There's no longer anyway anybody can dispute the influence African Americans have had on North American popular music. Blues, Jazz, Pop, Rock & Roll, and even Country music have all been touched by the influence of those who were stolen from their homes to build the Western Hemisphere.

North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean Islands, and anywhere else there were European settlements, you were sure to find slaves. They brought with them their various musical styles, cultures, and stories, all of which have become seamlessly entangled with our European heritage over the years. But it has been primarily music where the influence has been felt and continues to be felt to this day.

But if we were to go back to Africa today and listen to the music that is being played, what would we hear? Would we, by listening closely, hear where our music came from, or would we only hear echoes of what changes have been effected by the music's stay in North America?

The music that's closest to what came from Africa that we still listen to today would be the Blues in its purest form. Delta Mississippi Blues music is only one step removed, if that sometimes, from the holler music that the slaves sang as work songs. Those songs are in turn not far removed from tribal songs that would have been, and could be still to this day, performed in the villages and towns of Africa.

The Rough Guide To African Blues takes us on a trip through the birthplace of our music to hear what today's performers are playing. Have they incorporated the Blues that they have heard from North America into their sound? Are we hearing the Blue as it's been sung for centuries and what we recognise are only the elements that have survived the journey down the years from the arrival of the slaves in the New World? Or is it both – a cross-pollination that has been blown across the ocean on winds of sound?

While it's true that some of the African musicians are making use of some of the chording and structure that creates the sound of the Blues as we know it, they are using them in such a manner as to render a unique sound. Whether it's the instruments they use or their vocal styling, aside from the songs featuring North Americans Bob Brozman and Corey Harris the music is so much more than copies of North American music.