Ballaké Sissoko – A Touma (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Ballaké Sissoko – A Touma (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:34 minutes | 388 MB | Genre: World, Ethnic Fusion
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © No Format!

After the success of Djourou, the Malian virtuoso returns for an intimate t^ete `a t^ete with his kora – intimate yet simple and majestic.

Taking time off from the Djourou sessions, Ballak’e recorded these eight instrumental pieces in the intimate confines of the Chapelle Sainte-Apolline in Belgium. Together they proclaim, without need for further evidence, the heights of mastery and freedom that this discreet giant of global music has scaled in his forty-year-long career.

Though two of the pieces also feature on Djourou, the new album gathers together all eight of them in a musical conversation between a master, made of flesh and spirit, and his ‘double’, made of string and wood. It’s a captivating, intimate and authentic testament, recorded in one afternoon, in which Ballak’e takes us on a journey, a meandering trip full of majesty that borders on the sacred and touches serene meditative uplands as well as plains criss-crossed by Manding warriors straight out of the epics of a country of whom they are the pride.

As for the title ‘A Touma’, take it to mean ‘this is the moment’: the moment for Ballak’e to share the fruits of his maturity, and for us to discover and be blown away.

Tracklist:

01. Ballaké Sissoko – Nan Sira Madi (06:34)
02. Ballaké Sissoko – Demba Kunda (03:48)
03. Ballaké Sissoko – Simbo Salaba (04:31)
04. Ballaké Sissoko – Akilimaya (04:54)
05. Ballaké Sissoko – Mande Tabolo (06:14)
06. Ballaké Sissoko – Yafa Djini Te Djitoyaye (05:17)
07. Ballaké Sissoko – An Badidjo (04:35)
08. Ballaké Sissoko – Touti Sakiliba (03:39)

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