Repercussions

"Compulsory viewing for anyone remotely interested in black music" (The Guardian), this series shows off the dazzling diversity of African-American music. To explore its constantly evolving cross-fusion of styles, the film-makers travelled to Gambia to search out the traditional music of the Mandinkas; to the USA to capture the sounds of rhythm and blues, gospel quartets, and the masters of bebop; to the Caribbean to survey the colourful variety of forms blending African and European influences; and, finally, to West Africa, to record the ecstatic polyrhythms of today's African popular music.