BASSIDI KONÉ RELEASES HIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM KAÏRA
ON REMOTE RECORDS the 20 Décembre 2022
LISTEN TO THE FIRST SINGLE ‘AN KA BEN’
bassidikoné.hearnow.com/an-ka...
bassidikone.bandcamp.com/albu...
Enjoy this video from Bwazan's festival, The Nights of Djembe & Balafon, filmed in Bamako in 2020. Stay tuned for the live performance of Kaïra, coming in early 2023.
An Kan Ben is an explosive fusion of Malian Manding and Cuban Son music, an amalgam that dates back centuries, and was codified with musical exchanges initiated by Mali’s first President Modibo Keita and Fidel Castro in the 1960s.
Featuring the voices of Namian Sidibé and Vito Calia, band leader Bassidi Koné deftly pilots An Kan Ben, playing his djembé at supersonic speed and with stunning precision and musicality. Flanked by his lifelong musical collaborator Kalifa Koné on balafon, the horns of Australian Will Larson, and a red hot rhythm section composed of Mali’s top Afro-Jazz players including Sekou Bah on bass, An Ka Ben is a skillful and resolute call for action that will make you believe peace is possible.
Kaira is a cry from the heart to find universal peace, and his first solo album following three releases with his family band Bwazan (Bwa children), whose mission is to perpetuate, and innovate the original songs of their Bwa ethnicity.
Bassidi’s home team provides a tightly arranged and expertly executed foundation for the album, but on Kaira, Bassidi reaches out to his extended family of Africa’s finest singers and musicians, demonstrating his ostensibly infinite artistic range. This influential list includes n’goni legend Bassekou Kouyaté and niece Kankou Kouyaté who team up on the cool, pensive Toukarangue, sage & master of the kora, Mamadou Diabaté and his eminently popular wife Safi Diabaté on the title track Kaïra, the doyen of the sumu guitar, Modibo ‘Gauche’ Diabaté on Bajuru which also features Safi, djembe icon Petit Adama Diarra plays on Kaira and Bajuru, and an array of-up-and-coming stars like Namian Sidibé who are sure to keep Mali at the top of the music charts for generations to come.
Kaïra, episodically retraces the challenges Bassidi has had to overcome to arrive at the top of his class today, and it is also a cry from the heart to find universal peace in a world that is plagued by conflicts, drought, famine and other natural disasters linked to climate change. Bassidi knows the formula for overcoming obstacles, and the strength and courage that emanate from the music on Kaïra is guaranteed to lift you up.