Youssou N'Dour

Before "7 Seconds," his hit duet with Neneh Cherry on the otherwise mediocre The Guide (Wommat), Americans knew Youssou N'Dour, if at all, as Peter Gabriel's duet partner on "In Your Eyes." But in Senegal -- indeed, in much of Africa -- N'Dour is perhaps the most famous singer alive. Blessed with a voice as expressive as it is spectacular, N'Dour combines the soaring lyricism of the West African singing-historian griots with the fluttering virtuosity of the great Islamic vocalists. As a singer, he has no peer. But there seemed to be no satisfactory way to explain him to the Western marketplace. Not only does N'Dour sing almost exclusively in Wolof, his native language, but the m'balax -- literally, "rhythmic accompaniment" -- sound he has developed seems nowhere near as pop-friendly as Fela's Afrobeat, or the South African mbaqanga Paul Simon co-opted.

Consequently, even though there's much to rec-ommend the recordings N'Dour intended for his African audience -- Inédits and the wonderfully moving Immigrés -- the potential for crossover seemed maddeningly elusive. The Lion augmented the singer's own Étoile de Dakar with members of Peter Gabriel's band, but this tended to dilute the music. Set, by contrast, fleshed out N'Dour's band with synth sequences and funk licks without crowding its own sound, thereby enlivening the group's indigenous groove while creating a middle ground for his singular vocals. N'Dour took further strides toward graceful fusion with Eyes Open, in which he was able to deliver a track as instantly accessible as "Africa Remembers" while holding on to the rhythmic exoticisms of material such as "Yo Lé Le (Fulani Groove)."

After "7 Seconds" was all over American radio, N'Dour could have declared his conquest of world pop over. Instead, he went home to Dakar and built the Xippi studio, which has quietly turned into an artist-owned enterprise to rival Lee Perry's famous Black Ark. Most of the Xippi recordings that reach the U.S. market are N'Dour's own, but they are masterpieces of modern Afropop production and arrangements. N'Dour is now more precisely in tune with folk bases and visionary about urbane energy than anyone except possibly Salif Keita. Joko (The Link) and especially Nothing's in Vain (Coono du réér) are where to begin the new, heady N'Dour trip. They have rich sound, varieties of passion, and complexity of tone on a par with classic rock or R&B albums. Best of the '80s is a waste-free display of the toil and thrills that led up to N'Dour's current high plane. 7 Seconds: The Best Of offers the smartest possible case for N'Dour's more Westernized works. He's too clever a performer and too transcendent a vocalist for it to be less than sturdy fun -- but it's not the material that will make him last. Finally, The Rough Guide to Youssou N'Dour & Étoile de Dakar is the logical listen after the three previous albums, and may outlast them all as a favorite. Mbalax takes form and takes flight here, and with guidance from N'Dour's current work, you can hear his primal tunes mesh with his primo band. He creates a country's modern pop sound, with pattering tama drums, scampering electric guitars, and his arcing voice all filled with the rush of discovery and the flash of stardom. (J.D. CONSIDINE/MICHAELANGELO MATOS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide