Bokante

Bokanté – History (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:12 minutes | 740 MB | Genre: World, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Real World Records

On their third album, Bokanté have plugged into the blues, tracing the genre’s roots in West Africa and the Arab world through the diaspora into the retro-modern present. These nine tracks tell — with lyrics sung mainly in Guadeloupean Creole — of outsiders and seers, memories and joy; of black history, global unity and the futility of war. Of taking time to rest, feel, love. Of the redemptive power of music — as a conduit, a change maker, a muse.

(more…)

Bokanté – Strange Circles (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 49:52 minutes | 607 MB | Genre: Songlines Five-star review
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © World

Due to Michael League’s prolific body of work with his record label, GroundUp Music, he has his fingers in many pies, the latest of which is a new band, started by the Snarky Puppy guitarist/bassist/producer, called Bokanté. The word means “exchange” in Creole, the language of the band’s vocalist Malika Tirolien, and the music is meant to represent this idea of a cultural exchange between the melting pot of musicians involved. For the most part, Strange Circles delivers; a vibrant album that makes clear the individual influences from each band member, but League’s somewhat predictable arrangements give the session a somewhat sterile feel.
(more…)