We are pleased to present this week Paris-based Malian musician Ballake Sissoko. Balloke, who needs no introduction among most francophone West Africans, plays the Kora, an ancient harp, with 21 strings that produces a soothing kind of music.
Ballake, like most traditional West African musicians, comes from a long line of Kora playing griots or traditional singers and oral historians.
The griots are in fact a special group of musicians who hand over their skills from father to son although it sometimes happens that a female member of a griot family can become a Kora player. In fact because of changes in attitude these days, female Kora players are quite common in West Africa and in the diaspora.
Sissoko’s father, Jelimady, was also a successful Kora player but not as successful as his son, Ballake, who has moved from Bamako, Mali, to Paris, France. He now plays to international audiences in Europe and other parts of the world and frequently collaborates with several renowned musicians living in France and elsewhere.
Here is Ballake with French cellist Vincent Segal with whom he has produced his most recent album, Chamber Music:
Photo Credit: Benoit Peverelli.
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