Toumani Diabaté & Ballaké Sissoko duet kora concert.
www.KORA-manding-harps.com
Bafoulabe ("the meeting of two rivers") is loosely based on one of the great tunes from the Mande griot repertoire. It commemorates the shooting of a hippopotamus in Bafoulabe, a small town in the savannah region of north-west Mali where the Senegal and Bafin rivers meet. The hippo is normally considered a destructive animal, but this one was loved by all the villagers, and with this song they mourned its loss. Toumani composed this version in three variations, starting with and angular, stately melody punctuated by the players striking the kora's wooden handles with the first fingers, before dissolving into lyrical, hym-like variations.