 | Super Djata by Zani Diabate & The Super Djata Band
Buy used from: $28.95 Sounds like Jimi Hendrix, Santana and James Brown jamming in Mali. It's the most rhythmic and manly thing I've ever heard.
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| Dark City Sisters & Flying Jazz Queens by Dark City Sisters & Flying Jazz Queens
Buy used from: $89.98 Five-part harmonies, brushes on snares, acoustic bass, swinging guitar and Malathini's recording debut.
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 | Hurricane Zouk by Various Artists
Buy used from: $12.97 One track makes this worth twice the price: "Mikolasie/Misik a Negre" by Vikings de Guadeloupe.
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 | Mario by Franco & T.P.O.K. Jazz
Buy used from: $11,539.62 This will put you in an Afro-trance. (Note that the song samples on the Amazon page are wrong. The track list is right, though.)
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 | Goree by Kassav'
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $41.28 Insanely energetic and brilliant. The album is actually credited to Jacob Desvarieux and Georges Decimus, but the other Kassav' members are all there. Hint: You can find it on Amazon MP3 downloads under "various artists" or click through to the song samples window.
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 | Euphrasine by Jacob Desvarieux
Buy used from: $32.28 A genius has fun, mixing Caribbean cocktails from his early influences, including Jimi Hendrix. The title is actually "Euphrasine's Blues."
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| Hot Heads by Les Tetes Brulees
Buy used from: $3.55 No other album sounds 100 percent African and 100 percent rock at the same time.
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 | Makossa Connection, Vol. 1 by Various Artists
Buy used from: $7.95 Note that Miriam Makeba has nothing to do with this CD. This is a compilation of some of Cameroon's best artists from the 1980s. It's got Guy Lobe's "Mon Ami A Moi," the ultimate makossa song. The cheesy synthesizers might put rootsy types off at first, but learn to embrace the gleeful propulsiveness of it all and you won't be sorry.
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| Adama Coly by 4 Etoiles
The title track is a rumba that's in a class by itself, with melodic breaks and strings as sweet as anything you'll hear on an Elton John record. The rest of the CD comprises the most polished Congolese pop ever laid down. iTunes has it.
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