Mory Kanté is a legend—a traditional West African musician who rose to regional stardom in the ‘70s, rocked the world pop charts from his adopted home in Paris in the ‘80s, rode the wave of globalized African music in the ‘90s, and returned home to his native Guinea in the 2000s to become a force for economic development and an inspirational voice for a new generation of Africans. Optimism and inspiration are themes that pervade the songs on Kanté’s new album, La Guinéenne, his eleventh. This is both a love song to Africa, and Guinea, and a treasure chest of hard-nosed advice about trust, hard work, gratitude, and the importance of maintaining traditions in the face of modernity.