The West African Blues Project

The easiest way to describe The West African Blues Project is that it is exactly what it says in its title. The connections between West African music and the blues have been explored on record many times, and it still manages to produce delicious fruit.

British blues guitarist Ramon Goose has certainly put in his time collaborating with West African musicians, having recently worked in projects alongside Diabel Cissokho, Daby Touré, Noumoucounda Cissoko and Atongo Zimba. Here, Goose is joined by Senegalese rising star Modou Touré, whose capable voice works equally well in the soulful Wolof styles as it does on bluesier pieces such as ‘Casamance River Blues’. The musicians gel very well, and their mutual enjoyment is clearly audible.

Some of the tracks on this album feel a little too slick and produced for this reviewer, with the highlights coming in the form of the rootsier, earthier pieces, wherein the blues takes centre stage and Modou's voice is allowed to flow along with it. This probably isn’t the most effortless African blues album, but it's impossible to deny that the blues is rarely this upbeat or uplifting.