Salif Keita

Mali's Salif Keita sounds as sweetly granular, yet as irrefutable as ever, on his upcoming "La Différence," the latest in a series of smooth, mostly acoustic releases featuring his longtime guitar sidekick, Kante Manfila. Haiti's Tabou Combo have enjoyed a long career as showy purveyors of the Euro-Caribbean dance music called *compas.* And France's Lo'jo fill out this Gallic-accented postcolonial afternoon with a syncretic blend of Berber beats, desert blues, and Wassoulou-tinged laments.