In a highly unusual move, Sony France, which released Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour's Joko: From Village to Town in Europe more than two months ago, plans to release the album in the U.S. on Warner Bros.' Nonesuch label, sources at Sony USA have said.

Joko is at the top of European and African world-music charts.

Reportedly concerned by the lack of a Sony-affiliated label willing to push the album in the United States, Sony France delayed its release here to pursue alternatives. (Repeated calls to Sony France requesting comment were not returned.) Although the deal is still unofficial, sources at Sony and Nonesuch, who prefer to remain unnamed, said it is imminent. Nonesuch has established itself as the American leader in world music through its releases of albums by Cesaria Evora and the Buena Vista Social Club.

Sony USA's Globetrotter division — said to be frustrated that Sony France essentially has turned over the most highly anticipated African release in years to the competition — reportedly will begin importing copies of Joko from France. Globetrotter, which specializes in importing Sony titles from Italy, Greece, France and Turkey, will ship copies to stores this week and continue to sell the album until its midsummer Nonesuch release.

Joko would nevertheless seem an obvious candidate for a major-label push. The album's guest list — which includes Wyclef Jean on "How Come?" (RealAudio excerpt), Sting on "Don't Walk Away" (RealAudio excerpt), and Peter Gabriel — resembles that of Santana's Supernatural.

Joko includes a new version of N'Dour's infectious Senegalese mega-hit "Birima" (RealAudio excerpt), which was first recorded on Lii! The song, like much of the CD, is a mix of mbalax, hip-hop and well-produced pop.

N'Dour, who was introduced to the world as featured vocalist on Gabriel's So tour, has been Africa's leading pop star for nearly 15 years. During that time he has pursued two careers, musically speaking. After popularizing the Senegalese musical style known as mbalax (electrified Wolof-tribe rhythms with touches of salsa, reggae and funk), he went on to produce one set of albums for the Senegalese market and another for his international audience.

Sony has released N'Dour's international albums for the past decade. These albums often consist of his Senegalese hits, with pop makeovers. N'Dour also releases rootsier albums for the Senegal market nearly every December. While his non-African audience knows him primarily through such crossover hits as 1994's "Seven Seconds," his African constituency regards him as someone who keeps dance floors smoking with funk- and salsa-tinged Wolof hits.

In the early '90s, Hannibal/Rykodisc producer Joe Boyd approached N'Dour about distributing his Senegal releases internationally. N'Dour refused, Boyd said during the 1997 Womex world-music conference, arguing that international audiences didn't want "pure Senegalese music" and that releasing these albums would prevent him from developing into the pop star he had long hoped to become.

During the six years since his last Sony release, The Guide, N'Dour has released 1996's Lii! and 1997's St. Louis in Senegal. While Sony and N'Dour have kept these albums off the shelves of Tower Records and Borders, aficionados still manage to track them down.

Rick Steiger, who runs Africassette, a mail-order business specializing in imported African music, said he sells more than 200 copies each of N'Dour's releases. But since each release is only pressed once, they quickly go out of print.

"'Seven Seconds' was a hit in Europe but barely got any radio play here," Steiger said. "An artist like Youssou will only be heard on public and community radio in the United States. The pop-music machine here is closed to anyone outside of America."