JAZZ THANKFULLY, the tidal wave of world - and particularly Latin-flavoured - sounds that flooded the shelves following the Buena Vista Social Club movie is beginning to recede. With record companies now moving on to whatever might be the next musical fashion, what is left on the beach is not flotsam, but the best.

A case in point is the latest from Cape Verde diva Cesaria Evora, Voz d'Amor, a Lusafrica Paris recording, released in this country by Sheer Sound. Evora is back to the format in which we first heard her: simple lyrical melodies backed by guitars and strings; nothing intruding between our ears and her voice.

The result is emotionally powerful and breathtakingly beautiful. Even a hoary standard like Greenfields (the only cover on the album) sounds like a new song.

Another Lusafrica-Sheer release comes from Angolan singer Bonga: Kaxexe (In Hiding). There are good reasons in both history and geography why the music of Angola carries echoes of both Cuba and the Congo region, and on Kaxexe Bonga draws out both, enriching his singing with complex percussion - from himself and the rest of the band - and dazzling guitar work from Alberto Feijo.

The songs are thoughtful and allusive; dealing with reconciliation, neocolonialism and poverty, often through the vehicle of traditional metaphor. The title track, for example, refers to the water goddess Mammy Watta, but evokes the search for anything elusive, including peace.

Often neglected, though, is the fact that SA has its own world music within its borders, in the cultures of the various ethnic communities who have rooted here across the centuries. The music of the pre-colonial kingdoms, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho and more, are finally receiving some attention in concert halls and on record. Equally vibrant are the traditions of later arrivals. A poignant glimpse of one of these is provided by jazz saxophonist Russ Nerwich's album Beyond the Walls, based on the music and poetry of the east European Jewish communities annihilated in the Holocaust, and brought to this country by survivors. Played by Nerwich, pianist Andre Petersen, bassist Dom Peters and drummer Kevin Gibson, the songs are filled with tragedy, anger, mourning and, most heartbreaking, even jaunty defiance. Nerwich's improvisations underline those emotions, but are also rich with the soul of his own emotional response to them. This is an independent release on the Bowline label which deserves wider exposure.

It is certainly jazz, but it is also a powerful monument to all victims of genocide, including those genocides still going on.

Gwen Ansell