Return to Goree (Retour á Gorée)

Senegalese world music icon Youssou N’Dour sets out to explore the musical legacy of slavery, visiting gospel vocalists in Atlanta, and legendary New Orleans jazz drummer Idris Muhammad. All parties then regroup for a concert on the island of Goree, off the coast near N’Dour’s Dakar base, the main staging post for the slave ships. With ace white guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel added to the band, the concept looks worthwhile but a little baggy, yet the effect of this odyssey on the individual musicians (for the black Americans, a kind of homecoming) is absorbing in itself. And hearing N’Dour’s soaring voice transmit his songs through the unfamiliar but effective surroundings of a jazz combo proves a transcendent experience.