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CLE 027LP
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$18.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/10/2020
LP version. In the early 1970s, a devastating drought brought famine to the West African Sahel. This environmental disaster destroyed the region's agricultural and livestock economy. Millions of people were affected. International relief efforts tried to send emergency aid. "Les Bateaux", the title track of this album, recalls those hard years. It paints a scene of Malian villagers standing on the banks of the Niger River anxiously awaiting the boats carrying food. Mamadou Kelly remembers those years as he calls out the name of each boat's longed for appearance over the horizon. Kelly sings about life. He praises and thanks those who do admirable things. He evokes the spirits of collective memory. Seemingly simple, upon listening, his songs reveal multi-layered complexity. He is a master of the desert blues. His group on this album includes longtime colleague Aly Magassa (electric guitar), Kande Sissoko (ngoni), and Hamadoun "Afo" Guindo (percussion). They are joined on tracks by Malian musicians Adama Sidibe (balafon(, Madou Diabate (violin), and Hama Sangho (backup vocal), as well as American friends Jacob Silver (bass), Cindy Cashdollar (lap steel guitar), and David Rothenberg (clarinets). Les Bateaux was recorded live in Bamako and New York. The tracks were mixed in New York and Los Angeles, and mastered in New York.
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CLE 027CD
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In the early 1970s, a devastating drought brought famine to the West African Sahel. This environmental disaster destroyed the region's agricultural and livestock economy. Millions of people were affected. International relief efforts tried to send emergency aid. "Les Bateaux", the title track of this album, recalls those hard years. It paints a scene of Malian villagers standing on the banks of the Niger River anxiously awaiting the boats carrying food. Mamadou Kelly remembers those years as he calls out the name of each boat's longed for appearance over the horizon. Kelly sings about life. He praises and thanks those who do admirable things. He evokes the spirits of collective memory. Seemingly simple, upon listening, his songs reveal multi-layered complexity. He is a master of the desert blues. His group on this album includes longtime colleague Aly Magassa (electric guitar), Kande Sissoko (ngoni), and Hamadoun "Afo" Guindo (percussion). They are joined on tracks by Malian musicians Adama Sidibe (balafon(, Madou Diabate (violin), and Hama Sangho (backup vocal), as well as American friends Jacob Silver (bass), Cindy Cashdollar (lap steel guitar), and David Rothenberg (clarinets). Les Bateaux was recorded live in Bamako and New York. The tracks were mixed in New York and Los Angeles, and mastered in New York. CD version contains four bonus tracks including a techno remix by David Harrow as well as Dave Cook's remix of two tracks from Kelly's recent EP, Ni Allah.
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CLE 025LP
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LP version. Oumar Konate's brilliant new studio album, I Love You Inna, was recorded in Bamako Mali during the Spring of 2018. A superstar in Mali, Oumar can be found every weekend playing in nightclubs, concert halls, and on festival stages across that country. He can shred like no other on electric guitar and at the same time make you cry. I Love You Inna, his fifth album, features on bass long-time collaborator Dramane Toure, former lead guitarist for the late great Khaira Arby, and on percussion power-house drummer Makan Camara. Oumar invited other friends into the sessions to add their unique perspective to the project. Sometimes jubilant, sometimes angry, Oumar reflects the mood of young people in Mali today. His songs range from love songs to dance anthems to ballads. This is new music is from an award-winning singer/songwriter whom audiences from all over his country adore.
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CLE 025CD
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Oumar Konate's brilliant new studio album, I Love You Inna, was recorded in Bamako Mali during the Spring of 2018. A superstar in Mali, Oumar can be found every weekend playing in nightclubs, concert halls, and on festival stages across that country. He can shred like no other on electric guitar and at the same time make you cry. I Love You Inna, his fifth album, features on bass long-time collaborator Dramane Toure, former lead guitarist for the late great Khaira Arby, and on percussion power-house drummer Makan Camara. Oumar invited other friends into the sessions to add their unique perspective to the project. Sometimes jubilant, sometimes angry, Oumar reflects the mood of young people in Mali today. His songs range from love songs to dance anthems to ballads. This is new music is from an award-winning singer/songwriter whom audiences from all over his country adore.
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CLE 024CD
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Hama Sankare, legend of Mali's desert blues, releases Niafunke, his second brilliant album recorded March 2018 in Bamako. Sankare brought into the studio dynamic young headliners, Oumar Konate, Dramane Toure, and Makan Camara along with long time colleagues Afel Bocoum, Yoro Cisse, and Kande Sissoko to forge a set of blazing tracks that breath new energy into the genre, breaking old formulas all the while honoring traditional roots. Niafunke, a city in Mali along the Niger River near Timbuktu is where Sankare continues to live with his family. He, Bocoum, and Cisse were contemporary collaborators with Ali Farka Toure whose home was also there; they can be heard on many of Farka's albums. Sankare's spirit engages everyone he meets. He has absorbed musical influences from around the world which he brings to these ten tracks. Personnel: Alpha Ousmane "Hama" Sankaré - vocal, calabash; Oumar Konaté - guitar; Dramane Touré - bass; Makan Camara - drums, percussion; Afel Bocoum - backup vocal, spoken word; Yoro Cissé - monochord; Alibaba Traoré - guitar; Kande Sissoko - ngoni; Sékou Toure - backup vocal.
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CLE 024LP
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LP version. Hama Sankare, legend of Mali's desert blues, releases Niafunke, his second brilliant album recorded March 2018 in Bamako. Sankare brought into the studio dynamic young headliners, Oumar Konate, Dramane Toure, and Makan Camara along with long time colleagues Afel Bocoum, Yoro Cisse, and Kande Sissoko to forge a set of blazing tracks that breath new energy into the genre, breaking old formulas all the while honoring traditional roots. Niafunke, a city in Mali along the Niger River near Timbuktu is where Sankare continues to live with his family. He, Bocoum, and Cisse were contemporary collaborators with Ali Farka Toure whose home was also there; they can be heard on many of Farka's albums. Sankare's spirit engages everyone he meets. He has absorbed musical influences from around the world which he brings to these ten tracks. Personnel: Alpha Ousmane "Hama" Sankaré - vocal, calabash; Oumar Konaté - guitar; Dramane Touré - bass; Makan Camara - drums, percussion; Afel Bocoum - backup vocal, spoken word; Yoro Cissé - monochord; Alibaba Traoré - guitar; Kande Sissoko - ngoni; Sékou Toure - backup vocal.
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CLE 022CD
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Sékou Bah has performed on stages around the world; he was musical director for Oumou Sangaré and he was a member of Salif Keita's band for several years. Currently, Sékou is bassist with Fatoumata Diawara. On Soukabbè Mali, Sékou collaborates with some of the best musicians working today in Mali including Harouna Samaké and Antoine LeRoi. Brilliant playing, smooth vocals and a suave sound bring this album from Mali to the fore. The last two tracks are remixed for dance clubs, and the album also remembers the superb young balafonist Amadou Keita, who died in a traffic accident a few short weeks after recording on this album.
Personnel: Sékou Bah - bass, lead vocal, guitar; Yacouba Koné - lead guitar; Mamadou "Prince" Koné - percussion; Yero Dicko - rhythm guitar; Cherif Soumano - kora; Harouna Samaké - kamel ngoni, vocals; Antoine LeRoi - acoustic guitar; Will Calhoun - drums; Amadou Keita - balafon; Ami Koité - vocals; Hawa Maiga - vocals; Master Soumy - rap vocals.
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CLE 021CD
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With 6 Mulleres, Sumrrá pays tribute to six powerful women that were, and still are, an inspiration in fighting for a brighter future for all humanity: Frida Kahlo and Rosa Parks from the Americas, Rosalía De Castro from Galicia, Qui Jin from China, Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan, and Nawal El Saadawi from Egypt. 6 Mulleres is a 21st Century contemporary musical approach to feminism. Personnel: Xacobe Martínez Antelo - bass; Manuel Gutiérrez Iglesias - piano; L.A.R. Legido - drums.
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CLE 021LP
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LP version. With 6 Mulleres, Sumrrá pays tribute to six powerful women that were, and still are, an inspiration in fighting for a brighter future for all humanity: Frida Kahlo and Rosa Parks from the Americas, Rosalía De Castro from Galicia, Qui Jin from China, Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan, and Nawal El Saadawi from Egypt. 6 Mulleres is a 21st Century contemporary musical approach to feminism. Personnel: Xacobe Martínez Antelo - bass; Manuel Gutiérrez Iglesias - piano; L.A.R. Legido - drums.
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CLE 020CD
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Smoke-filled nightclub -- VIP sections -- seductive ladies in slinky dresses -- guys strutting their stuff -- Saturday night at the club -- Bamako. Recorded live in March of 2017 at the Songhoy, one of the several clubs in Bamako where you can find Oumar Konaté holding court on Friday and Saturday nights. The place is packed by 1AM. Then the high-energy Afro-rock kicks into gear. Around 2AM, Oumar slips into Takamba rhythm and everyone jumps up to dance; like everywhere else in the world, people are having fun on the weekend. An award-winning musician from Mali, Oumar Konaté represents the new generation, influenced by music from around the world. Konaté is a rocker who can deliver heartfelt acoustic ballads as well as jam-band brash crowd-pleasing solos. On these recordings, the core band was: Oumar Konaté - lead guitar and vocals; Mahalmadane Traoré and Makan Camara - drums; Dramane Touré - bass; John F Dilligent - keyboards. The band was joined by a loyal cadre of young talent who add their spice to the mix. Without a doubt, the crowd has come to party and Oumar does not disappoint.
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CLE 018LP
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LP version. Alpha Ousmane "Hama" Sankaré (aka Pedro) is a legend. He has anchored the bands of many great artists of Mali: Ali Farka Toure, Afel Bocoum, le Troupe Regionale de Niafunké, l'Orchestre de Gao, Songhoy Allstars, and Mamadou Kelly's BanKaiNa, and he can be heard on many of the seminal recordings of Mali's music. He is the master of contemporary calabash percussion and defined it's the playing style. He has toured the world. Hama's influence is unchallenged as composer, arranger, and instrumentalist. Unbelievably, Ballébé - Calling All Africans is the first album in his own name! A musical adventurer, Hama explores sounds and is constantly expanding his repertoire. His knowledge of tradition reaches deeply into the past as he looks into the future for inspiration. For this album, Hama sought a variety of sounds. He asked Grammy-winning guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, whom he met in Woodstock New York in 2016, to bring her distinctive slide guitars to some of the tunes. He also asked the young singer Sekou Touré to join him. Oumar Konaté brought his guitar virtuoso skills and Sekou Bah anchors the tracks on bass. Also joining in were Mahalmadane Traoré on drums and Brehima "Yoro" Cissé and Bouba Cissao on traditional stringed instruments. To explore contemporary electronic sounds, Hama asked David Harrow in Los Angeles to mix two of the songs, pushing genre boundaries. Hama looked for loops and effects in the mix to reflect his diverse influences, while always remaining centered in Niafunke desert blues, his home in the Niger River Delta of Mali. A tour de force by Malian master musician Hama Sankaré. CD version includes two tracks: an instrumental of "Middo Wara" and a radio edit of "Haira Alhawa".
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CLE 018CD
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Alpha Ousmane "Hama" Sankaré (aka Pedro) is a legend. He has anchored the bands of many great artists of Mali: Ali Farka Toure, Afel Bocoum, le Troupe Regionale de Niafunké, l'Orchestre de Gao, Songhoy Allstars, and Mamadou Kelly's BanKaiNa, and he can be heard on many of the seminal recordings of Mali's music. He is the master of contemporary calabash percussion and defined it's the playing style. He has toured the world. Hama's influence is unchallenged as composer, arranger, and instrumentalist. Unbelievably, Ballébé - Calling All Africans is the first album in his own name! A musical adventurer, Hama explores sounds and is constantly expanding his repertoire. His knowledge of tradition reaches deeply into the past as he looks into the future for inspiration. For this album, Hama sought a variety of sounds. He asked Grammy-winning guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, whom he met in Woodstock New York in 2016, to bring her distinctive slide guitars to some of the tunes. He also asked the young singer Sekou Touré to join him. Oumar Konaté brought his guitar virtuoso skills and Sekou Bah anchors the tracks on bass. Also joining in were Mahalmadane Traoré on drums and Brehima "Yoro" Cissé and Bouba Cissao on traditional stringed instruments. To explore contemporary electronic sounds, Hama asked David Harrow in Los Angeles to mix two of the songs, pushing genre boundaries. Hama looked for loops and effects in the mix to reflect his diverse influences, while always remaining centered in Niafunke desert blues, his home in the Niger River Delta of Mali. A tour de force by Malian master musician Hama Sankaré. CD version includes two tracks: an instrumental of "Middo Wara" and a radio edit of "Haira Alhawa".
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CLE 019LP
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LP version. Standing beside the Niger River esplanade in downtown, Bamako Leila Gobi waves to people in the passing cars. She smiles and laughs with them. Walking down the street she is greeted warmly by strangers. From the distant provincial city Menaka, she has become a successful artist here in the capitol of Mali. 2017 is Leila Gobi's second album on Clermont Music. It was recorded in Hampathe Bah Studio, on the second floor of a group of buildings off the main road in a suburb of western Bamako. The sessions were intimate. The tracks were laid without effects, clean. Leila wanted to produce an album that brought a new dimension to her music. The problem was how to create this new sound with only the basic tools available in Mali. It is almost impossible for musicians there to find the equipment available to the average westerner. The talent is there, just not the hardware. And electric power failures and poor communications infrastructure interrupt regularly. The final sounds were found in the studio while mixing in the synthesizers and electronic effects. Tracks were mixed and mastered in Bamako, New York, and Los Angeles. Remaining faithful to the underlying roots of the music, 2017 bridges genres. The album forges the origins of trance, beats, and loops with new technology, a fusion of many influences. And across it all, Leila Gobi's unmistakable voice shines through. Personnel: Leila Walet Gobi - vocals; Khalil M. Touré - guitars; Amadou Dembélé - bass; Abdourhamane Salaha - calabash, conga, percussion.
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CLE 019CD
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Standing beside the Niger River esplanade in downtown, Bamako Leila Gobi waves to people in the passing cars. She smiles and laughs with them. Walking down the street she is greeted warmly by strangers. From the distant provincial city Menaka, she has become a successful artist here in the capitol of Mali. 2017 is Leila Gobi's second album on Clermont Music. It was recorded in Hampathe Bah Studio, on the second floor of a group of buildings off the main road in a suburb of western Bamako. The sessions were intimate. The tracks were laid without effects, clean. Leila wanted to produce an album that brought a new dimension to her music. The problem was how to create this new sound with only the basic tools available in Mali. It is almost impossible for musicians there to find the equipment available to the average westerner. The talent is there, just not the hardware. And electric power failures and poor communications infrastructure interrupt regularly. The final sounds were found in the studio while mixing in the synthesizers and electronic effects. Tracks were mixed and mastered in Bamako, New York, and Los Angeles. Remaining faithful to the underlying roots of the music, 2017 bridges genres. The album forges the origins of trance, beats, and loops with new technology, a fusion of many influences. And across it all, Leila Gobi's unmistakable voice shines through. Personnel: Leila Walet Gobi - vocals; Khalil M. Touré - guitars; Amadou Dembélé - bass; Abdourhamane Salaha - calabash, conga, percussion.
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CLE 017CD
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Afro-rock across America; Oumar Konaté with his power trio blasted from coast to coast on their 2014 tour. An award-winning musician and arranger at home in Mali, Oumar represents a new generation, forging his own traditions influenced by music from around the world. This African rocker blew everyone away; his concerts were on fire. The band's sound ranged from hard rock thrash to subtle acoustic ballads and the lyrics spanned blues laments about girls, rages against war and corruption, to jokes about the fast pace of a big city. Oumar and his bandmates continue to proudly live in Mali where they play weekly in Bamako clubs to packed crowds. Oumar Konaté, with his bandmates Makan Camara and Cheick Siriman Sissoko are an Afro-rock power trio of young stars. Live In America features live tracks, recorded in 2014 during their USA concert tour. Oumar opens with blazing electric guitar tracks. During the show, he cools it down to poignant lament.
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CLE 016LP
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RSD 2017 release. Mamadou Kelly transforms desert blues with modern sophistication. Mamadou Kelly's third album, Politiki brings Kelly and his group BanKaiNa together with Grammy-winning steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, drummer Susie Ibarra, bassist Jake Silver, and guitarist Dan Littleton, into a dynamic fusion. Backing musicians for such Malian greats as Ali Farka Toure and Afel Bocoum, Kelly and BanKaiNa push traditions into new waves of sound from the Sahara.
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CLE 016CD
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Mamadou Kelly transforms desert blues with modern sophistication. Mamadou Kelly's third album, Politiki brings Kelly and his group BanKaiNa together with Grammy-winning steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, drummer Susie Ibarra, bassist Jake Silver, and guitarist Dan Littleton, into a dynamic fusion. Backing musicians for such Malian greats as Ali Farka Toure and Afel Bocoum, Kelly and BanKaiNa push traditions into new waves of sound from the Sahara.
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CLE 013LP
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Imarhan Timbuktu, Dintchéré and Ousmane Ag Oumar present Timbuktu Echoes. Shock, sadness, nostalgia. A world shattered. Acoustic guitars echo the pain of dislocation, the loss of a past and the impediments to the future. Imarhan Timbuktu, renowned Tuareg band from Timbuktu in the Sahara, is featured on five of these ten tracks. Their rhythm guitarist, Ousmane Ag Oumar, contributes two solo pieces. The third group, Dintchéré, are young musicians from Timbuktu. Music doesn't provide the answer. It's only therapy. Waiting in empty rooms, in refugee tents, at campfires in the desert brush. Geopolitics. As always, innocent people are left as collateral damage. Cultures erased. These ten tracks are meditations on hope and despair, haunting with hypnotic guitar grooves. An abruptly reordered world has put dreams on hold. Includes download code.
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CLE 014CD
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In the title-track of his second album, Malian guitarist Oumar Konaté shouts out to his sister, warning her about gunfire and violence in the streets. Konaté's Maya Maya comes from a country in turmoil. Shifting between acoustic melancholy ("Wango Maben") and hard rock ("Hinchi Hinchi"), Konaté and his power trio are 21st-century West African millennials slammed by geopolitics, shocked by an uncertain future, and stymied by fundamentalism, corruption, and failed economies. Known to friends simply as "le Maestro," Konaté is a guitar genius. Sought after as bandleader and performer, Konaté has played from Bamako to Gao (most Friday nights he can be found in residency at the Club Songhoy in Bamako) and from Europe to New York to Los Angeles. Drummer Makan Camara is perhaps the best in West Africa. Bassist Cheick Siriman Sissoko is also a well-known singer. These three are a power trio on the level of Cream or Band of Gypsies. The songs tell a story of hope for peace and normalcy despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges.
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CLE 015CD
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Winners of the Best Jazz and Improvisational Music Award at Spain's 2014 Premios Martín Códax da Música, Sumrrá are pianist Manuel Gutierrez, bassist Xacobe Martínez Antelo, and drummer L.A.R. Legido. The most exciting trio on the Spanish jazz scene today, their performances express assured conviction and a sound filled with dynamism, lyricism, and humor. Coming together informally at first in the summer of 2000, these three superb musicians have built a solid understanding of each other's voices. That instinct combines with superb technique to inform their music with a freedom of improvisational invention. Sumrrá have had a consistent trajectory in the music scene in Spain. In addition to their many concerts throughout the Iberian Peninsula, Sumrrá have also performed to great applause internationally during tours in France, Bolivia, Bulgaria, and South Africa. In September 2015 they performed at the famed Tanjazz festival in Morocco. These musicians share a passion for improvisation and open musical form. As bassist Xacobe Martinez Antelo puts it, "The truth is that we do not take any model... Our way of working is about compositions... and that marks the development of the trio, our roles, and our sound." 5 Viajes / 5 Journeys is Sumrrá's fifth album. CD includes one extra track.
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CLE 015LP
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LP version. Winners of the Best Jazz and Improvisational Music Award at Spain's 2014 Premios Martín Códax da Música, Sumrrá are pianist Manuel Gutierrez, bassist Xacobe Martínez Antelo, and drummer L.A.R. Legido. The most exciting trio on the Spanish jazz scene today, their performances express assured conviction and a sound filled with dynamism, lyricism, and humor. Coming together informally at first in the summer of 2000, these three superb musicians have built a solid understanding of each other's voices. That instinct combines with superb technique to inform their music with a freedom of improvisational invention. Sumrrá have had a consistent trajectory in the music scene in Spain. In addition to their many concerts throughout the Iberian Peninsula, Sumrrá have also performed to great applause internationally during tours in France, Bolivia, Bulgaria, and South Africa. In September 2015 they performed at the famed Tanjazz festival in Morocco. These musicians share a passion for improvisation and open musical form. As bassist Xacobe Martinez Antelo puts it, "The truth is that we do not take any model... Our way of working is about compositions... and that marks the development of the trio, our roles, and our sound." 5 Viajes / 5 Journeys is Sumrrá's fifth album.
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CLE 012LP
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LP version. Mamadou Kelly comes from Goundam near Timbuktu, the heart of the Niger River inner delta. Having played alongside its masters, Kelly and his group Ban Kai Na bring a new sophistication to the desert blues genre. With his 2013 album, Adibar (CLE 007CD), Kelly stepped onto the international stage to present his own repertoire as soloist and band leader. He received accolades when he toured North America, performing at major festivals and concert halls while recording this album. His band members are old friends: Alpha "Hama" Sankare, revered genius on calabash and longtime collaborator; master of the monochord djourkel Brehima "Youro" Cisse; and the young, gifted bassist Baba Traore. For Djamila, Kelly wanted to expand the sound and invited western musicians to contribute to the groove. Calling in some neighbors from Woodstock, NY, producer Chris Nolan added Pete Levin on keyboards, Duke McVinnie on electric guitars, and Jane Scarpantoni on cello. Also on hand at the sessions was Leila Gobi, prominent vocalist from Ménaka in Northern Mali, who provides chorus backup on three of the tracks. Kelly's smooth vocals and deceptively effortless guitar playing quickly charm his audiences. Steeped in rich historical background, his lyrical style combined with Ban Kai Na's virtuosic delivery makes it all sound so easy. Yet at the time of these recordings they all had just witnessed severe political unrest and social violence in Mali. It was a real presence during the sessions. You can hear it, the real source of the blues.
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CLE 012CD
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Mamadou Kelly comes from Goundam near Timbuktu, the heart of the Niger River inner delta. Having played alongside its masters, Kelly and his group Ban Kai Na bring a new sophistication to the desert blues genre. With his 2013 album, Adibar (CLE 007CD), Kelly stepped onto the international stage to present his own repertoire as soloist and band leader. He received accolades when he toured North America, performing at major festivals and concert halls while recording this album. His band members are old friends: Alpha "Hama" Sankare, revered genius on calabash and longtime collaborator; master of the monochord djourkel Brehima "Youro" Cisse; and the young, gifted bassist Baba Traore. For Djamila, Kelly wanted to expand the sound and invited western musicians to contribute to the groove. Calling in some neighbors from Woodstock, NY, producer Chris Nolan added Pete Levin on keyboards, Duke McVinnie on electric guitars, and Jane Scarpantoni on cello. Also on hand at the sessions was Leila Gobi, prominent vocalist from Ménaka in Northern Mali, who provides chorus backup on three of the tracks. Kelly's smooth vocals and deceptively effortless guitar playing quickly charm his audiences. Steeped in rich historical background, his lyrical style combined with Ban Kai Na's virtuosic delivery makes it all sound so easy. Yet at the time of these recordings they all had just witnessed severe political unrest and social violence in Mali. It was a real presence during the sessions. You can hear it, the real source of the blues.
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CLE 011CD
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Legendary desert blues diva of Timbuktu Khaira Arby presents her fifth album, Gossip, her first since 2010's Timbuktu Tarab (CLE 005CD). Khaira was one of the first women to break onto the music scene in Mali in the late 1970s. Her powerful voice and dynamic stage presence endeared her immediately to audiences and she quickly became a sought after performer. Having won many awards including the prestigious Tamani d'Or (Golden Drum), Mali's Grammy, Khaira has kept pushing the boundaries of her genre. Not content to stay locked into traditional griot formats, her music has grown as she encounters other cultural influences. Mali is home to several ethnicities, each with their own traditional roots. Ethnomusicologists have written that the origin of the American delta blues is in the music of the Niger River delta as it flows past Niafunke, Timbuktu, and Gao. A cousin by marriage to Ali Farka Touré, who is credited by Westerners as the link to the roots of the blues, Khaira Arby is the female vocalist who most closely represents that tradition. Drawing on traditional songs, melodies, and formats from her youth, she freely adapts elements into many of the pieces on Gossip. While on tours in North America and Europe during 2010, 2011, and 2012, Khaira recorded the base tracks for the album, which takes its title from a translation of "Tchini Tchini," the first of the album's tracks to be recorded. During this same period, political and social conditions in Mali destabilized. Rebellion, coup d'état, corruption, invasion, fundamentalism all forced Khaira to abandon her home in Timbuktu and flee to the capital, Bamako. Since 2012, she has collaborated with a number of musicians on songs dedicated to peace. Gossip features two songs in particular from this troubled period: "Djamba" and "La Liberte," both pleas for tolerance and an end to conflict. The album also includes traditional wedding songs ("Al Jama'a Bisimillah"), songs of praise ("Haidara George" in honor of George Cheicknè Moulay, "Chris" in honor of Chris Nolan, "Oumou Sall" in honor of Madame Oumou Sall Seck (mayor of Goundam), and "Tandina" in praise of the Touré clan, in particular Hamane "Bastos" Touré, guitarist for Khaira until his death shortly before the song was recorded, and father of Khaira's present guitarist, Dramane Touré), and adaptations of traditional songs ("Alouha Homoli" and "Hala").
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CLE 009CD
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Addoh is Oumar Konate's international debut album. Recorded during the historic 2012-2013 political crisis in Mali, it represents a transition in his musical journey, a sound treatise on the emotions and experiences of young Malians as they lived through the rebellion and coup d'etat that was shattering their country and their dreams of a better future. Recorded in Africa and the U.S., these tracks reflect contributions by several master African and American musicians. The combination of ancient and modern instruments reveals the sophistication of the many gifted artists in Africa. Versed in tradition and connected by global media, they combine sounds in new ways, expressing their aspirations and ideas. And through it all, Konate's guitar shreds. Mahalmadane Traoré (drums, calabash, conga); Dramane Toure (bass and rhythm guitar); Professor Louie (keyboards, Hammond organ, grand piano and accordion); Zoumane Tekereta: (traditional violin); Adramane Idrissa Maiga (ngoni); Amadou Keita (djembe); Cheick Diallo (wooden flute); Sidiki Diabaté (kora); and The Debo Band horn section.
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