Racines

The Ivory Coast reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly continues his penchant for melding Jamaican and West African styles, going a step further by recording at Tuff Gong studios in Kingston, that renowned home of The Wailers. His massive cast of players includes a reggae core of Sly & Robbie (drums and bass), plus their frequent cohort Mikey Chung on guitar. Then there's a prodigious assemblage of mostly Malian players, seamlessly grafting traditional stringed and percussion instruments such as kora, ngoni,balafon and tama to create a mélange that preserves the characteristics of both musical styles.

The opening three songs feature guest appearances from three of reggae's most revered singers: Max Romeo, U-Roy and Ken Boothe. Romeo sings on his own ‘One Step Forward’, U-Roy tackles ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ (by The Wailers) and Boothe opts for Syl Johnson's ‘Is it Because I’m Black?’, transforming soul into reggae. Given this array of players, the overall sonic spread is often surprisingly sparse, the band reining in their parts out of respect for the overall minimalist sound.

The main signature might be classic reggae, but then a soku (one-stringed fiddle) solo rears up, or a tama (drum) skitters across the stereo field; shadings of kora or ngoni flit across the rolling lines of dub. Numbers by Burning Spear and Peter Tosh are well-chosen, but there are also more obvious selections by Bob Marley, Junior Murvin and Buju Banton. The concept might initially seem an unnecessary one, but steady listening uncovers a subtle dynamic between styles.