Ba Cissoko

One autumn night in the year 2000, at the Satellit' Café, a Parisian bar famous for its musical cocktails: the explorative sound-system sent out a spicy West African sound, reggae-like and almost-distorted, with two koras fighting a duel. Such unorthodoxy made me give the DJ third degree to find out what it was. The 4-track promo CD had neither booklet nor liner notes, just a name: Ba Cissoko. Guineans from Marseille, the DJ had heard. So I decided to go hunting.

Fall 2003. Finally, here it is: Sabolan, THE CD long awaited, and not only by myself. Between times, I have met them, heard them again and again, and acted as a mouthpiece, because Ba Cissoko should not be enjoyed on one's own.
The "Ba" a terse nickname given by their friends in short: two koras, one bass, and percussion, carried by four young Guineans of griot ascent trained in Conakry under the aegis of the kora master M'bady Kouyate, and who now live in Marseilles. More than just a band, Ba Cissoko is a family.

First there is Ba himself, the 'elder brother' (born in 1967), with his crystalline acoustic kora and his Mandingo crooner voice. Then come his two younger cousins: Sekou Kouyaté who draws cheeky Jimi Hendrix-style riffs from an age-old Mangingo harp much tampered with and souped-up with a whole array of effects and Kourou Kouyuaté, aka "Kourou Bass". To top it off, Ibrahim Ba and his flexible percussion.

Starting with the festival Nuits Metis in La Ciotat, they have had a long practice of stage shows ranging from their Marseilles cubby-hole to large festivals, always giving impressive performances. Now they have come up with Sabolan, an incandescent album produced by the eclectic Malagasy musician and producer Tao Ravao a boisterous encounter.

With a repertoire of selected pieces from the age-old Mandingo epic and chronicle-songs in Sussu or Peulh, all boosted by an urban, groovy, caustic sound, the "Ba" are as much a trail-blazer as Mory Kante was in his younger years.

Rémy Kolpa Kopoul - coNNector