Christened after a Mississippi John Hurt song, A L’Afrique symbolizes a cultural bridge of sorts that was years in the making. Mark Palms, executive producer of several Joe Hall zydeco discs and biological producer of New Orleans’ singer-songwriter Natalie Mae, traveled to Ghana with multi-instrumentalist/Ghana expat Kofi Ameyaw and recorded various natives playing on drums and gyil, an indigenous, sometimes buzzy-sounding marimba while Palms plucked away on banjo and Ameyaw drummed and beat percussion. Like the rest of this, these tracks vary in texture and hue, ranging from the relentless drum fest of “Kpalongo” to the angelic “Me Wo Nyame” that feels like a village choir.

The rest was recorded in New Orleans with Crescent City musicians Brad Walker and Greg Beaman’s Afro pop horns and Ted Long and Pat Fee’s anchoring rhythm section. “Ghana” showcases Ameyaw’s virtuoso gyil playing prominently as horns soar above and below the gyil‘s steady rhythmic pattern. “Slave Ship” boasts interlocking African and American instrumentation while the collective vocals float in and out of the arrangement.

There’s a fair bit of experimentation as well, as evidenced by the Africanized rendition of Hurt’s “Pay Day.” Closer to home, Canray Fontenot and “Bois Sec” Ardoin’s “’Tit Monde” is even more unusual, non-French African singing in Creole French with a drastic slowing it down to emphasize the tune’s subtle beauty. Horns swell majestically towards the end making it feel more African in origin. Though the album flows fine with its given track sequence, conceptually the “American” selections could have alternatively been sequenced towards the end to symbolize a far-reaching global odyssey. Intriguing, nonetheless.