The blues is a universal language. That’s what Montreal musician Cecile Doo Kingue proves on her CD “Gris”  on which she gets a little funky and a lot bilingual.
 She plays and sings with a lot of soul and explores several influences.
 She grabs the listener from the first track “Aunt Jemima,” on which she drops a lot of F bombs, but she does so as seamlessly and beautifully as she interchanges the French and English lyrics. Though most of the CD is sung in French. It’s very cool as French language blues isn’t something you hear every day. “2 Minutes” is a sultry, toe tapping number which has French verses and an English chorus.
She is as talented guitar player as she is a singer.
 She has a great feel on her guitar, with not a note being played out of place anywhere on the CD.
“Entrer” is a slower, more spooky song. “Harmonie Du Soir,” is one of several sultry tracks where she flirts with smooth jazz music.
 The first track is an interesting mix of fast paced Earth Wind and Fire soul and R and B if it were played on the banjo as she flirts with Cajun jazz  music. “Rien a Voir”  and “La Bouteille” explore the slower side of soul music.
“Mater Ma Tique,” is  a mid tempo funky number.
While most of the CD is in French, you don’t even notice it because the music is firmly rooted in blues and R and B music,
  The title track Grishas an unstoppable, straight ahead blues rock groove. She has a smooth, beautiful, soulful voice.
“Kwedi” explores more exotic territory musically, though mixing it with a lot of soul on the vocals. Another more exotic song, “Dor” is a tenderly picked acoustic number which references flamenco music. Another nice acoustic number is “Invitation Au Voyage.”
She ends the note on a toe tapping, up beat shuffle note on “Bien Comme Ca”
CD: Gris
Artist: Cecile Doo Kingue
Genre: blues/ R and B