MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama
Latest editorial
Marvels from Mali
TONY BURKE recommends recent releases from the epicentre of kora music and desert blues
MAKING CONNECTIONS: Ballake Sissoko
[Ggal/CC]
STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away
GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters
SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime
RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today
TWO years in the making, Ballake Sissoko’s Djourou (**** No Format) draws together solo compositions alongside collaborations with a number of artists including Salif Keita, leading female kora player Sona Jobarteh, cellist Vincent Segal, French rapper Oxmo Puccino, singer-songwriter Piers Faccini and Arthur Teboul, the singer from Paris rock band Feu! Chatterton.
Djourou is the Bambara word meaning string and the kora has 21 of them. The string here refers to the connection with the artists who appear on the album.
Similar stories
New releases from Toby Hay, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Dobson & The Hanging Stars
Reviews of Ella Fitzgerald, My Morning Jacket, and Toria Wooff
New releases by Samba Touré, Santrofi, and Piers Faccini & Ballake Sissoko
New releases from Steve Knightley, Sunjay, Sociograss