Bridging two cultures
After producing three albums as a trio, the Kora Jazz Band has doubled its numbers and taken on Manu Dibango, Andy Narell and Omar Marquez for its latest collection. An album overshadowed by bereavement following the death of kora player Soriba Kouyaté a few days after recording ended.
It was in the West of Africa, in Dakar, that the Kora Jazz Trio sprung up, initiated by Abdoulaye Diabaté. "At the time I was leading the National Orchestra of Senegal with 66 musicians,” reminisces the pianist, who was already attracted to jazz and spent many a night playing the piano in a big hotel. “Jazz didn’t come straight from my world, I used to play by repeating what I’d heard. I don’t think I understood all the notions of harmony, counterpoint and improvisation,” he now admits. “It was only later, when I won a French grant to study music at the CIM* in Paris that I got a chance to really get to the depths of it." (continue reading)
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Tracklisting
All Blues - Kuma - Catarina - Oye Como Va - Ewagne - Mandjou
Spain - Soukou Papaye - Banekh - Madiba
