Kora Days | Tamala – Joel Rabesolo & Justin Vali feat. Ballaké Sissoko

After successful years as a trio, with countless concerts at home and abroad and countless awards – from the Klara to the Octave de la Musique for best world music album – the successful trio around the Senegalese kora player Bao Sissoko, his fellow countryman with a magical voice Mola Sylla and the adventurous Belgian violinist Wouter Vandenabeele teams up with Olivier Vander Bauwede, the most promising harmonica player in our region, who also turns out to be an excellent guitarist. In this line-up, the band’s strengths come into their own even better. Get ready for surprising West African music that navigates between power and subtlety, between Mandinka tradition, Western folk and jazz, between dream and reality. Tamala stands for improvisation and interaction, barbed music that regularly puts a broad smile on your face.

Madagascar, the red island along the African East Coast, consists of a special mix of African, Asian and Arabic influences. You will find distant relatives of the kora with the valiha and the marovany. Although the valiha (around a bamboo tube) and the marovany (strings on a wooden box) are not technically harps but are zithers, they fulfill the same role as the kora in West African music. Moreover, the specific guitar style of Madagascar is strongly based on Valiha and Marovany melodies. We asked the virtuoso guitarist Joel Rabesolo, known from bands such as Malagasy Guitar Masters and Toko Telo, to create a new duo with the famous Valiha and Marovany player Justin Vali, known for his solo albums on Real World and bands such as Ny Malagasy. Orkestra and Malagasy All Stars. As an extra icing on the cake, they invite the Senegalese kora player Ballake Sissoko to play a few songs at their premiere.