The name of Habib Koite's band, Bamada, translates into English as "into the mouth of the crocodile."

The word play is on the name Bamako, the capital city of Mali, whose name means "the river of the crocodile."

The Malian native of the farming town of Keyes was educated in Bamako, where he learned French, Arabic and the Koran.

He also figured out as a teen, at the Malian National Institute of the Arts, a new style of guitar playing. He tuned his classical guitar to pentatonic scales, like a traditional stringed kamale n'goni.

Since many of his band members are from Bamako, it seemed to him a natural choice to use its nickname for his band. But he also wanted people to know his band was bad.

"I say, 'OK, we are the mouth of the crocodile,' " he said with a chuckle. Koite was speaking from a San Diego hotel, where he began his U.S. tour about a week ago.

On Saturday, that tour will stop at N.C. State University's Stewart Theatre. It's the second time Koite and Bamada have played there in three weeks shy of a year. They are touring in support of "Foly! Live Around The World," a two-disc live album (World Village) released last month.

Koite -- who gave his age as "around 40 -- it can be up or down!"-- became a word-class live act in 1999 on the strength of the album "Muso Ko," released in the United States on the Durham label Alula.

In 2000, he toured with the great Oumou Sangare, a fellow Malian, and they appeared together triumphantly at Duke University.

Hundreds of Western shows, two albums and a lot of public radio interest later, Bamada's flamenco-influenced pan-African funk has gained a loyal worldwide fan following. Koite said that "Foly," which in the Bambara language means "to play," was released as a thank-you to them.

"We play a lot, around the world," Koite said. "We have some fans that came -- each time we played, they came. When I see them, I say: 'You know every song we play.' "

And some of them, in turn, asked him to release the more improvisational versions of his best tunes on a live album.

"Some songs on CD, in studio, have four minutes long, or five," he said. "But on this CD, the same song have 10 minutes."

Koite shared some of his musical techniques by conducting workshops for fans in San Diego. "I show some common point between Malian music and the blues," he said.

He said he listened to a lot of Western music as a child: James Brown, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix.

"I tried sometimes, when I was really young, to play the chords, and tried to sing some songs, even though I don't speak English," Koite said. He can speak a little now, along with at least half a dozen other languages.

Koite, one of 16 children in his family, comes from an ethnic group known as griots -- musical storytellers.

"The Malian musician play generally the music of his village," Koite said. "I was the first who played directly the music for each part. I have a great job, because we have a lot of music in Mali."

He developed pan-African and Western tastes, looking also to bands from Guinea for inspiration. He also learned to sing in the languages of different ethnic groups.

"I don't have a lot of influences," Koite said. "I was very curious for all music -- Western music, Malian music."

The style he developed, which he dubbed dansso doso, has gained him some Western celebrity fans and friends as well. He recorded with Bonnie Raitt on her album "Silver Lining."

Koite said he would also like to record with another admirer, Jackson Browne. "He is a great, good friend," Koite said. "He's good guy. Actually, he send me five guitar, six guitar -- special guitar, different. Bonnie Raitt is like my sister. They are very, very good person."

He has also heard that former Fugee Wyclef Jean wants to make a film with him.

"I am waiting," he said.