The Whole Music Experience

World/ Classical Ballaké Sissoko At Peace Six Degrees Records West African kora, cello, guitar, and balafon (a West African xylophone) comprise Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko’s At Peace .   After the success of his duo project with French cellist Vincent Segal, Chamber Music , the musical partnership remains strong.   However, At Peace is clearly Sissoko’s spotlight recording with Segal, Moussa Diabate (guitar), Aboubacar Diabate (guitar) and Fassery Diabate (balafon) coming aboard as guests.   During a time when Mali experiences war and oppression, At Peace comes as a sweet breath of air.   During a time when the brightest stars of Mali (the country’s musicians) have been shut out, this music ripples throughout the world.   To put it mildly, the warring factions banned music and musicians in Mali.   However, that hasn’t prevented the musicians from gathering and recording CDs and videos which you can find on YouTube. The...

The Touré-Raichel Collective The Tel Aviv Session Cumbancha With so many Malian-music collaborations to choose from these days, it is still not a cliché to introduce yet another.  Malian blues guitarist Vieux Farka Touré teams up with Israeli pianist Idan Raichel.  From what I can tell from the press notes, neither musician has collaborated on an acoustic jam session previously that combines the earthiness of Malian music with Middle Eastern modes.  In fact, these musicians are superstars of world pop and rock, but The Tel Aviv Session , sounds more new age than anything else (new age in a good way).  I find this album deeply relaxing alternating with invigorating. On the opening track Azawade, Raichel’s piano arcs over Touré’s bluesy chord progressions, reminding me of angels descending to the red earth.  Backed by Yossi Fine on bass, and Souleymane Kane on calabash, the only other musician that comes to mind is Taj Mahal, who also weds the tr...

Mamadou Diabate Douga Mansa World Village Regular readers of this blog will know about my fascination with West African griot music and instruments. I was quite pleased to receive a review copy of Malian griot kora player Mamadou Diabate's Douga Mansa . It falls into West African classical music with Diabate playing solo kora throughout. And yet, with this single instrument, Diabate coaxes a rich tapestry of moods from his harp, not to mention an array of striking rhythms. The press notes cited, "..in Diabate's hands, the kora proves capable of infinite variation, encompassing delicately articulated structures, swirling eddies of glissandi, pounding vertical rhythms and roaring cataracts of arpeggio." Which sounds a lot like a review of European classical music and why I am treating this CD as African classical music. West African is not short of virtuoso kora players, a category in which Mamadou finds himself. His cousin is Toumani Diabate, another fabulous ...