In the so-called "world music" boom of the last several years, multitudes of ears have naturally fallen on music from different parts of Africa, and for good reason. As both a powerful root source and conduit for new hybrids, music from Africa has dispersed its influence around the world - including in the very DNA of American pop, blues and jazz. The polarity also works in the reverse direction, as contemporary African artists have interwoven outside elements.

Two fine examples of the Afro-Western cross traffic will arrive Tuesday at UCSB Campbell Hall, on a double-bill featuring Morocco-born "sintir" player Hassan Hakmoun and Mali's celebrated guitarist-bandleader Habib Koité. Hakmoun is now based in Los Angeles and collaborates with many stateside musicians.

Koité (pronounced koi-TAY) is still based in Bamako, Mali, and has enjoyed a growing global audience for the music he makes with his band Bamada, whose name refers to residents of the central city of Bamako. Their current U.S. tour comes on the heels of a new two-disc set, "Foly! Live Around the World," on the World Village label.

Born in 1958, Koité has worked diligently at music and enjoyed such varied accomplishments as slots on the WOMAD tours, and a stint with the avant-garde jazz band, Art Ensemble of Chicago. His North American status bumped up noticeably with the release of "Ma Ya" in 1999, followed by a slot on the transcontinentally flavored Mali to Memphis tour.

Mali has produced a number of strong singers and artists, including Salif Keita and Oumou Sangare, both of whom have performed at Campbell Hall in recent years. Is there something unique to the country which creates a potent musical inspiration?

In a telephone interview from his home in Bamako, Koité concurs that "there are a lot of Malian musicians onstage around the world. It's not the same with other countries in Africa. In Mali, we have a lot of musical diversity, and diversity of ethnic groups. They have different music, different scales. We have good musicians from each ethnic group."

Having studied classical guitar at the National Institute of the Arts, Koité plays a nylon-string guitar, but with a pentatonic tuning emulating the traditional harp-like Malian instrument, the kamala n' goni. His background in music has been eclectic from his youth.

Koité is in touch with the past and the evolving present, having first experienced music of older relatives who were "griots" (musical storytellers in West African cultures). But he had open ears. "When I was young, I listened to rock music and jazz-rock. I listened to rock from England, America and Europe. My generation listened to a lot of music, including Latin American music."

The resulting mixture of styles within his music creates a pan-stylistic stew, and perhaps a more generally accessible and familiar sound to audiences.

But, he says, "I don't try to mix (styles). I use my experience, because I've used those musical styles for 20 years. I've played in clubs where people want a lot of different music. I draw on my experience of Malian music and all those other things."

A central point of 1999's "Mali to Memphis" project was to deal with the natural kinship of West African music and the blues of the deep South, which then evolved into various forms of jazz and rock through the 20th century.

"The common point with blues music and some bamada music is that we have a lot of string instrument players who sing and play alone, like the blues," says Koité. "The old bluesman plays his guitar alone. Sometimes, the scale is similar. We feel the same when we hear blues music. The people from the U.S. know blues music and when they hear West African music, they can hear the similarity. But people here don't usually know the meaning of blues."

A more pragmatic, and tragic, roots system connecting West Africa and the blues was the institution of slavery, a forcible introduction of African culture to these shores.

"Slavery, when African people were taken to America, has to do with the origin of the blues," Koité says. "They didn't keep together people from the same village, because they don't want people to talk between them. We have a lot of ethnic languages. For this reason, they separated a lot of people from the same village. Sometimes, they would stay together and sing. What they connect with is the song."

Among the well-known American musicians who have warmed up to Koité's music have been Santa Barbara's own Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt. Raitt met him on his turf, on tour with Koité, and also had him perform on a track from her latest album, "Silver Lining."

"She came to Mali and we did a lot of touring together," Koité says. "We went to visit different counties, and went to Timbuktu, rode on camels and went on a small boat together. We played with a lot of musicians. When I came to California, she came onstage to play one song with me. She supports me. She is very cool."

The past five years have brought Koité increasingly high levels of visibility internationally, to the point where steady touring gets in the way of new studio projects. In other words, he has arrived on the world stage, and he continues to be awed and thankful for the sympathetic network of support in countless ports.

"I don't sing in the language of the people who come to watch my gigs around the world, and they like it," Koité says. "I don't know why, but the music is really free to touch everybody who wants to feel. People like it and they feel it. Thank God, because we have a lot of musicians in the world. To have the chance to have an audience everywhere in the world is good luck for me."