On his new album Djourou, the grasp Ballaké Sissoko invitations lots of company: Vincent Segal, Patrick Messina, Oxmo Puccino, Camille, Piers Faccini, Arthur Teboul, Salif Keita … Sufficient to open up new horizons, give different colours in his choir , to discover new worlds.
To start with, the grasp of the choir Ballaké Sissoko opens his file with Demba Kunda, a protracted solitary meditation on his instrument, a delicate deviation, virtuoso, with necessary notes, of which he alone has the key. Then comply with a collection of hand-picked company who take their choir for a visit to different landscapes.
There are, so as of look, the chorister Sona Jobarteh, the cellist Vincent Segal and the classical clarinetist Patrick Messina, the slammer Oxmo Puccino, the Malian star Salif Keita, the singer Camille, the individuals Piers Faccini and the Feu chief! Chatterton, Arthur Teboul. “The authentic thought”, Ballaké informs along with his infinitely delicate voice, was to disclose all doable colours on my instrument, kora. My company have been so many pretexts for sensible limitations, with out stress, with deep respect for our respective cultures. “
Right here, each musical encounter emerges as the idea for a beneficiant and distinctive story. To weave the components of this collection of adventures, you have to begin with keystone, the one with which Ballaké has beforehand solid a file in chiaroscuro, in a depth filled with stars (Night time Music, 2015): Vincent Segal, the brother, the double, the unshakable bridge between his African universe and the Western world. With cellist prodigy and clarinetist Patrick Messina, he affords a swish adaptation of Berlioz’s unbelievable symphony.
Oxmo, this griot
The assembly with Oxmo Puccino takes place below a tree in Mali with a scorching tea at the tip of a live performance by the rapper on the French Institute in Bamako. From the start, Ballaké acknowledges one in all his personal: “He had an angle, angle like a griot, he describes. As well as, sludge, like our artwork, spreads social data, tells historical past, present points, to present recommendation to individuals.”
The title Frotter les mains from which this cross comes comes from a clever and tender commentary of Ballaké, by Oxmo. “Once I’m not taking part in, after I’m listening to somebody speaking, for instance, after I have no idea what to do with my arms, I rub them in opposition to one another,” confidence musicians. Camille, of whom he knew solely the unusual enchantments of tune, all of it started on a canvas stretched out on the grass of a Parisian park. The singer asks him many questions on his instrument. He explains to her the wooden, the pores and skin and performs out his arpeggios. On her strings she improvises and dances her textual content, carnally: “refrain physique to physique”.
A “journey to the guts”
For Piers Faccini, a file, a tune he loves, was sufficient to spark. Coincidence: Ballaké’s father performs. Nevertheless, Sona Jobarteh is a minimum of the grasp’s niece: “A lady who performs the choir is uncommon for me to encourage her, he argues. It was shifting, as a result of she listens to me since childhood!”
Lastly, Arthur Teboul, de Feu! Chatterton, have been intimidated once they met within the twentieth arrondissement of Paris. However Ballaké reassured him: “I helped him:” we should be at liberty! “Let’s strive, improvise collectively …” And the virtuoso concludes: “On this story, everybody comes with their very own spirit. We take heed to lots of music, we dialogue … I feel it is nice to play exterior the field, to search out magnificent compromises! C “is a journey to the guts.”
As a result of from the start, Ballaké has seen his instrument as a continually evolving path. The phrases “repeat” or “work”, which freezes the music in its movement, can’t be a part of his vocabulary: he performs. Whether or not it is in Paris, throughout his lengthy weeks of promotion or in Bamako, this evening owl sits down from 10pm till daybreak, on his doorstep and, chanting in his arms, lets his fingers transfer on the cords whereas the neighbors strike to ingesting tea, getting misplaced in chatting, within the hole that he typically throws an ear or throws a phrase. Ballaké expresses itself in music. “In our custom, we are saying {that a} musician who doesn’t discuss a lot, chats along with his instrument,” he explains.
© Benoit Peverelli
Ballake Sissoko.
An “infinite world”
In his choir he seeks. The opposite doable routes. And if Ballaké will not be very talkative, on the subject of scary the improvement of his devices, right here he’s lots. He proves inexhaustible on the brand new horizons of a chromatic refrain, on the sticks that facilitate the setting, on the microphones to amplify the harp …
Above all, the virtuoso has not from the start hesitated to provide this symbolic instrument for the griots, his yard and heritage, the place the defenders of an alleged custom wish to restrict it …
He thinks of the custom of everlasting motion and the sacred character that pertains to every person’s private and intimate pursuit. As well as, Ballaké Sissoko continues to find new territories to discover on his refrain: “It’s an infinite world,” he says.
The album known as Djourou, which within the Bambara language means “the strings”. That’s, all of the strings that join Ballaké with the others. The ropes with which he weaves his universe.
Ballaké Sissoko Djourou (No format!) 2021 Official Web site / Fb / Instagram
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