The all-purpose Afro-pop label is too confining for an artist like Bastos, although Afro-pop grooves there are aplenty in his heartfelt, politically charged love songs to his homeland. On his recordings, Bastos often will start with a simple, folk-based tune, sometimes relying on little more than his acoustic guitar and keening, sustained tenor before abruptly switching into a jiggling beat.

Alas, Bastos was not shown off to his best advantage on the spectacular Watercourt stage Friday. Unlike his seductive Hollywood Bowl show in 1999, this one was short on consistently magnetic grooves; the pacing was off. Also blame the soundmen who couldn't get the balance right, boosting the congas and bass too high, blurring the definition of the flashing guitars. (The perspective improved toward the center of the Watercourt, but not by much.)

Yet there were treasures to be heard if one listened hard, such as the power of Bastos' voice (Salif Keita is a comparable reference point) and especially the acoustic/electric guitar exchanges between Bastos and his purple-robed colleague "Dizzy" Lengo. Lengo is a marvel, equally adept at rock and R&B styles as he is in the pinpoint Afro-pop electric guitar style.

Cape Verde's Maria de Barros was more astute at reading her audience than Bastos, for she came out of the box with one melodic, vamp-based, gently rocking, insistent groove after another, pumping up the dancers from her second number onward.

A goddaughter of Cesaria Evora, but by no means an imitator, de Barros put on a far more rhythmically alive show, throwing Brazilian and Cuban elements into her African electric blender and making everything jiggle irresistibly underneath her clear, lovely voice.