`MANDELA' SOUNDTRACK A RICH MUSICAL TAPESTRY.

Byline: Cary Darling Orange County Register

With Kwanzaa (December), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January) and Black History Month (February) falling in consecutive months, record companies seem to have sensed a marketing opportunity. This is a good time for reflecting on the contributions of Africans and African-Americans to America's cultural fabric, and each year, for example, more Kwanzaa collections of various types of music show up in the stores.

Yet it's easy then for many of these releases - which aren't necessarily supported by hit singles or airplay beyond public radio - to languish in retail obscurity, stashed in the back of ``various artists,'' ``folk'' or ``world music'' sections.

But such a fate would be extremely tragic for ``Mandela,'' a soundtrack accompanying a Jonathan Demme-produced Island Pictures documentary about South African leader Nelson Mandela due to hit theaters in March. But the 26-track set on Island/Mango is more than just a musical souvenir. Released Jan. 14, it stands on its own as a virtual history of the music of South Africa and shines a light on the connections between African and American music.

Seeking to draw the listener into Mandela's world, the album opens with ``Robben Island Ambiance,'' 30 seconds of seagulls cawing, dogs barking and ocean waves crashing - reflective of Mandela's limited contact with the outside world during his 27 years in the maximum-security facility at Robben Island, off Cape Town.

Then it moves into the movie's theme, ``Father of Our Nation,'' three minutes of Africanized pop uplift from singer Jennifer Jones and famed trumpeter Hugh Masekela that's an infectious but lightweight tribute. More interesting is the other music created for the movie, such as the haunting, Xhosa-language choral piece, ``Childhood,'' or the similar ``Family Theme.''

Yet what's really key on this soundtrack is vintage South African township jazz, an offshoot of the American original that's often overlooked. Not only does the music re-create the world in which Mandela moved as a young, black South African, it gives listeners a chance to unearth music not often heard on these shores.

From the brassy, big-band sass of ``Sip N'Fly'' by the African Jazz Pioneers and the poorly recorded but enthusiastic ``Yiyole'' by the Havana Swingers (recorded around two mikes in an open Transkei field) to the bluesy doo-wop of ``Pula Kgosi Seretse'' by the Skylarks and the finger-snapping, semi-rockabilly swing of ``Vuka Vuka'' by the Manhattan Brothers, these tracks illustrate the increasing urbanity (and political awareness) of South Africa's black population in the '50s. But whatever the sociological causes, these songs are just great music.

Yet ``Mandela'' doesn't strand the listener in the '50s or ignore South Africa's multiracial kaleidoscope. The inclusion of very contemporary white underground soundscape cut-up artist Warrick Swinney (who records under the name of the Kalahari Surfers) - a key figure in Johannesburg's indie scene - with ``Heavyweight'' and ``Guns and Pangas'' is a stroke of canny brilliance.

More predictable, though equally rewarding, is the presence of Johnny Clegg - the ``White Zulu'' - whose ``Asimbonanga (Mandela)'' is one of the most moving songs to come from a land exploding with songs of heartbreak and hope denied.

Then there's the forward-looking Babsy Mlangeni's ``Phansi Ngodlame,'' a call for racial and religious tolerance in the new South Africa, and Bayete & Jabu Khanyile's ``Mmalo-We,'' a song as delicate as a child's smile that combines West and South African influences. It points to a new Pan-African sensibility emerging in the new South Africa.

``Mandela'' closes with ``Black President'' by Brenda Fassie, formerly of the hit South African band Brenda & the Big Dudes, which acts as a bookend, since it echoes the Masekela-Jones track in its icon-building.

All in all, ``Mandela'' - the soundtrack - works as both music and history. Now, let's hope the movie is equally rewarding.