POP MUSIC REVIEW : Childs’ Songs Are Gospel for the Global Village

These days, the term world music is applied rather freely to countless performers who borrow bits and pieces from styles of various cultures. Few artists, though, are developing the kind of original, fully integrated pan-cultural blend that truly merits the term.

One who is doing so is Toni Childs, a veteran of several Los Angeles bands. Childs’ songs are gospel for the Global Village, and in a remarkably assured local solo debut Thursday at the Roxy in West Hollywood, she took the role of missionary.

She exhibited a calm countenance that provided a dramatic contrast to her powerful, expressive voice: The combination underscored her testaments to how inner pain and struggle can lead to faith and survival, both political (the opening “Zimbabwae”) and personal (the heartbreaking “Where’s the Ocean”).

Particularly moving was the finale of the wistful “Dreamer,” during which Childs stood alone on stage, her face illuminated only by a candle she held.

These emotions were matched at every step by the music: a foundation of seductive African and South American rhythms and surprisingly warm high-tech embellishments pulled off by a solid and subtle five-piece band. The melodies carried the soaring passions associated with such American soul singers as Aretha Franklin. Only Peter Gabriel has created as thorough a pan-cultural presentation.

In as different a mood as possible was opening act Havalinas (it means wild pigs in Spanish), a cool acoustic folkabilly trio consisting of ex-Levi & the Rockats guitarist Tim Scott and stand-up bassist Smutty Smiff with Cruzados drummer Charlie Quintana. The highlight of the frisky set was a song that started with a prison conversation with Charles Manson and ended as an audience with a belligerent God.

Toni Childs and Havalinas perform tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. SOLD OUT. Information: (714) 496-8930.