In Reply to: Re: Afro Pop posted by Perry on March 27, 2008 at 18:15:26:
That's quite a good list!
I've been a big fan of Busi Mhlongo ever since I met her 10 years ago. I love the polyrhythmic layers in Zulu music - which is far more advanced than fugues in classical music: the same song has several different time signatures (3/4, 12/8, 4/4, 3/2, etc) running simultaneously, sitting right on top of each other and fitting perfectly together. Everyone counts and dances to their own meter, and the resulting cycles cause really interesting "confrontations" every few bars (at the intersection of common denominators in the equations), and it culminates in a climactic ending. (Hope I'm making sense here!) My South-African ex-girlfriend told me her lyrics were amazing too.
Oliver Mtukudzi is another favourite of mine.
Malagasy village music is fun to sing along too. Couldn't find any good youtube clips but this one is close:
Salif Keita is always amazing to me:
And so is Toumani Diabate, whom I had the honor of having a Japanese dinner with with last year.
For North-African there's also Cheb Mami and Cheb Khaled and several other Khaleds from Algeria who are really interesting to listen to too.
And if you're into the jazzier vein, how about a Arabic-Jazz fusion?
Sometimes Celtic music from Bretagne takes on Arabic-tinted Maqam-like scales as well. I met these guys and watched them do some impressive improvisation for hours and hours on end.