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Kora player, singer and songwriter Zal Sissokho was born in Senegal and arrived in Montreal in 1999. He has recorded several albums and performed on stage, both as a soloist and with other artists such [...]
Kora Flamenca
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They spoke about it
An exciting journey.
— LaPresse.ca
Surprising and magnificent […] Enchanting and warm, this album creates a natural dialogue between the guitar and the kora.
— ICI Musique
Album information
This recording is the fruit of a musical project that I nurtured over a long period of time. The idea was born during a trip to Seville, when I first became interested in the sounds of flamenco. I was fascinated by the playing techniques of the musicians I met in Andalusia, and became set on creating music that would combine flamenco with the Mandinka culture of my native West Africa. When I was offered an artistic residency by the Centre des musiciens du monde in 2018, I approached Caroline Planté, a musician with more than 25 years’ experience as a composer, soloist and performer, but also one of the few women around today who plays the flamenco guitar professionally. Other collaborators on this project include Miguel Medina on percussion, Mohamed Masmoudi on oud and on double bass, and Jean Félix Mailloux on double bass. I am infinitely grateful for their contributions to this intimate, acoustic ensemble.
With this creation, I sought to expand the limits of my instrument, the kora, as far as possible. Inspired by soaring improvisational flamenco riffs, I tried to create a hybrid style that blends the traditional kora playing technique with flamenco influences. I call this style “tradimodern”. In my mind, musical inspiration begins with respect for the instrument’s tradition, history and sounds. Then, through various encounters and experiments, I sought to take the playing technique even further and at the same time push my collaborators to stimulate each other, to create music in which composition, technical prowess and improvisation unite in perfect harmony.
Zal Sissokho
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The Centre des musiciens du monde’s Collection
This collection features works created during artistic residencies offered by the Centre des musiciens du monde. In our modern age, when life moves at a frenetic pace, the Centre wanted to offer musicians the luxury of time to experiment, to write, to scrap what they’d done and start again: to fully explore their ideas and imagination. These residencies therefore provide time and space for artists, where they can meet other people, forge lasting musical relationships and nourish their creativity. The Centre is open to a wide range of artistic projects, which are selected on the basis of their quality and musicality.
Kiya Tabassian,
the Collection’s Artistic Director
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