Blues Menessen

Born and raised in Cameroon half a century ago, but resident in France for the last couple of decades, Tchakounté's take on ‘African blues’ is cut from a quite different musical cloth to the style of, say, Ali Farka Touré or Lobi Traoré. Apart from the fact that he sings in Bamileke, there's little that's rooted in African music to be heard on his debut album. On the evidence of Blues Menessen, his influences are drawn from Chicago rather than Cameroon, and from the Mississippi Delta rather than his home town of Douala. By his own admission, his musical persona really remained unformed until he heard a John Lee Hooker recording for the first time in 2002. Playing acoustic guitar and singing in a deep, hypnotic voice, he's backed by a French blues-rock trio of lead guitar, bass and drums. They conjure a convincing Hooker-like menace on the title-track, explore jazzier realms on the cocktail-lounge blues of ‘Sweet Melody’ and ‘Nju Ne Bala’ (which has a strong hint of the late Gary Moore's hit ‘Parisienne Walkways’) and whip up a pleasing bottleneck acoustic country blues jam on ‘Yingue’. There's a hint of African percussion on a handful of tracks, including the excellent ‘Yoh Mama’, but if you're looking for the successor to Ali Farka Touré, then Tchakounté is not your man. On the other hand, if you fancy an African version of Buddy Guy, then look no further.