CD: BEGINNERS GUIDE TO AFRICAN BLUES (3-CD, NASCENTE 2011)

An Amazon 5-star review.

Not the longest of these 3-CD Beginners sets at just under 3 hours, but it's certainly one of the best I've bought. There's the usual guff about African roots of the Blues but over the last 50 years or so there's been so much cross-fertilisation of musical genres that with contemporary artists it's chicken or the egg situation especially when the first track of the third CD is a duet by a British and a Gambian artist reworking Hoochie Coochie Man as Fulani Coochie Man.

The first CD features Senegalese and Malian musicians and are mostly likely to be the artists you've heard of -Ali Farka Toure, Rokia Traore, Boubacar Traore, and Toumani Diabate- and it's as good and varied as you'd expect.

Rokia Traore

But it's the second CD which is, and to my great surprise, my favourite as it features North African, Ethiopian, and Toureg musicians and I've never really got into Tinariwen (who aren't featured). Instead there's a wide range of styles which come over often as soundscapes. But there is also some amazingly powerful emotional music here, particularly Ethiopian Tlahoun Gessesse's horn-driven Sema. Also Dub Colossus with Shegye Shegitu. The last track on the disc is by Libya'sTouareg De Fewet and again it's great -I just hope they are okay, given the current situation. This is all really quite revelatory music. It doesn't exactly sound like the Blues but it sure does feel like it.

 Dub Colossus (Ethopia/UK)

As Phil Meadley in his concise notes remarks, CD3 is most Blue-Blues sounding of the set in terms of structure, though that structure is played around with quite a lot too. So it's the most accessible and immediately enjoyable of the three. But it's the other two discs, particularly the second, which repay focused attention and contain the most rewards.

This is a terrific compilation and highly recommended to anyone who'd like their musical taste buds refreshing, not just fans of Blues or African music.

MUSIC: BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO...

Pretty much any kind of music you can think of really so long as it fits roughly into the category of world music. It's an extensive series of 3-CD box sets on the Nascente label (no, I'd never heard of it either), often priced at £3.99 on Amazon though some can be had cheaper from marketplace dealers and others can be more expensive. But at £3.99 they're a steal, averaging around an hour's worth of music per CD. They are all readily identifiable from other CDs with the title Beginner's Guide To... by their cover design: a neat 4*4 grid of small images with 3 squares on the second row given over to the title.

I've just ordered these two along with BGT Celtic which is a kind of companion to the English folk volume and on my Amazon wish list is BGT African Voices and this one-

-which, with its emphasis on the 50's, is basically the successor to Jump Blues. Already in my possession are these-

This one is a kind of groove dance thing which I thought I'd try. I was, however, on more sure ground with the next one which, despite the title, covers a wider range of styles than it suggests.

And on a whim-

I considered-

and-

 but I already have a couple of descent Trojan box sets in these genres, plus other stuff. There's also a very good BGT The Blues but I already have nearly all the tracks so I'm passing.

The packaging is minimal but there are brief notes on each track and each set is authoritatively compiled. I've bought plenty of compilations over the years but when it comes to value for money this series just can't be beaten. The biggest temptation I've found is that it's too easy to buy more than one at a time. I currently have 9 CDs waiting to be listened to, with three on the way, and that isn't counting the 2-CD Rough Guide To Afrobeat Revival, plus that massive Fela box set I'm working my way through. The Rough Guide compilations can be considered a more upmarket (they have booklets, only 2 CDs, and are more expensive) version of the BGTs. The range is very extensive (Country & Western is included, but not -sorry Barry- Film Music) and I've a feeling I'll be buying more. These really are a good and cheap way of dipping your toes in the waters of that musical genre you've always fancied trying.