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African adventure: Damon Albarn on stage with Afel Bocoum, one of several artists he promoted on his Mali Music album

Guitar Hero-ready: but should Metallica pay to have their music on the game?

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Rockin' all over the world
Those adverts don't ever tell you what the “seven signs of ageing” actually are, I don't think, but I bet one of them is taking a sudden interest in world music. There must come a point for everyone when the idea of yet another guitar/bass/drums album by cocky kids who idolise John Lennon makes you want to hurl yourself under a train. At that moment, just as men must decide whether to spend their twilight years obsessed with golf or fishing but not both, you pick either world or classical music and set about learning a new language of sound.

But this year, thanks to a new wave of vital cross-continental musical collaborations, world music is having a cool moment and should reach new audiences.

The unmissable show of the month is the arrival of Africa Express at Koko on 22 October, part of the BBC Electric Proms season. The hit of Glastonbury last year, it's an epic, largely improvised gig featuring major African stars including Tinariwen, Rachid Taha, Baaba Maal and Amadou and Mariam jamming with British indie bands who are often admittedly a bit second division (Reverend and the Makers, Hard-Fi, The Magic Numbers) but acquit themselves marvellously. Though past Africa Express shows at Brixton's Jamm and the Liverpool Olympia have been under-promoted and under-attended, this one will be broadcast on Radio 1 in its entirety so should prick up more ears than ever before.

The following night, the African half of the event leaves its new friends behind for another ensemble show, Africa Now!, at the Barbican. And this Tuesday, Christina Aguilera and Seal will share a stage with Senegalese star Youssou N'Dour at the Albert Hall for the African charity event ThisDay.

We can thank Damon Albarn for helping to spark this spirit of co-operation. It is Albarn's enduring passion for African sounds that has encouraged so many others to follow his lead. His Mali Music album of 2002 (on Honest Jon's label) helped to introduce indie fans to artists such as Afel Bocoum and Toumani Diabaté, last year he featured Nigerian afrobeat drummer Tony Allen on his The Good, The Bad & The Queen project, and he has just worked on two songs on next month's new Amadou and Mariam album, the certain crossover hit Welcome to Mali (Because). He was the most vocal critic of the lack of African musicians on stage at the 2005 Live 8 concerts, a patronising charity extravaganza that he said treated Africa as a “failing, ill, sick, tired place”.

The creation of Africa Express was a direct result of that disappointment, a celebratory musical feast in which African virtuosos are the leaders. It has taken place in Mali and Congo as well as the UK and included rare sights such as Franz Ferdinand playing Take Me Out with Baaba Maal, Hard-Fi performing The Cure's Killing an Arab with Rachid Taha and Albarn accompanying everybody in an explosive rendition of Rock the Casbah at 3am.

A vibrant display of spontaneous musicianship that is like nothing else around. Africa Express is as good as live music gets, argue those lucky enough to have seen previous shows. If anything can push us towards the less frequented corners of the music shop, this is it.

Eight million air guitarists can't be wrong

Oasis, Razorlight, Beyoncé and Britney are all likely to be outsold by a computer game this autumn. Guitar Hero, in which you can pretend to do what Noel Gallagher does with such grace and style, appears in its fourth incarnation next month and is expected to sell far more than the eight million copies the previous version shifted. Along with a similar newcomer, the Rock Band game, it provides a new, hands-on way for people to experience their favourite songs.

In addition to what comes with the game, you can download extra songs to play along to, and here's the controversy. The music industry wants more money for licensing tracks to the game but Guitar Hero is so successful that its creators hint that they'd prefer to pay less. “When you look at the impact [Guitar Hero] can have on an Aerosmith, Van Halen or Metallica, it's significant,” said Activision/Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick, “so much so that you sort of question whether or not you should be paying any money and whether it should be the reverse.”

Then there's the case of Metallica's new Death Magnetic album, which sound engineers say actually sounds better in the Guitar Hero version than on CD.

It seems the gaming industry is winning this battle. Perhaps one day Guitar Hero will spawn the next generation of Slashes and Hendrixes and the record companies will thank it then. More likely, the tennis racket manufacturers will go out of business first.

NEW ON THE NET
*From Thursday, the two mobile phone handsets on which you can use Nokia's Comes With Music service go on sale in the UK. The subscription model, which claims to offer unlimited downloads once you buy the £130 handset, seems too good to be true, and still has its doubters. The extent of the Digital Rights Management restrictions on the tracks, and what happens when you need a new phone, remain unclear.

*It's hard to keep track of all the free music on offer online. Spotify launched across Europe at www.spotify.com this week, offering unlimited streamed music and a way of creating and sharing your playlists. It's £9.99 per month or free if you can tolerate advertising.

*It's refreshing when music bloggers get het up about a proper pop star. The latest lady to get the nerds' glasses steamed up is Little Boots, aka Blackpool's Victoria Hesketh. She's worked with Hot Chip and Richard X, and early single Stuck On Repeat has a lot of Donna Summer's I Feel Love about it. Get a free mixtape at www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/download.html, and see her at Cargo on 31 October.

 

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