GUITAR LOVERS' SECRET WORD: D'GARY

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It used to be that one sure way to check guitar lovers' bona fides was to ask their favorites. If Michael Hedges or Ry Cooder wasn't on the list, you had cause for doubt. Now here's another secret password for the devotees' club: D'Gary (given name: Ernest Randrianasolo), the acoustic maestro from Madagascar. He's not new: Two critics in these pages picked his "Horombe" disc as among the best of 1995, and a couple of years later, "Mbo Loza" arrived with similar satisfaction. Now comes "Akata Meso," which is both the same and different. One constant is the singular, keening vocalist Irma Ratazanina, who has appeared on all three discs. Another is Xavier-Martial Francois, the mad percussionist, who is back for a second turn. What's different is dynamite; shades of Dylan at Newport, D'Gary has gone electric, albeit only on two cuts. Both are breathless, driving tunes born of urgency, not unlike some work by Al Di Meola. It's not an inapt comparison; his is another name that'll qualify you for the club. In his first Boston appearance, D'Gary opens for Rokia Traore at the House of Blues on Tuesday.