I recently presented three programmes for BBC Radio 3, of which the first two included several tracks previously played on the World Service. But this week’s WS programme reverses the process and includes several first introduced on Radio 3. It’s surprising the extent to which the brain can hold onto a sense of what was played on which series, but I do keep a master list to double-check. In any case, I regularly look at the master to consider which tracks to give a second chance to please you.

Justin Adams is one of the UK’s most adventurous musician-producers, having played guitar with Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart (in the early 1990s) and Robert Plant (since 2002) and produced albums by both Lo’jo and Tinariwen (whom he ‘discovered’ at the inaugural Festival of the Desert). His own debut album The Desert Road was impressive, its only weakness being his own vocals. This time he has invited Gambian musician Juldeh Camara to join him and his regular percussionist Dawson Miller. Juldeh has been involved in several different projects in the past, but never sounded as good as he does here. The outcome is one of the best albums of the year, especially welcome as a potential lure for those hard-to-convince rock fans who don’t like to stray too far from what they are already familiar with.

There are tracks on Manu Chao’s new album that could be classified as rock too, but I favour those which defy easy categorisation, especially ‘A Cosa,’ Manu’s first recording with a lyric partly in Italian.

The title of the retrospective compilation The Voice of Lightness is an apt description of the Congolese singer Tabu Ley’s style, especially in the first decade of his career. But as attractive as his vocals are, my ears are continually drawn to the guitar playing of Dr Nico, who was with him in both African Jazz and African Fiesta, before Tabu Ley went off on his own. This is the third in a series on Sterns Records of 2xCD compilations of African material now owned by Syllart Productions. Coming soon: Bel Canto, the best of Mbilia Bel, the singer whose career was launched by Tabu Ley Rochereau in the early 1980s. I wonder if they’ll do one for Dr Nico.

Mayra Andrade’s delightful album was released by BMG France last year, but is now available in the UK on Sterns.

We had hoped that Sevara would come over to Europe to do interviews in support of her new album, but she’s unable to come for the best of reasons as she’s expecting her first child soon. We wish her well and hope her satisfying second album for Real World doesn’t disappear.

I’m still getting to grips with the idiosyncratic choices on The Very Best of Ethiopiques, the principle of which seems to have been to include one instrumental for every two vocal tracks. ‘Ewnet Yet Lagegnesh’ is listed on the CD cover as being by a singer, about whom Francis Falceto writes in the sleeve note. But as you can hear, no vocalist is present on the track, so we’ve credited it to saxophonist Tesfa Maryam Kidané.

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