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A Touma

by Ballaké Sissoko

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1.
2.
Demba Kunda 06:20
3.
Simbo Salaba 04:30
4.
Akilimaya 04:54
5.
Mande Tabolo 06:14
6.
7.
An Badidjo 04:35
8.

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For the first time in Nø Førmat’s history, the CD and vinyl editions of ‘A Touma’ will be available exclusively to Nø Førmat! subscribers. Subscribe to the PASS and get all of our productions of the year!

After the success of Djourou, the Malian virtuoso returns for an intimate tête à tête with his kora – intimate yet simple and majestic.

Taking time off from the Djourou sessions, Ballaké recorded these eight instrumental pieces in the intimate confines of the Chapelle Sainte-Apolline in Belgium. Together they proclaim, without need for further evidence, the heights of mastery and freedom that this discreet giant of global music has scaled in his forty-year-long career.

Though two of the pieces also feature on Djourou, the new album gathers together all eight of them in a musical conversation between a master, made of flesh and spirit, and his ‘double’, made of string and wood. It’s a captivating, intimate and authentic testament, recorded in one afternoon, in which Ballaké takes us on a journey, a meandering trip full of majesty that borders on the sacred and touches serene meditative uplands as well as plains criss-crossed by Manding warriors straight out of the epics of a country of whom they are the pride.

As for the title ‘A Touma’, take it to mean ‘this is the moment’: the moment for Ballaké to share the fruits of his maturity, and for us to discover and be blown away.


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Après le succès de l’album Djourou, le virtuose malien revient pour un tête à tête intime avec sa kora. En toute simplicité. En toute majesté.

Lors des sessions d’enregistrement de Djourou, Ballaké a gravé, dans l’intimité de la chapelle Sainte-Apolline, en Belgique, huit pièces instrumentales qui disent à elles seules les sommets de maîtrise et de liberté que tutoie, après quarante ans de carrière, ce discret géant de la musique mondiale. Si deux de ces morceaux figurent sur Djourou, ce nouvel album rassemble les huit pièces de cette conversation musicale entre le maître de chair et d’esprit et son double de cordes et de bois. Un témoignage intime et authentique, enregistré en une après-midi, durant laquelle Ballaké nous emmène avec lui en voyage.
Un périple plein de majesté, qui confine au sacré, et embrasse les sereines collines de la méditation, aussi bien que les grandes plaines où chevauchent les guerriers mandingues, tout droit sortis des épopées d’un pays dont elles font la fierté.

Son nom : A Touma, entendez : « c’est le moment ». Pour Ballaké, de le partager, à l’heure de la maturité. Pour nous, de le découvrir et de nous laisser emporter.

Pour la première fois dans l'histoire de Nø Førmat, l’édition physique (CD / Vinyle) est réservée aux seuls abonnés du label.
Abonnez-vous au PASS 2021 et recevez toutes nos productions de l'année ! Plus d'infos : pass.noformat.net

credits

released September 10, 2021

RECORDED ON OCTOBER 18TH, 2018
BY MICHEL VAN ACHTER AT CHAPELLE SAINTE-APOLLINE, HERVE (BELGIUM)
MIXED BY YOAN JAUNEAUD IN MAY 2021
AT STUDIO KASBAH, LA GRANGE, CAUSSE DE LA SELLE (FR)
MASTERED BY FRANÇOIS FANELLI ON MAY 27TH, 2021
AT SONICS MASTERING STUDIO, PARIS
COMPOSITIONS BY BALLAKÉ SISSOKO
PUBLISHED BY NØ FØRMAT!

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Ballaké Sissoko Bamako, Mali

Ten fingers for twenty-one strings, and magic takes place, surely, calmly. Ballaké Sissoko enlaces us in his suave and crystalline sonority and his kora, magnified by his talent as a melodist and an improviser.

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