1. Toumani Diabaté (Mali) - Ismael Drame - 5:44
Toumani Diabaté plays in a wide range of musical styles, from quiet kora as in this tune to flamenco and jazz. Here's a Wikipedia article about him. His MySpace page is huge, with a fine photo in the background and a full biography. Listen to a sample of this song on Amazon.

2. Women of the Calabash (US) - Ishe Oluwa - 2:21
The Women have been together for about 30 years. They apparently perform rarely any more. Their founder was a featured percussionist on Paul Simon's landmark album Rhythm of the Saints. Here is a biography associated with their Kwanzaa (African December celebration) album. Listen to a sample of this song.

3. Dumisani "Ramadu" Moyo (Zimbabwe) - Idlala Ngami - 4:36
Dumisani Moyo, known as "Ramadu", is from Bulawayo. Here's his excellent website. He started his career with Insingizi - see cut 13 below. Through them he composed for the soundtrack of the 1992 movie Power of One (with Morgan Freeman), and he continues to perform from time to time with them. Listen to a sample of this song.

4. Rajery (Madagascar) - Vonjeo - 4:09
Here's an excellent review on Afropop of the album from which this a capella piece comes, Fanamby ('challenge'): "some of the sweetest, most polished music to be heard from this island [Madagascar] famed for sweet and polished music". This song is "a prayer from an artist to his God". Listen to a sample.

5. Children of Agape Choir (South Africa) - Lala We-Qawu - 2:18
AGAPE is an orphanage for Zulu children. The children's CD, We are Together, is the sound track for the HBO documentary of the same name available on Netflix and elsewhere. Read more on their website. Listen to a sample.

6. Toumani Diabaté (Mali) - Elyne Road - 5:03
See cut 1 above for more information about Toumani Diabaté. This beautiful tune is featured in whole on Toumani's MySpace page. You can also listen to a sample on Amazon.

7. Memeza Africa (South Africa) - Ngiyeza - 4:32
"Memeza Africa" means "Shout Out Africa!". Here is this Soweto group's website. Read more about them and listen to a sample of this song on Afrodesia MP3.

8. Abayudaya (Uganda) - Psalm 136 - 1:41
The Abayudaya ("people, aba, who are Jewish, yudaya") are a tiny community of Jews who live near Mt. Elgon in eastern Uganda. This community arose over 90 years ago when a Ugandan general, alienated because he felt he had been treated poorly by the British colonial government, moved out of Kampala and immersed himself in the Old Testament, living strictly by its precepts. When told that he was living like a Jew, he decided he was in fact a Jew. He gathered a community around him that still survives. More. Psalm 136, sung here in the Luganda language, thanks God with refrain "his love endures forever". Listen on Amazon.

9. Moussa Diallo (Mali, Denmark) - Yeelen - 4:05
Bassist Diallo's extensive website has a very detailed and interesting biography. There are numerous photos here from a live concert in Copenhagen in 2004. "Yeelen" means "brightness". Listen.

10. Andy Palacio (Belize) - Weyu Lárigi Weyu - 4:23
Andy Palacio died at age 47 in early 2008. Here's an extensive obituary that characterizes him as the person who saved Garifuna music. The Garifuna are "descendants of West African slaves who were shipwrecked in 1635 off the coast of what is now the island of St. Vincent and intermarried with local Arawak and Carib people. Garifuna villages arose on the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize. There are now an estimated 250,000 Garifuna people worldwide..." This song's name, "Weyu lárigi weyu", means "day by day". Listen.

11. Mamadou Diabaté (Mali) - Tunga - 6:31
Kora player Mamadou's website. Now 33 and based in New York City, he's performing in Africa this year and in Tamworth NH and Chapel Hill NC in early April 2009. Listen to a sample.

12. Garry Kean (US, Zimababwe, Kenya) - Thula Sana - 2:43
Garry Kean is originally from Canada. He settled in Nashville TN, where he was an evangelical minister for years. This lullaby is from his travels and musical performances in Zimbabwe during the late 1990s. He and his family, pictured here, now live in Kenya. More. Listen.

13. Insingizi (Zimbabwe) - Ungangidluli Jesu - 3:25
The Bulawayo vocal trio Insingizi includes, coincidentally, Dumisani "Ramadu" Moyo - see cut 3 above - plus Vusa Mkhaya from earlier playlists. Here's their website. They're performing in Austria in December 2008 and in Germany during the summer of 2009. Listen.

14. Children of Agape Choir (South Africa) - Thina Simunye - 2:34
See cut 5 above for more about the Children. "Thina simunye" means "we are together", as the words of the song make clear. Listen.