When born a Cissoko, one is a kora player. The Guinean Ba Cissoko perpetuates a more than centenary history. He is the last born of a long lineage of griots, master singers and agile string pluckers.
Ba Cissoko knows all the codes and secrets of tradition. He estimates its reach, for posterity, but he isn’t the kind of artist who reproduces the work of his illustrious elders. His uncle, M’Bady Kouyaté, passed him his knowledge on since he was a child, and transmitted to him his entire patrimony. Since then, Ba Cissoko has emancipated himself without ever breaking that link, renewing his instrument’s approach while refining his knowledge of the art and of the good manners of storytelling.
This man is just as firmly rooted in his family’s earth as he is opened to other’s possibilities. In 2010, he is fructifying all the experiences he acquired on the sinuous path that leads towards artistic blossoming. He has built himself a name in the field of music, and has affirmed his musical personality: his boiling shows, setting your feet afire and burning your head, easily prove it. A pure organic electroshock administered to stereotypes.
“To modernize the Mandigue tradition to better spread it; to transgress it, to really honour it.”
Hence “Séno”, a new wink to Jimi Hendrix’s vision, who adjusted his blues origins to his time. That’s Ba Cissoko’s musical process, who was just born when the guitarist was starting on his revolution. He explodes the canons of tradition, crashes into them with electric and eclectic influences. By his side, musicians perfectly in phase with his desires, a “family story”: his two cousins, Kourou the elder on bass and bolon, and Sékou, the young prodigy who dynamites the kora with saturated effects, and Dartagnan (percussions) and Abdoulaye Kouyaté (guitar). From this alchemy gushes an original sap, deeply rooted yet with a mixture of soul flavours, reggae and pop perfumes…
Ba Cissoko – Kora, Vocals & Tamani
Kourou Kouyaté – Bolon & Bass
Sékou Kouyaté - Electric Kora & Tamani
Alhasan Camara (Dartagnan) – Percussion
Abdoulaye Kouyaté - Guitar
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