Rough Guide to Nigeria & Ghana
With 400 ethnic groups in Nigeria alone,The Rough Guide to the Music  of Nigeria & Ghana(from theRough Guideseries)  covers a vast canvas. So it's no wonder--and probably a sensible idea--thatFela Kuti, the Nigerian  singer best known in the West, should not be included (on the grounds that his  records are ubiquitous anyway). What is included here is dominated by that  quintessentially mid-20th-century style known as highlife, best exemplified by  its undisputed king E.T. Mensah. With his old-fashioned diction and immense  charm, Mensah rides along on a gracefully Westernized instrumental sound.King Sunny Ade, who  displaced him (and who was briefly picked up by Western promoters as a potential  West African Bob Marley), prefers hard-driving rhythms and clean a cappella  choruses. But on this superb CD charm is the key element, with a multitude of  variations on local rhythms and instrumental combinations. Check out the  two-string gourdmolo, as played with brilliant panache by Captain Yaba;  or revel in some of West Africa's best-loved party tracks, including those by  C.K. Mann and Eric Agyeman. There's up-to-the-minute stuff from expatriate bands  in America, and a wonderfully atmospheric gig with the most recent highlife  king, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe.--Michael Church