Ballake Sissoko Sene

New quartet Sissoko Segal Parisien Peirani presents "Les Égarés" (The wandering), an album recorded by two virtuoso duos (Sissoko-Segal and Peirani-Parisien), who for years have excelled in the art of cross-fertilising sounds and transcending genres.

In November 2022 world-renowned kora player Ballaké Sissoko and acclaimed guitarist Derek Gripper spend just three hours recording a wordless album together. The kora and guitar in the hands of masters - a session where New Ancient Strings meets One Night On Earth.

With his new solo album Djourou, Malian composer Ballaké Sissoko connects with artists from distant horizons. Djourou is the cord that connects me to other people, says Ballake Sissoko with characteristic simplicity. It is a magnificent distillation of that same art: the art of being yourself and being with others. It combines pieces in which Ballake converses, all alone, with his kora, and others in which he takes palpable pleasure in dialoguing with musicians whose contributions come across like declarations of love. Ballaké links with the singer Camille, the band Feu!Chatterton, famous French MC Oxmo Puccino, the clarinetist Patrick Messina, the singer Piers Faccini, Salif Keïta's sacred voice, the gifted kora-player Sona Jobarteh, alongside cellist and longtime musical partner, Vincent Segal. Ballaké is an improviser and prodigy who is still reinventing himself and who takes his art to explore other worlds. Djourou presents the Malian kora players music in all its multi-faceted forms: intimate and universal, singular and plural, solo or in conversation.

"Sissoko squared! Two Sissokos? No need to try arithmetic, mental calculations, addition or multiplication: the Sissokos form a whole, one piece, a sum of knowledge, practice, tradition, innovation, creativity rooted in a dynastic heritage. It is a line of griots from Mali who led to the meeting of these two cousins. Cousins in family, cousins in music, cousins in the desire to take their instruments to the borders of the musical encounters. Encounters which were numerous for both until today when the idea of being face to face finally prevailed over the many other projects. This album is an opportunity to relive instruments and dialogues as in their youth, in the early 80s when they were members of the National Instrumental Ensemble of Mali, each taking over the place of his own father. Now, they play again together, in the most natural way, a brotherly encounter, fostering a music of peace that lets the warm winds of West Africa blow to the rest of the world.

When Ballake Sissoko and Vincent Segal released their first collaborative album, Chamber Music, they caught the music world by surprise. Everything about this duo was unexpected: the Malian master of the traditional harp, or kora; the French cellist with the unlikely background in trip-hop; and the elegant, soulful music they made together. The album appeared on numerous best-of lists in both Europe (in 2009) and North America (in 2011). Now, these two sonic voyagers have returned with Musique de Nuit (“Night Music”) – an album which may not have the same element of surprise, but which may be even more spellbinding than its predecessor.

Chamber Music is a collaboration between Ballake Sissoko, who plays the traditional kora, a lute-harp from Mali, and Vincent Segal, the French cellist who plays for the trip-hop band Bumcello. It is also, quite simply, one of the most elegant and beautiful recordings of world music in recent years. At a time when cross-cultural music has tended toward highly-caffeinated electric pop and dance music, Sissoke and Segal remind us that there is room and maybe even a need for a quieter, more refined world music. Both musicians have displayed an aptitude for defying expectations the list of trip-hop cellists is pretty short, after all. And Ballake Sissoko has become a familiar name on the world music scene through his work with American blues legend Taj Mahal and Italian minimalist Ludovico Einaudi, among others.

Ballake Sissoko opens his new album, “At Peace,” with “Maimouna,” his solo showcase for the kora, the West African harp with 21 strings rising vertically from a huge calabash gourd. For those unfamiliar with the instrument, its broad range, sparkling tone and shimmering effects are vividly displayed here. For those who do know the kora, Sissoko is a virtuoso who can run through a blur of speeding notes and then brake for a crisply articulated theme. On this piece, Sissoko repeats the same descending figure, but with the melodic path and rhythmic organization slightly altered each time.

It says much for Malian music that two of its greatest players, kora masters Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko, are among its most determined innovators. Not content with weighty family legacies (the two are cousins), they have won international recognition for their instrument, the 21-string west African harp, in part through cross-culture collaborations. Diabaté’s latest, with the London Symphony Orchestra, is imminent, while here Sissoko has sought out an assortment of guests. Among them is cellist Vincent Ségal, with whom he has already cut two sublime albums, and who joins clarinet player Patrick Messina for a sprightly take on Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.

A griot in many West African countries is a storyteller, singer and musician; it could be roughly translated as troubadour. One of the best known active griots is the Malian Baba Sissoko. Through participation in an opera project in Paris, he got to know Madou Sidiki Diabate and Lansiné Kouyaté, players of the kora and balafon respectively - both traditional West African instruments. The three musicians quickly built a strong musical bond, playing together incessantly before and after opera rehearsals, even during breaks. Almost imperceptibly, the material that can be heard on the album Griot Jazz was created. They decided to look for a recording studio in Paris and ended up with keyboardist Jean-Philippe Rykiel. However, during the preparations in his studio, Rykiel also became involved in the project as a musician. For Western ears, his additions counterbalance the traditional African instruments and make the album very accessible. Griot Jazz was recorded in one day and therefore possesses a wonderful organic spontaneity.