Imposingly dreadlocked Cheikh Lo is a distinctively mellow musical sponge whose music folds Cuban rumba, Congolese soukous, Cameroonian makossa, American funk, and Jamaican reggae into percussion-rich Senegalese mbalax. Born in Burkina Faso, Lo began performing in 1978 but didn't release his first album, the Youssou N'Dour-produced Né La Thiass, until 1995. Although he records sporadically, Lo's gentle, gloriously lilting voice always sounds right on time, with a universal message informed by his affiliation with the Sufi Islamic sect Baye Fall.