Here are a few CDs you might enjoy: Pieces of Africa: Kronos Quartet nonesuch 79275 Music by black Africans, played by the Kronos Quartet Lambarena What's the common link between J.S. Bach and the West African country of Gabon? Dr. Albert Schweitzer--the Nobel Prize-winning humanitarian who established a hospital at Lambarene on the Ogowe River in Gabon in 1914--and who also wrote a two-volume study of Bach. In tribute to Schweitzer, Parisian-based musicians Pierre Akendengue and Hughes de Courson, Gabon's master composer, poet laureate and cultural figurehead, both men of profound musical intuition and creative audacity. have devised an unlikely mingling of the classical music of two continents by combining well-known compositions by Bach with analogously themed traditional songs and dances of Gabon. Fanshawe: African Sanctus silva 6003 The first version of David Fanshawe's African Sanctus came out in 1975. There's a new edition now. The composer David Fanshawe says this is the definitive recording, incorporating all the revision he's made. African Sanctus is an unorthodox setting of the Latin Mass integrated with authentic traditional African music recorded by the composer on his journeys up the river Nile thorough Egypt, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. This was from 1969 to 1973. It's in 13 movements. Missa Luba: An African Mass and 10 Kenyan melodies. Philips 426 836 Missa Luba is a Mass in Congolese style for a mixed chorus. Renaissance: Soweto String Quartet bmg 7009 I picked up this CD in the Johannesburg Airport. Songs my mother taught me, written by Dvorak, was recorded at sunset on the banks of a river in Africa. Other works are Mangwane/Ee'Motswala (two of South Africa's best known traditional wedding songs) and Sikelela, based on several Southern African traditional songs with a neo-classical piece written for the Soweto String Quartet by Johan Laas. Others: Hannibal: African Porrtaits teldec 98802 It's a history of the African-American experience. Lamentation: Tunde Jegede triciom records 1001 Music not by Africans but about Africa: L.A.G.Q. Sony 60274 The first piece in African Suite is titled Mbira, which is a traditional African thumb piano. It's played on four standard nylon-string guitars, but evokes the sound and spirit of Africa. The composer, Bill Kanengiser, put staples on the guitar strings. He's also one of the members of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet who are playing this and the companion piece, Djembe, a joyous composition by Andrew York -- again, a member of the LA GQ. It takes it's name from another traditional instrument, in this case a large wooden drum. The djembe begins the piece. It's played by Tim Timmermans, not a member of the quartet. He later adds triangle and shakers. Classic Elektra Skylark 9402 Another example of a non-African -- in this case it's the Canadian composer Stephen Hatfield -- using traditional South African freedom songs and making an arrangement of 7 of them. This African Celebration is performed by the Elektra Women's Choir. Susan