Bagola

In their new album Bagola, Trio Da Kali present newly-composed songs accompanied on balafon and ngoniba, that provide a rich accompaniment to the spectacular voice of Hawa Kasse Mady Diabaté. She inherits her singing style from her father, the late Kasse Mady Diabaté, who was widely recognised as one of Africa’s all-time greatest singers, and won a Grammy nomination in 2004.Hawa’s voice has an exquisite purity and expressiveness, with a wide emotional range. She is equally at home in the lively, 9/8 rhythms of the title track Bagola, alight-hearted critique of men in Malian society, to the soulful Orpaillage, a song that laments the destruction of land from gold-panning. Orpaillage was in fact composed on the spot in the studio, respecting the creative chemistry between these three musicians.The musical director of the trio is balafon (xylophone) player Lassana Diabaté, born in Guinea into a well-known family of balafon musicians. His remarkable dexterity on the balafon earned him a place in Toumani Diabaté’s Symmetric Orchestra, and later on in the group Afrocubism (featuring Eliades Ochoa). He has collaborated with many musicians, including bluesman Taj Mahal on the album Kulanjan. With two balafons of 22 rosewood keys each, tuned to play chromatic scales, Lassana Diabaté achieves a perfect balance of rhythm, melody, harmony and virtuosic embellishment. David Harrington, leader of Kronos Quartet,compares him to none other than JS Bach. Underpinning the balafon with compulsive groove, is the large ngoniba, played with brilliant musicality by Madou Kouyaté (son of Bassekou Kouyaté and member of his group Ngoniba). Madou,the youngest member of Trio Da Kali, also adds rich harmonies with his deep breathy voice to the songs.Bagolais a showcase of Trio Da Kali’s entrancing and unique sound, only equalled by their magical performances on stage