KHAIRA ARBY, Timbuktu Tarab (Clermont Music): (4 stars out of 5)

Yet another winning salvo from West Africa’s fertile musical scene. Cousin to late desert-blues progenitor Ali Farka Toure, Arby’s multilingual songs share droning hypnotic rhythms with musical brethren Tinariwen, but instead of electric guitars position her dynamic voice at the forefront as she praises Mohammed, salt mine workers and community over insistent percussion, handclaps, call-and-response harmonies, ngoni and one-string njarka fiddle. She decries female circumcision in “Feryene” and elsewhere asks, “Why in a country of beautiful women do men go to war?” Good question. myspace.com/khairaarby