The first thing you should know about Abantu is that it inhabits a world where The Libertines aren't the best thing since sliced drugs, Robbie's new record isn't a pressing matter of international attention, and Beyonce's booty isn't a symbol of musical innovation. OK, maybe the last example would be a bit of a loss, but it may surprise some that portions of this vibrant work of 12 young South African singers was recorded in the Federal Republic of Halifax. And yes, it really does give you extra.

Masterminded by Fun-Da-Mental's Aki Nawaz, Abantu spotlights the emotively diverse lungs of Durban's Mighty Zulu Nation, said to be a young Ladysmith Black Mambazo. What appears as something of a labour of love, Nawaz has given Indo-Pak treatments to a distinctly African sense of space and dynamics of song.

It's a brave experiment. Too often, the idealistic process of global fusion results in sterile compromise, liberal intentions strained by self-consciousness and deference. Giving rightful prominence to The Voice, Nawaz's addition of tabla, dhols, and harmonium assume a filigree quality, lacing around a distant culture as though it had been an accident of history that they were ever separated.

With an average age of 23, many of the singers will only have the faintest memories of Apartheid, and if there is a singular quality to this collection, it is the sound of stepping out into an unexpectedly welcoming, but nonetheless scary new dawn. Of course, South Africa is still beset by a multitude of problems and tragedies, but I suspect this would have been a very different record were it recorded 20 years ago.

Opening track Storm is breathtakingly panoramic, Nawaz's production perfectly capturing the momentum and scale of a live performance. Elamanquana and Abantu itself are glorious crossfires of call-and-response, but it may be the percussive, quiet fire of Mdavu The Man that has the greatest chance of crossover beyond the ethnoscenti. Who knows it may even give Nation Records that long-awaited first hit.

Its not clear from the album credits who takes leads on which track, but Ebumnadini spotlights a female lead whose dramatic phrasing puts her up there with soul divas Loleatta Holloway and Jody Watley. The male lead of Shobana has a fortified tenderness equal to that of Aaron Neville. In fact, as sonorous as the harmonies of The Mighty Zulu Nation are, any individual is capable of holding centre-stage.

Being a natural born Englishman, I've never bothered to learn a foreign language, though I'm certain no African language is on the national curriculum of any European country. Though it's easy to discern the formal 'meaning' of a song called No War, Abantu is further proof that music somehow escaped the curse of Babel.

Without a big white face to front this project, it's going to take a leap of faith the size of Table Mountain for a mainstream audience to take Abantu to their hearts. Oh well, it's their loss. By the art of restraint, Aki Nawaz has pulled off a rare triumph. The Mighty Zulu Nation are a vital band of young singers that sound at once like tradition, and the brightest of futures.

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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees