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African Chamber Music
Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal
| Mali/France
Booking-Agent:
Frank Abraham
+49 30 261032920
fa@f-cat.de
There is a lot of things you can learn from artists about culture, society and politics of their country. For example from Ballaké Sissoko and his kora. Ballaké Sissoko is known as one of the best kora players in Mali. His music has its origin in the tradition of the griots, those musicians, that travel through the country with their instrument and tell stories about history to keep history itself alive and by that their own cultural identity.
Referring to his new album “Chamber Music” that has been released in 2010 “The Guardian online” entitled Ballaké Sissoko to be "the second best (and second best-known) kora player in both Mali and the world", they even called him a "master musician". On this new album he is being accompanied by nobody less than the well-known French cello player Vincent Segal.
Trained as a classical cellist in France, Vincent Segal has maintained an eclectic interest in music delving into rock, Latin and African styles. He was a member of the Orchestra Nationale de France and has played cello for a broad range of popular artists, such as Sting, Elvis Costello, Marc Ribot and Blackalicious.
The light, delicate and playful sound of the African kora. A stringed instrument that reminds a little of a guitar, but which sound resembles to a harp even more. On the other side the dark, majestically sublime sound of the cello, a moment of peace of mind. These two musicians bring their unique cultural backgrounds together to create a one seamless genre-pushing sound.
Describing their sound, Segal explains, “most people think of African music in terms of fast dance beats and percussion, perhaps because much of that music is so good. But you have a forest of different instruments, a variety of sounds and feelings. The quiet, pensive side of African music is what Ballaké shared with me, and what we bring to our collaboration.”
There may be other, more spectacular productions doing a cultural crossover, but non of them contain more beauty than this one. Sissoko and Segal are following the tradition of chamber music, calling even the album that way and letting speak, sing, dance, smile, cry and mourn their instrument with each other – the beauty of their common language gets deep under ones skin and is more effective than the opulence of an orchestral symphony.
“Chamber Music” has been recorded at the studio of Salif Keita, in the heart of Mali’s capital city Bamako and finished after only three days of recording. This album was done without any kind of additional editing. For a few songs Ballaké and Vincent got some support by Demba Camara (karignan, percussions), Mahamadou Kamissoko (ngoni, lute), Fassery Diabaté (balafon, xylophone) and Awa Sangho (vocals), but most of the songs are performed just by the two of them.
“Chamber Music” is creating an unique connection between two worlds, which are growing together until their hearts are beating like one. Amazing!
