By Brent Hallenbeck

The Charlotte-based Cumbancha record label continues its world-music series at Higher Ground with its second installment Sunday night, featuring Dobet Gnahore, a young singer from Ivory Coast.

Gnahore's new Cumbancha album, "Na Afrika," is truly world music: She sings in Arabic as well as languages from Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, South Africa, Benin and Congo (the lyrics are translated in the album's notes into English and French). If you think that sounds like an unrecognizable hodgepodge, you might find comfort in the music which is African-flavored pop, with crystal-clear guitar hooks and smooth background harmonies.

Gnahore -- the liner notes by Cumbancha honcho Jacob Edgar thankfully point out that her name is pronounced DOH-bay gna-OR-ay -- fled the political strife of Sierra Leone in 1999 for France, the homeland of her musical and romantic partner (and the father of her child), guitarist Colin Laroche de Feline.

If you go
Dobet Gnahore, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington. $13 in advance, $15 day of show. 652-0777, www.highergroundmusic.com