Consumer Guide Album

Oumou Sangaré: Seya [Nonesuch, 2009]
In the '90s she was a self-made African queen on an unprecedented feminist mission--the titles of her albums from that decade translate to "women," "marriage today" and "10 kola nuts," which lest you wonder is or was the standard bride price in Mali's Wassoulou. Then she spent a dozen years raising a son and running multiple businesses, among them selling a Chinese car dubbed the Oum Sang for Malian consumption, such as it is. Her musical return to the world market translates simply "joy," and though it's unimpeachably pro-woman, it's also as expansive in mood as a Youssou N'Dour crossover. For all its 50-plus musicians, it's less varied than Youssou, though, and that's good. Sangare drew her musical authority from the cycling rhythms of Wassoulou hunting and harvesting songs, and she remains a homegirl. Nowhere is she more rousing then revving up old-time beats on two tributes to her musical forebears: the restrained "Djigui" and the unrestrained "Koroko." A−