Animated music to keep you animated

My first live experience with African music came as a 12-year-old watching Nigeria`s Afro Kings, a percussion-heavy ensemble whose leader performed a conga solo while doing summersaults across the stage.

It was a remarkable display of showmanship, and it instantly transformed the Afro Kings` sound and image into an indelible memory. The albums reviewed here may lack that visual impact, but the animated music they contain should have you bouncing with delight regardless.

Sangre De Un Don: Herencia Afro Peruana, Peru Negro, Times Square Records.

Afro-Peruvian music owes a large debt to the restrictions on conventional instruments imposed by the country`s Spanish colonizers. The result was the advent of such unique creations as the cajo`n (a wooden box-cum-seat that is played by hand), the quijada de burro (literally the lower portion of a donkey`s jaw, the teeth of which vibrate when struck) and the cajita (a small, trapezoid-shaped box that opens and closes while played with a stick).

Peru Negro uses all of these unlikely instruments and more. But what makes this two-woman, six-man ensemble so notable is the skill and vitality it brings to ballads and such dance styles as the chicha and the 12/8-time festejo.

Moreover, in Elina del Rio and Monica Duenas, Peru Negro boasts two singers every bit as good as Susana Baca, their country`s best-known vocalist to make an impact here. On this 12-song album, the group mixes stirring original compositions, including the swaying, hula-like "Mama Nague," with vibrant versions of such Peruvian classics as "Ruperta" and "Samba Malato." What results is a delight in any language.

Cruzando El Rio, Radio Tarifa, Nonesuch Records.

The third album by Spain`s Radio Tarifa extends this maverick trio`s synthesis of ancient and contemporary music from Spain, North Africa and the Middle East. The introduction of electric guitar and the oboe-like cromorno brings a new dimension to Radio Tarifa`s intricately woven compositions.

One piece, "Si J`ai Pedru Mon Ami," dates to the 15th century, but doesn`t sound remotely dated. And Fain S. Duenas` guitar solo, in 6/8 time, on the Arabic-meets-Andalusian nuba should make Bill Frisell and Robert Fripp turn green with envy. The other nine selections are equally alluring. Earthy and exotic, foreign and familiar, Radio Tarifa sounds like nothing else in this world.

Full Circle/Carnegie Hall 2000, Ravi Shankar, Angel Records.

Recorded last October at the same New York concert venue Ravi Shankar first performed at in 1938, "Full Circle" is a double-treat for fans of Indian music. It features the man hailed as the godfather of world music, performing with his daughter and protege, Anoushka. Together, these two sitar masters glide and soar through two ragas that each last about 30 minutes.

Their shared command of tension and release is as palpable as the joy this father-and-daughter team brings to every note they play. The unhurried pace allows the listener to appreciate the music`s emotional depth and the ingenuity of the alternately relaxed and fleet-fingered improvisations. Granted, six decades separate the 81-year-old Ravi from his 19-year-daughter, but when their fingers merge on the strings of their respective instruments, time nearly stands still.

Vol. 3, New Congo Square. Los Hombres Calientes: Irvin Mayfield & Bill Summers, Basin Street Records.

With 23 songs that together last nearly 80 minutes, the third and newest album by the New Orleans-based Los Hombres Calientes doesn`t skimp on quantity. The quality of the group`s music is no less impressive. So is the stellar roster of guests who join veteran percussionist Bill Summers, young trumpet sensation Irvin Mayfield and their five-piece band. It includes members of Cuba`s Irakere and Jamaica`s Burning Spear bands, along with musicians from Brazil, the Dominican Republic and across North and South America.

Performing in various combinations, they fuse a variety of African-inspired rhythmic approaches with jazz, funk and Latin styles to create a pan-national celebration of sound and styles. Other groups might sound disjointed or pretentious jumping from the brassy Big Easy strut of "New Second Line" to the skankin` reggae groove of "Jah Rastafari," or from the gospel-driven rave-up "New Bus Stop" to the Latin-jazz-flavored "El Negro." But these Hombres excel in each instance, making their idiomatic transitions seem natural no matter how exotic they might read on paper.

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: George Varga