Album Notes

"The music of Balla Tounkara represents the best of tradtion and innovation--a fluid harmony of old world and new.

Native of Mali, West Africa, and schooled in the discipline of traditional African music, he brings an incredible ear for structure and rhythmic nuance to contemporary styles from rock, reggae, and hiphop to gospel and blues.

A true virtuoso of the kora, he can make its harp-like strings produce the hummingbird trills of tradional African melodies, or belt out the soulful base tones of the blues.

On this recording, his debut CD with the band, he also demonstrates his agility as an arranger, layering each song as a complex pastiche of culture, philosophy and muscial idiom--a crossroads in his musical journey through the world.

'The kora can play any music in the world,' Balla says.

'Its my dream to put the kora into my own experience--to put the culture of Mali into modern styles.' No one else puts the kora through so many stylistic changes.

He is a kind of bard, or troubador: for Balla, the kora is not just an instrument, its the spiritual accompaniment to his deepest thoughts on life, religion, politics, and culture.

He plays whatever he hears; the kora represents his response to his surroundings.

Its part of his eloquence, as much as his singing voice and the lyrics he composes.

All this derives from his upbringing as a "griot": the traditional bard/singer/storyteller/peacemaker native to the Mandinka people of Mali, West Africa.

Its a role handed down through families, for generations; it lies at the core of Balla's relationship to music, and to art in general."

Catherine A. Salmons critic, The Boston Phoenix