Beyond the Grid

Led by the jazz saxophonist Guillaume Van Parys, Afrikän Protoköl brings together Belgian jazzers and traditional musicians from Burkina Faso in an Afro-jazz fusion that sits somewhere between Fela Kuti and Manu Dibango on the one hand and Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry on the other. This, the group's second album, is a celebratory affair, driven by African percussion heavy on the balafon and djembé, with a three-strong European horn section over which the griot Zouratie Kone sings in muscular fashion. The most rewarding tracks tend to be those on which the Burkinabé contingent take the upper hand, such as the brilliant opener ‘Doromin Kelen’, which throbs to the kind of hunter's rhythms heard in the Wassoulou stylings of Oumou Sangaré.

The group don't always quite get the balance right, though. The jazz horns work when they're riffing but some of the more freeform blowing on the instrumentals ‘Facing Death’ and ‘Saharan Market’ doesn't always seem appropriate. The fusion is perhaps at its best on ‘Walking Through’ where the mournful saxophones perfectly complement the dark tones of Kone's voice on an Afro-groove reminiscent of Hugh Masekela in his pomp.