*** Thione Seck

DAALY

(Stern's Africa)

Thione Seck is a longstanding Senegalese superstar who has been largely overlooked in the international hoopla over Youssou N'Dour, Baaba Maal, and Ismael Lo. This generous taste of his contemporary work reveals him as their worthy peer. The music is slick and modern, but also deep. Seck's 12-piece band, Raam Daan, crank out tough, hard-hitting mbalax, the pop sound that has grown out of the Wolof people's complex and layered sabar drumming style. Crackling percussion lies at the heart of the sound, but guitars, horns, and synthesizers build the rhythms into lush, pummeling pop.

Seck's distinctive, reedy voice is the real treat, however. Riding over the rhythms in a state of mystic detachment, he sings with aching clarity and passion. Track after track, as the music shifts into ever-denser textures, his phrases draw out languidly. He takes flight on gale-force breezes generated by his band. It's unlike anything else in African pop. Even on a somewhat tacky ripoff of "Stand by Me," called "Momy," Seck comes through with convincing soul. These 11 tracks will leave many listeners wondering how he has managed to evade the Afropop pantheon of stars all these years.

-- Banning Eyre