One particular artist that I like is Toumani Diabate. He is from Mali and plays the Kora, a stringed instrument. Nice recording and very accesible music. A good album to start with is New Ancient Strings, not sure of the label but you can get it at Amazon if you can't find it in your local record emporium. Another label to add to the list Hhh provided is Real World. This is Peter Gabriel's label and has a lot of variety.
