The pairing of a European classical pedal harp with an African 21-string kora sounds very unusual at first sight, but the rare duo recording of Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita is a truly remarkable feat. The association of the two stringed instrument from two different continents is the brainchild of […]
kora
Ablaye Cissoko & Volker Goetze: Amanké Dionti
Born in Saint-Louis (Senegal), Ablaye Cissoko is a singer and kora player who hails from a family of griots, the West-African repositories of the local songs, poems and stories handed down from one generation to the next through oral tradition. Having recorded three solo albums to date – Diam (2003), Le Griot Rouge (2005) and Mes Racines (2013) – the […]
Rokia Traoré: Titati/Africa Unite
Malian singer songwriter Rokia Traoré’s “Roots” project emerged as a continuation of the Desdemona multimedia collaboration she contributed to in 2011. Written by American novelist and 1993 Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison and staged by experimental theatre director Peter Sellars, Desdemona is a play imagining a dialogue between Othello’s wife Desdemona and Barbary, the African nurse and […]
Jack DeJohnette & Foday Musa Suso: Ocean wave
Between 2003 and 2005, innovative Gambian kora player Foday Musa Suso and legendary jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette toured together and recorded Music from the hearts of the masters (2005), a wonderful collaboration between two genuine masters of their respective instruments. The kora is a fascinating instrument which has of course had a huge influence on early American […]
Foday Musa Suso & Philip Glass: Spring waterfall
Born in The Gambia in 1950, Foday Musa Suso is a traditional West African Griot or Jali (an oral historian, storyteller and musician) and a master of the kora, the 21-string traditional African harp. In 1977, the musician relocated to Chicago and has since collaborated with dozens of musicians including Philip Glass, Herbie Hancock, Pharoah […]
