French popular music has long been riduculed in the English speaking world, but for six years the organizers of Vive La World! have managed to field interesting lineups for their summer United States tour.  Of course, it helps that they routinely include musicians from Francophone Africa such as Mamani Keita and DuOud.  this year, they're also presenting  Natacha Atlas, a Belgian-born Londoner who happens to be very popular  in France.

Atlas began her career in Britain's ethno-techno scene and then traveled to Cairo to record albums such as the intoxicating "Ayeshteni," which explored the propulsive, street-level Egyptian style called shaabi.  Her  new "Something Dangerous" drews on bhangra, hip-hop and dancehall raggae.  Such tracks as "Eye of the Duck" and the title tune include North African embellishments but emphasize sauntering synthbeats and interplay with the disc's many guest vocalists.  The album, Atlas's sixth solo outing also includes several  trip-hoppy ballds ( one featuring Sinead O'Connor) and a spooky cover of James Brown's "Man's World" (the follow-up to "Ayeshteni's" (the follow-up to "Ayeshteni's" novelty version of "I Put a Spell on You").  some of the exteme juxtapositions work, but this motley collection seem a detour rather than an advance.

"N'Ka Willy," which opens Mamani Keita and Marc Minelli's "Electro Bamako," suggests that the singer has spent so much tme in Parisian lougnes that she's lost track of her homeland, Mali.  But other songs achieve a balance between Keita's West African molodies and Minelli's electro-jazz, which mixes loops and samples with live instruments (both African and European).  From the near-traditional "Si Gui Te Mogoson" to the more crossed over "Macary," the most memorable tracks are the ones that are grounded in Africa

Mark Jenkins