1 - Cheb I Sabbah - Kinna Sohna (feat Master Saleem) - Devotion - USA/Pakistan - Six Degrees - 657036 1142-2
2 - Awadi - Sunugaal - Sunugaal - Senegal - Mr Bongo - MRBCD059
3 - Queen Ifrica - Daddy - Spring Sampler '08 - Jamaica - Greensleeves - GREWCD311
4 - Yael Naïm - Paris - Yael Naïm & David Donatien - Israel/France - Atlantic - 2564696038
5 - Karima Nayt - assez moi de toi - Karima Nayt - Algeria/Egypt/ France - deremusat - promo
6 - Melingo - Julepe en la Tierra - Maldito Tango - Argentina - Mañana - MM425009
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheb I Sabbah
An Algerian Jewish Berber, Cheb I Sabbah is a DJ and producer based in San Francisco for many years. A series of records for Six Degrees Records, each based on the music of a different Muslim region, is comparable in some ways to the Blue Asia project of the Japanese musician, Makoto Kubota. Devotion finds Cheb I Sabbah in Pakistan, musically if not literally, celebrating the Qawali music made world famous by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. As soon as I heard ‘Kinna Sohna’, I recognised its chorus and traced it to a collaboration between Nusrat and Bally Sagoo that was a stand-out on Gerry Lyseight’s path-breaking compilation, Big Noise. Unusually, the new version is as good as its predecessor, while being very different – more contemplative and haunting.

Didier Awadi
You’d think I would have learned by now, after making so many miscalculations, not to follow up on assumptions without first checking them out. Faced with an album title Sunugaal by Awadi, a rapper from Senegal, I guessed that this might be the Wolof spelling of the country’s name. Wrong again. The word refers to the small, open boats pictured on the album’s cover, which offer a perilous and often calamitous escape from poverty for the unemployed of Senegal, as they carry passengers to the Canary Islands hundreds of miles away. Awadi’s song chides the nation’s politicians for failing to deal with the country’s many problems, but I wonder how much they can do while Europe maintains its system of self-protective agricultural grants that make it impossible for African farmers and companies to compete on fair terms.

Queen Ifrica [ photo: www.reggaelifestyle.com ]
I don’t often play reggae in these World Service shows, but do check out occasional compilations in case something seems appropriate. I had not heard of Queen Ifrica or her song ‘Daddy’, and was unprepared for its chilling message about family child abuse, so clearly and simply expressed. Investigating, I learned that the song has stirred up great controversy in Jamaica, attracting messages of gratitude from people who had suffered what the song is about, as well as protests from others complaining this subject should not be aired in public.

Yael Naïm
The new album by the Paris-based Israeli singer Yael Naïm starts out with four very strong songs before sinking into anonymity. For a while, I didn’t persevere to the finish, returning to the four I liked. But I’ve found that there are two good songs right at the end, so maybe six out of 13 is as good a score as you could hope for. ‘Paris’, sung in Hebrew, is presumably an homage to her city of choice. But there I go again, making assumptions.

Karima Nayt
Karima Nayt is also based in France, having been born in Algeria and brought up in Egypt. I was sent a CD-R by a company promoting her as a live act, and am not sure there is a physical album you can buy. But you can probably download tracks one at a time and can certainly check the samples at www.myspace.com/karimanayt to confirm that she is an unclassifiable and adventurous singer.

Melingo
Listening to the new album Tango Maldito Tango by Argentinean singer Melingo, I waver from fascination to irritation as he plays around with his voice and our expectations. Seeing him live did not resolve my confusion. He’s a very theatrical performer, reminiscent of a 1950s comedian who would try to entertain customers waiting to see the girls at a strip show. But regardless of my inability to come to a final conclusion about him, Melingo sometimes hits the nail on the head, as in ‘Julepe en la Tierra’, which starts with a melody played on accordion that I recognise from a tune by Chango Spasiuk, the Chamamé musician from northern Argentina.