Words by Justin Turford
There are few instruments as magical as the kora. A West African harp made up of a large gourd and 21 strings, it can resemble a medieval lute or a European harp in sound but when played by the masters of West Africa, of which Mali’s Ballaké Sissoko is definitely one, it sounds like nothing else. For his second album in a year - his ‘Djourou’ album of collaborations released in April is another essential listen - he has made a record of transcendent beauty and intimacy. Made up of eight solo compositions, Sissoko recorded the entire album in one day inside a Belgian chapel and perhaps the setting galvanised him to even greater heights. Having been lucky enough to have witnessed the Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and Senegal’s Seckou Keita in a grand church setting in Nottingham, I can testify to the emotional exaltation that this most spiritual of folk instruments can take you on.
“If all the harps in the world were burned down, still inside the heart there will be music playing” - Rumi
It is difficult to separate out the songs here for individual praise such is the feeling of oneness throughout the record but ‘Akilimaya’ in particular, resonates with me for some intangible reason. The bass drone’s hypnotic pulse sways me in ways that words can’t explain, the heaviness of true blues music in the fast top notes and the nearing Autumn cooling envelop my heart. It’s not sad, it just is.
The Parisian label NØ FØRMAT! have a weighty investment in African music with legends like Mali’s Oumou Sangaré and South Africa’s Urban Village (see our longform review of them here http://www.truthandliesmusic.com/magazine/urban-village-undondolo-n-frmat-a-review) amongst the many and their ongoing relationship with Sissoko is a tree full of fruit and maturity. ‘A Touma’ roughly translates as ‘This is the moment’ and maybe this is YOUR moment to immerse yourself into Ballaké Sissoko’s truly beautiful music. 10/10
©Benoit Peverelli 2020
‘A TOUMA’ RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 10 2021 ON NØ FØRMAT!