#Live session of Ballaké Sissoko for the release of the album "Djourou"

Ballaké Sissoko at RFI.

© Laurence Aloir / RFI

By: Laurence Aloir

7 mins

Ballaké Sissoko presents his new album

Djourou

 which is released on the No Format label!

(Replay)

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Ballaké Sissoko

The translation of the interview into French-Bambara is provided by

Kpénahi Traoré.

On this album, the kora master invites 

Oxmo Puccino, Camille, Vincent Segal, Patrick Messina, Sona Jobarteh

and

Feu!

Chatterton.

Ballake Sissoko.

© No Format

Official biography of

Ballaké Sissoko

"

Djourou is the rope, the one that connects me to others," 

said

Ballaké Sissoko

simply

.

We could not express more clearly the title and the spirit of this new disc, where the music of the Malian unfolds in all its dimensions: intimate and universal, singular and plural, alone or in conversation with artists who are fell in love.

"

Ballaké Sissoko is a part of the history of Malian music, it is a powerful silence, it is sacred music",

 testifies the rapper

Oxmo Puccino

, invited on the album of the one he considers like an uncle,

Ballaké Sissoko

.

Ballake Sissoko.

© Yanis Baybaud

Eldest son suddenly become the breadwinner, Ballaké takes the place of his father,

Djelimady Sissoko

, within the

Ensemble instrumental du Mali.

As you have to know how to listen before speaking,

Ballaké

listens before playing.

The young man soon seeks to confront his art with other musical universes, and embarks on a solo career. Fascinated by the Indian sitar or the flamenco guitar whose techniques he tries to transpose, he wants his kora to explore new lands. Then he discovered the qanun, the oud, but also the cello which can play both the bolon (harp-bass lute) and the sokou (unicord violin) from Mali. It is this fascination that will lead him much later to approach

Vincent Segal

to start a musical conversation with him from which 2 albums will be born:

Chamber Music

and

Musiques de Nuit

(No Format!)

Because if Ballaké likes deep one-on-one meditations with his kora (as on the

Déli

album

, published in 1997), he is always eager to meet people, the korafola

Toumani Diabaté

, the pianist

Ludovico Einaudi

or the trio

3Ma

with the valiha of

Rajery

and the oud of

Driss el Maloumi

.

Ballaké Sissoko and Sona Jobarteh.

© Julien Borel

For Djourou, the guests are all connected to Ballaké's kora by an invisible thread, a rope,

djourou.

It is a return to childhood for

Oxmo Puccino,

a fascination for

Camille

who weaves a poetic reverie with her words

. Vincent Segal

and

Nicolas Messina

embark

Berlioz

on the banks of the Niger river. As for the voice of

Piers Faccini,

it gives Kadidja, a ballad sung in Bambara, new and moving colors. When

Ballaké Sissoko

invites

Sona Jobarteh

, a talented Koraist from Gambia, he reconnects with the common ancestors, and continues to forge the bond that unites the generations.

Ballaké even embarked on a crazy adventure with

Arthur Teboul

, singer of

Fire!

Chatterton

...

Songs played by Ballaké Sissoko (sound Mathias Taylor)

- Demba Kunda

 Ballaké Sissoko

Live RFI

- Djourou

Cd Ballaké Feat.

Sona Jobarteh (extract from the

Djourou

2021

album

)

see the clip

- Kadidja

 Ballaké Feat.

Piers Faccini (from the

Djourou

2021

album

)

- Mande Tabolo

 Ballaké Sissoko

Live RFI.

Playli

st Ballaké Sissoko

- Masterclass

 Ravi Shankar Paris 2008

- Sanou Djala

 Babani Koné (

Sanou Djala

1998 Syllart)

- Fantastic Symphony

 (extract) Berlioz

- Game on the Fantastic Symphony

 Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Segal and Nicolas Messina (extract from the

Djourou

2021

album

)

- Koulandjan

 Kasse Mady Diabate (Kela Tradition 1990).

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