Neil Spencer 

Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal: Musique de Nuit review – entranching fusion follow-up

The second set of startling, improvisatory work from the Malian kora player and French cellist ranges wide in its styles
  
  

Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal
Intriguing interplay: Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal. Photograph: Claude Gassian Photograph: Claude Gassian

The Malian kora player and French cellist raised dust with 2011’s Chamber Music, which pulled two seemingly incompatible instruments into a startling, neoclassical fusion. Musique de Nuit maintains the momentum. While there is a formal air to pieces such as Prélude and the title track, improvisation is at the heart of the duo’s interplay – Sissoko’s rooftop in Bamako, not the studio, was the venue for half the recording. The lines between cascading kora and stately cello are wonderfully blurred at times, as the pair take turns to supply rhythm and melody, ranging across Malian mbalax on Super Étoile, Brazilian flavours on Samba Tomora and deep tradition on Diabaro, to which Babani Kone contributes wailing griot vocals. Entrancing stuff.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*