The musicians below come from all over the African continent. The numbers on the map show where each is from.

Africa is a big place — a continent with over 50 independent nations and a population of close to a billion. So how far can a list of 10 recordings go in displaying the mind-boggling richness and diversity of African music? Hopefully, it's just a first step.

There's so much great African music that it would be easy to assemble a list of terrific music just from Senegal ... or Mali, or Nigeria, or South Africa, and on and on. It would be just as easy to compile a list of extraordinary CDs representing each of the many musical styles of Africa.

African music receives virtually zero commercial radio airplay, but if you have a good community/college radio station nearby, you might hear an occasional African tune on a world music show. By far the best bet for African music on the radio is XM Satellite Radio's dedicated African music channel, "Ngoma." They play African music 24/7, and many of the artists featured here are played regularly.

We chose these particular discs both for the quality of the music and the quality of the recording. If you're new to African music, you'll encounter unfamiliar instruments, rhythms, textures, and vocal styles. But you'll also recognize influences ranging from Cuban dance music, to Mississippi blues, to James Brown. Most of the songs are sung in the artists' native languages, but there are often English translations included in the CD booklets. And most people find they don't need to understand the language to understand the music. Happy listening!

1. The Best Best of? — Fela Kuti (MCA, 2000)
Fela Kuti's unique and powerfully hypnotic style of music, known as "Afro-beat," mixes traditional rhythms of his native Nigeria with the funk and jazz influences he encountered while traveling in America in the late 1960s. The Best Best of Fela Kuti treats the listener to over 2-1/2 hours of some of the deepest, most trance-like groove music ever created: Fela's inventive saxophone, keyboards, and vocals lead the way across a densely layered landscape of pulsating drums and percussion, interlocking guitars, pumping electric bass, and blaring horn section riffs.

In addition to being at the forefront of a new style of African music, Fela's work almost always contained a strong social and political message, championing African culture and targeting corruption in post-colonial Nigerian government. Fela often sang in pidgin English in order to be understood by a wider audience (both within Nigeria, and without), and tracks from this 2-disc set like "Zombie" and "Shuffering and Shmiling" have a lyrical intensity that rivals their sheer musical energy.

2. A Wish — Hamza El Din (Sounds True, 1999)
This CD is an excellent introduction to the oud, a fretless lute-like instrument popular in the Middle East and North Africa. Hamza El Din is a Sudanese composer, singer, and oud master. With its sinuous melodies and lyrics in Arabic and Nubian, A Wish is a stark contrast to most of the other discs here, reflecting the strong Middle Eastern influence in much of the music of North Africa. El Din has made many outstanding recordings over his long career, but A Wish may be his most accessible work for Western ears.

The spare arrangements have a soothing, timeless quality that can be mesmerizing. The music has room to breathe, conveying a strong sense of strings being plucked and drums being struck in real 3-D space. The first track, "Greetings," builds from a foundation of oud and hand drums to add El Din's vocals. When he is joined by female singer Shizuru Ohtaka, it may raise the hair on the back of your neck! I've played this track for friends at listening sessions, and the reaction is always stunned silence, followed by "Wow."

Compared to the parched purity of the tracks that precede it, the richly melodic title track that closes the disc packs a startling emotional punch. El Din's oud and voice are joined by piano and cello (Joan Jeanrenaud, former cellist for the Kronos Quartet). Sonically, A Wish is spectacular, with a large, deep soundstage that extends well beyond the speakers.

3. "Folon"?The Past — Salif Keita (Island, 1995)
Gifted with an unforgettable voice, Salif Keita is one of Afropop's most famous and influential stars — and a striking figure with an intriguing personal history. He was born in 1949, into Mali's prestigious and historic royal family; but, as an albino in Africa, he experienced the hardships of prejudice and social isolation in his young life. In the late '60s, he moved away from home to follow his musical calling, and within a decade was reaching international audiences and helping to define the Afro-pop genre.

Folon is an eclectic combination of Western influences and African musical styles. Keita's singing is astounding throughout, backed here by fluid electric guitar, crisp horns, funk-jazz bass, female background vocals, and layered percussion. The opening track, "Tekere," is an absolute gem that percolates with indescribable, joyous energy. The album's longest cut, "Mandjou," is a remake of a song that brought Keita fame in the 1970s, featuring a heavier groove than the original version and some tasty instrumental soloing.

4. Zing Zong — Kanda Bongo Man (Hannibal, 1991)
Like many other musical stars from Africa's DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), Kanda Bongo Man actually lives and records in Paris, France. For over 20 years, he has been one of the most popular and influential proponents of soukous, which has become the most popular music style on the African continent. Originally influenced by Cuban rumbas, it's an incredibly joyous, energetic dance music that marries lilting melodies to hypnotic grooves.

Zing Zong opens with the title track, a blast of sonic sunshine that is one of the most exhilarating songs you will ever hear. Kanda's smooth singing is accompanied by gleaming, echo-drenched electric guitar, punchy horns, and bubbling bass lines, all propelled by a loping beat. If you can sit still listening to this, check your pulse! Another highlight is the insanely addictive guitar riff that drives "Monie." Kanda's brand of "old-school" soukous still sounds amazingly fresh and inventive. The recording quality of Zing Zong is very good. The disc's polished, layered production only enhances the entrancing music. Equally excellent is Kanda's earlier Kwassa Kwassa.

5. Ma Ya — Habib Koité & Bamada (Putumayo, 1999)
Singer/fingerstyle guitarist Habib Koité also hails from musically rich Mali. The album Ma Ya garnered him international acclaim for its fusion of traditional Malian musical styles and contemporary instrumentation and arrangements. This disc is loaded with accessible melodies and tight-yet-spacious grooves overlaid with plenty of Koité's subtle, rhythmically nuanced guitar playing. The third track, "Bitilè", feels like a tip of the hat to modern hip-hop, featuring spoken-word vocals overtop a swinging backbeat. On "Foro Bana," the common ground between American blues and Malian roots music can be heard (bringing to mind fellow Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré). The whole recording has a full, open sound that holds up well under the "fine microscope" of a high-end audio system.

We were lucky enough to catch Habib Koité and Bamada playing many of the tunes from this disc at a show held this year in Charlottesville, Virginia (hometown of Crutchfield Advisor). While the energy level was generally higher in the live performances, this CD actually does a really good job capturing the band's true sound.