String quartets can take on African music: the Soweto String Quartet ladle on the saccharine; the Kronos Quartet are often wilfully angular. Real Vocal String Quartet, four women players from San Francisco, find the perfect middle on the arrangement of Ayub Ogada’s “Kothbiro” that begins their debut album: its contrapuntal lines mirroring Ogada’s lute, their combined voices taking his shimmering sung melody.

Nothing else here quite matches up, especially mimicking talking drum on strings. But a couple of lively Brazilian numbers come close.