The sound of
Ballake Sissoko's 21-string kora identifies him, along with Toumani Diabate, as one of the best kora players of a new generation of musicians in Mali. His concerts with Taj Mahal's Kulanjan project brought him international attention.
Ballake Sissoko is the son of Jelimady Sissoko, grand master of the Manding kora, a harp with twenty-one strings whose crystalline sound has won over audiences world-wide. With his 'big brother' Toumani Diabate, the son of Sidiki Diabate, another illustrious figure of the jeli (oral historians and musicians) tradition, Ballake is considered one of the best kora players of the new generation. He first learned the instrument very early on at his father's school. At the age of 14, he replaced his father in the Ensemble Instrumental National and by the late eighties he was also playing in the electric bands of the most famous jelimuso.
He remembers the difficulty of initially playing with virtuoso guitar players like Bouba Sacko and Jeli Madi Tounkara, who had picked up the techniques of the ngoni but also used western scales and rock riffs. Rising to the challenge, he was the first local kora player to master western modes and still provide the rhythmic structure to accompany the dance steps of the singers. Simultaneously following different melodic lines with his thumbs and index fingers, Jeli Moussa's playing combines a bass accompaniment, the harmonic progressions of the rhythm guitar and intricate solo improvisations. Jeli Moussa works regularly with Kandia Kouyate, and together they toured the USA, Europe and Australia.
After performing with the prestigious Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali, and accompanying many Malian singers, he came to fame by performing solo or in duet with Toumani Diabate, Taj Mahal and a host of other musicians. In the 1980s, Malian kora music was once more revolutionized when Jeli Moussa Sissoko (called Ballake Sissoko) and Toumani Diabate, the sons of Jeli Madi Sissoko and Sidiki Diabate, introduced chord progressions played on the guitar into their father's repertoire.
Open to every new adventure and encounter, Ballake Sissoko is a gifted instrumentalist who, inspired by tradition, was able to forge a personal style. A visionary figure and fine melodist, he is an excellent accompanist and superb composer.
On Ballake: kora Music From Mali, Ballake is sorrounded by young musicians, friends and fellows met in various ways in Bamako, and his wife, the singer Mama Draba. Fassery Diabate, son of Keletigui Diabate, bala (West African xylophone) expert and well-known performer of Malian music, freed himself too, of tradition, while still respecting its spirit.
Extremely brilliant, he never falls into just technical proficiency, but exhibits astonishing maturity, Adama Tounkara is Jelimady Tounkara's nephew, the 'guitar hero' of Mali music, respected conductor of the Mali's Super Rail Band. He's one of those many young artists who have specialized in the study of the ngoni, a small, four-stringed traditional lute dating back to the 12th century (like the bala), and which was once played at the court of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Manding Empire. It is no doubt the ancestor of the banjo and is part and parcel of the colorful sound of traditional and modern Mali music. A difficult instrument, but one which Adama Tounkara perfectly masters. Hearing this very young virtuoso, you are immediately struck by the finesse of his playing sound and phrasing and the subtle swing of his very jazzy inventions.
The youngest of the group, Aboubacar Sidiki Dembele, provides solid back-up on the bolon, ancestor of the acoustic bass, and indispensable instrument for any respectable Manding group. Mama Draba, younger and less well-known abroad than her compatriots Kandia Kouyate, Amy Koita or Oumou Sangare, is still one of the greatest singers of the new Manding music. With her deep, powerful voice and impeccable phrasing, she's one of the great performers of the epic jeli-style Bambara and Malinke traditions. In 2013, Sissoko released ‘At Peace’ on Six Degrees Records. Sissoko describes it as a continuation of the work he did with cellist Vincent Segal in his previous critically acclaimed album, Chamber Music. “I didn’t want to do Chamber Music all over again,” says Sissoko, “I wanted to work on its continuation.”
Segal provided his talent as a musical director to work on ‘At Peace’, using an intimate setting. Only the most essential tools were used, avoiding unnecessary production tricks & overdubs. The goal was to achieve spontaneity, and priority was given to first takes. The word “peace” included in the title of the record is not used casually or just as some rhetorical tool. “When I want to play with someone,” adds Sissoko, “I first have to understand the way he works; I have to build a friendship. That’s my first reference point and it takes time to get there.”
‘At Peace’ was recorded in Angouleme (in Western France) in the studio of jazz bass player Kent Carter. It gathers Sissoko’s long time trusted musical companions. In addition to Vincent Segal, the album also features Aboubacar “Badian” Diabat é on twelve string guitar, Moussa Diabat é on the six string guitar and Fass éry Diabat é on the bala (balafon).
“I wanted for people to hear musicians in the process of discovery, musicians who sometimes were surprised by what they are playing,” says Sissoko.
Musique de Nuit (Night Music), released in 2015, is another collaboration with cellist Vincent Segal. The album tried to capture night time in Mali. To the two artists, nighttime is a special time in Mali. “It’s a little less hot, and everyone’s asleep apart from the night owls like us. The city’s not as noisy, music mixes with rumor, and there’s something redeeming about simply sitting outside and playing. That’s what we tried to capture here, that freedom the night can bring,” said Segal.
Musique de Nuit was recorded outdoors, featuring ambient sounds of Bamako, the call of a bird and the voices just at the edge of hearing.
http://worldmusiccentral.org/artists/artist_page.php?id=1097
Vincent S égal, is a French cellist and bassist born in 1967 in the French city of Reims.
He studied at the National Music Academy of Lyon and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. He is mainly known for the variety of his collaborations and unusual projects. He has worked with Steve Nieve, Elvis Costello, Cesaria Evora, Blackalicious, Carlinhos Brown, the French reggae band Tryo, Franck Monnet, the experimental project Mujeres Encinta, Georges Moustaki or with Alexandre Desplat in the O.S.T. of Lust, Caution and other of his films.
In 1986 he and Cyril Atef and formed the band Bumcello, a downtempo electronica duo that won the Victoires de la Musique award and was named Electronic artist of the year 2006. He played on every Matthieu Chedid (-M-) album. In 2009 he worked with Sting on his album If on a Winter's Night.... In October of the same year he recorded, in the studio of Salif Ke ïta in Mali, the album Chamber Music with Ballak é Sissoko
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_SГ©gal
