Although, when you think about it, there is no reason for it to be strange that the styles should come together so easily. After all this isn't the first time African and another culture's music have come to together. It's been happening here since the first slave ships showed and dumped their "cargo" on these shores. Everyone knows the story of how the blues and jazz grew out of the blending of traditional African melodies and rhythms, Christian hymns, and the work songs that the slaves sung in the fields. Yet very few people seem to remember the role that the banjo used to play in jazz music. Up to the the big band and swing era almost every jazz band and combo had a banjo in it. It's only been really since the 1950s that the banjo began to be associated solely with country, bluegrass, and folk music.
In fact, although Jayme and Mansa have done an excellent job incorporating a substantial number of folk traditions into the creation of this disc, they somehow have omitted any references to the banjo's role in jazz music. I realize that might have been outside the scope of their interest, and it does nothing to diminish their accomplishment, but it seems the banjo is always getting short shrift when it comes to jazz. A recording dedicated to the banjo and the connections between its roots in Africa and the music of North America would have been a little more complete with a specific nod in that direction.
On the other hand the music that they have included on this disc is quite a wonderful cross section of various styles, and they have done an excellent job merging the African and North American music. In fact, the songs sound so natural the way they have recorded them, that if you didn't know better you would think that the music accompanying the lyrics sung by Mansa were the original tunes created for them. From the trumpet that gives one track the breeziness of the familiar sounding "high life" pop music of Africa to the turning of an African hunting tune into an Appalachian fiddle fest, there's a deftness of touch by all involved that ensures there is always a perfect balance between the two or more types of music being melded.
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