's also a crucial quantum less pop than copyright holder Ibrahim Sylla's usual Gallic West Africanisms, not to mention those of such world travelers as Salif Keita or Youssou N'Dour. No archivist, Sangare nevertheless avoids horn charts, synthesizers, and Afrodisco overdrive for the deliberate rhythms and acoustic hooks of her own tradition. Call it a Sahel version of early Dolly Parton--with a deeper groove. (Grade - A-)