1. Baaba Mal (Senegal) - Yoolelle Maman - 4:20
Baaba Mal is dominant in Senegalese music and famous worldwide for his work in the interests of Africa. Look him up on You Tube. This song is from the album Missing You, in which Baaba returns to his roots in a Senegalese village. Here's an in depth review: "a spectacular hybrid of West African styles".

2. Angelique Kidjo (Benin) - Sedjedo - 2:59
Angelique Kidjo has performed with Dave Matthews, Branford Marsalis, Carlos Santana and many others. This song is from the outstanding Putamayo album Acoustic Africa from 2006. About the song, the liner notes say, "Remove all your jewels and don't be afraid to show the natural shape of the body that Mother Nature gave you."

3. Nino Galissa (Guinée Bissau) - N’Kano - 4:38
From wambara.com, "Nino Galissa is an authentic griot mandinga from Guinée Bissau. He is a kora player and a descendant of a griot family. He write his own compositions in a clear, bright style, exploring all the technical possibilities and the tradition's melodic beauty that preserve the magic and the emotion in the music of the mandinga tribe." His home page seems to be in Portuguese only.

4. Dobet Gnahoré (Ivory Coast) - Palea - 3:36
A mesmerizing dancer - she, Habib Koité and Vusi Mahlasela performed in Boston in 2006 - Dobet Gnahoré mixes the musical traditions of Ivory Coast mandingo, Congolese rumba, and Cameroonian ziglibiti. This song, originally from Putamayo's Acoustic Africa (see above for cut 2) is about passionate love: "I will follow you wherever you will go ... Without you I cannot survive." Dobet's fine 2007 album Na Afriki also has this song. Her home page.

5. Bidinte (Guinée Bissau) - Boneca di Oss - 3:59
Jorge da Silva Bidinte is from a small coastal city and has traveled worldwide for music, to Cuba, Portugal, Spain and elsewhere. Here is a brief review.

6. Boubacar Traoré (Mali) - Solo de Kar Kar - 3:15
Boubacar's nickname "Kar Kar" comes from the Mali for "dribble, dribble" in soccer. He was an excellent footballer in his youth and became a musical star in Mali in the 1960s. His long life has had many ups and downs. A biography.

7. Luyinda Wasula (Uganda) - Naasira Amabujj - 4:35
Here's an irresistable reggae beat from urban Kampala, sung in Luganda, Uganda's primary indigenous language. I have not yet found the meanings of the lyrics. This song is from Luyinda's album El Kibo, available at Stern's music.

8. Afrigo Band (Uganda) - Jimmy - 5:33
The Afrigo Band is Uganda's longtime premier musical group. Their music is featured in the 1992 film "Mississippi Masala" and in the 2006 film about Idi Amin's Uganda, "The Last King of Scotland". An interview with one of the band's vocalists and dancers. A You Tube video.

9. Dama and D’Gary (Madagascar) - Aza Manadini - 3:00
This cut comes from Dama and D'Gary's excellent album The Long Way Home, recorded in Louisiana in the early 1990s and available track by track on eMusic and Amazon.

10. Diogal (Senegal) - Sore - 3:56
This cut is from the Putamayo Acoustic Africa album as are cuts 2 and 4. Diogal (pronounced "joe-GAL") has lived mainly in Paris since the late 1990s. This song is about an immigrant (sore, "so-REE") thinking nostalgically of his ancestral places and values.

11. Hijas del Sol (Equatorial Guinea) - E Sso Kko - 2:54
The "Daughters of the Sun" of Bantu heritage are from the island of Bioko off the coast of Cameroon. Here is a detailed biography on Calabash.

12. Joe Nina (South Africa) - Angeke Ng’phinde - 4:07
Makhosini Henry Xaba, aka Joe Nina, started his professional music career at age 16. Here is an outstanding biography on Calabash.

13. Assab (Ethiopia) - Negisti Lebeya - 2:52
Rare urban music from Ethiopa. Visit Assab on MySpace. Because Assab is also a port on the Eritrean coast that's often in the news, it's hard to find information through Google about this Assab, the musician.

14. Zap Mama (Congo DRC, Belgium) - Guzophela - 2:31
Always interesting but sometimes inaccessible music from Belgium and Africa. From Zap Mama's home page: "... [an] eclectic mixture of styles somewhere between soul, gospel, pygmy song and Afro-Cuban rhythms. With the help of gestures and an inexhaustible imagination, the five acrobatic female voices take the audience on a wondrous world journey". They're touring the US in late 2007 with stops in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Boston.