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Kulanjan captures a summit between American blues great and musical historian Taj Mahal with a group of musicians from Mali, a country in western Africa. The meeting took place at a recording studio in Athens, Georgia, with no specific plan other than seeing what might result when a master of contemporary blues meets with progenitors of that style. Your opinion of the outcome is entirely dependent on whether or not you might find such an idea interesting. It’s a good album, but much of it sounds redundant, mostly because these songs rarely stray from the root chord. My reaction alternated as my moods changed. While listening to the disk as background music, I found myself lost in the routine of daily simplicity that it conjures. While listening in a more studious manner, though, I found myself practically begging for a chord change; something, anything.
Surprisingly, the root melodies of Mali as they appear on Kulanjan resemble ancient Chinese music more than American blues. The instrumentation only adds to this impression, as do the sounds of the native instruments, such as the ngoni, the kamalengoni and the kora. Unfortunately, the liner notes tell us little about these instruments other than basic facts, such as the number of strings each contains. Structurally, the music presented here is very simple – even the blues tunes stick very close to the root notes – so the experiment works if you focus your attention on the specific interpretation each player utilizes for this cross-fertilization. Most Americans, though, know squat about the music traditions of Mali (including myself), so Kulanjan sounds like an album that was probably a lot more fun to make than it is to listen to. If you are interested, this album can provide a pleasant education. Most people, though, might find it difficult, or even tedious.
Grade: 
 
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