Musical diversity is the pulse of Africa

Bagayoko, who always has cited Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin as influences, said that several decades of the world embracing African artists has helped make this new sound realizable. "From the time we started, things have changed, for sure," he said. "There's more access to the tools we need to make music, which makes the scene more international. It's universal, we need to be universal. It's not that recording studios are better [in Africa]; they didn't exist before."

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Get up and dance

"Welcome to Mali" was not recorded in Bamako, but in Paris and London -- centers of African immigration -- and in Dakar, the capitol of Senegal. K'Naan guests on one cut. Malian kora master Toumani Diabate appears on another. Its sound is boisterous -- the fans who discover Amadou & Mariam opening for Coldplay this summer will dance their sneakers off -- and brilliantly multifaceted, leading back to the Malian folkways that centuries ago inspired the blues, and reflecting a hyperactively interconnected future.

"We don't want people to see Africa as only one picture," said Mariam Doumbia. "We don't want them to see Africa as a place under war at all times. There are plenty of good things in Africa, the human relationships, the solidarity, the tradition, the stories."

K'Naan, who briefly journeyed back to Somalia after beginning his recording career, agrees that the tragic Africa so often represented in the American media offers a greatly diminished picture of the continent.

"More than what I could give Africa, for me, it's been about what I can get," he said. "Of course, when I drive around there and older ladies are getting out of the car and kissing me, saying, 'You are doing something for us and we appreciate it,' it's great. But there's just the warmth of the people. I miss the humanity. Here in North America, it's great and progressive. We get things done. But we just get it done. There's nothing, no flesh. Over there it's flesh. I really miss that."

Today's African stars have not turned their backs on the troubles in their home countries. Mahlasela, who was a major voice in the anti-apartheid movement as a young man, now works as an ambassador for Nelson Mandela's 46664 Foundation to raise global awareness of AIDS/HIV. He also helms his own foundation, dedicated to educating young South Africans about indigenous music.