Zankel Hall (at Carnegie Hall); Fri 26

It’s not often New Yorkers have the opportunity to see someone perform on the ngoni, a plucked lute made from a combination of wood or calabash and goatskin, used by griots in northwest Africa. That audiences outside of the region are even aware of the instrument is due in no small part to Mali’s Bassekou Kouyate, whose innovative work with the banjo ancestor has renewed interest among young Malians and led to his collaborations with Carlos Santana and Ali Farka Toure, among others.

I Speak Fula, Kouyate’s latest album with backing band Ngoni Ba, is the first release on Next Ambiance, Seattle indie-rock institution Sub Pop’s foray into the global-music market. Although electric-guitar band Tinariwen has received greater acclaim for illustrating connections between traditional Malian music and American blues, Kouyate makes an appropriate addition to the stable that once housed Nirvana and Soundgarden. Prior to Kouyate, the ngoni was always played sitting down; he was the first to attach a strap to the instrument and perform standing at center stage, a move that’s made him a sort of North African version of a guitar god. His rambling solos on tracks like “Musow (For Our Women)” are so quick and complex, they should even impress fans of six-string jocks like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.—Jesse Serwer