Bassekou Kouyate recorded his new album in Bamako, while the army was rolling into Mali's capital and overthrowing the democratically elected government. Kouyate, his band and his Canadian producer, Howard Bilerman, survived the unrest to create a gritty and passionate album. You can stream the entire recording below on CBC Music, until April 2.
Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba's Jama Ko
Album stream to April 2, 2013
Tracklist
The new video for the title track, "Jama Ko," is also impressive.
Kouyate is referred to by fans as the Jimi Hendrix of the ngoni. He descends from a family of griots, and his pedigree is impeccable. Besides tracing his own lineage back for centuries, Kouyate has explored the roots of the blues with artists like Taj Mahal and Bela Fleck. He was originally invited to Cuba to play on the project that became Buena Vista Social Club, and he’s a core member of one of world music’s biggest super groups, AfroCubism.
Kouyate has previously released two solo albums, and he wanted to change things up for his third. His wife, Amy, has been singing in his band, and now he's added his two young sons, Moustapha and Madou. Kouyate also wanted to work with a new producer who understood and could capture the grit and energy that he brings to his music. While touring in Canada, he stopped for a couple of days in Montreal and worked with Bilerman. The two men had instant chemistry, and Kouyate invited Bilerman to Mali to produce the record.
Last week, Bilerman told CBC Music about arriving in Mali to work on the album, just as the coup broke out and the president was kicked out last March.
And there is yet another Canadian connection: the Barr Brothers also play on the disc. I spoke to Andrew Barr recently about their involvement.
The Barrs are friends with Bilerman, and Andrew gave Bilerman advice about what to expect in West Africa after spending time playing and studying there himself. Knowing both Kouyate’s and the Barrs’ music, Bilerman had an idea for Andrew:
"Hey, as long as I’m going there why don’t you give me a couple tracks?” [Bilerman asked.] Because the Barr Brothers had just been demoing some stuff at a studio. That sounded like a great idea, so I gave him two songs to take with him.
Sure enough, Bilerman had a chance to share the Barr Brothers’ music with Bassekou Kouyate.
So Howard’s over there and he’s recording in Bamako at Bassekou’s studio and … the army stormed into Bamako and there was a coup. And they shut down the airport and Howard was basically locked up in studio with Bassekou, not going outside, and he’s got these Barr brothers tracks and says, “Well as long as we got some time, you feel like playing on some stuff from Canada?” And so the next thing we know we get these awesome videos of Bassekou rocking out to our songs in a studio and it sounds amazing.
Howard had our multitracks in studio and played them for Bassekou, and he liked them enough to grace us with his amazing ngoni styling. So Bassekou played over our stuff and finally the airport opened and Howard came back with the songs and a great story.
After playing on two of the Barr Brothers’ unreleased tunes, it made sense for the brothers to add extra instrumentation to Kouyate’s album.
Bassekou basically shredded the ngoni like Jimi Hendrix over top of our songs. I’m not sure if they’ll get released or not. After our record is done, if those tracks don’t make it, I should put those tracks up online for people. So that’s how Howard introduced him to my brother and I. So when Howard was back in Montreal and Bassekou and the label decided it’d be cool to have some drums on this stuff and I think Howard said, “OK, remember that music that I played, remember those guys? How about they play on it?” So Bassekou approved because he’d already familiarized himself with our music a bit.
Bassekou wasn’t even in the studio for the additional instrumentation.
I actually went into the studio here in Montreal with Howard and the producer of the record, Jay Rutledge, and tracked on four songs, three of which were used, and he liked it. So we still haven’t met to this day. We’ve got this back-and-forth thing and we’ve been talking about getting together for a collaboration in the future. Bassekou’s sound did inform the Barr Brothers' sound a little bit when we were starting out — these small instruments making a giant sound.
But a collaboration between the Barr Brothers and Bassekou could be a possibility in the future.
I’d like to see some collaboration happen in the future. I’m pretty excited to know him now musically, and glad he knows about us and hopefully we can do something because we love the guy … Bassekou is such a risk taker. He’s totally tied in with the tradition. But you can also hear on every song he’s really looking to go long, to go for the Hail Mary, to extend his soloing.
Further blow your mind with this track by the Barr Brothers, "Beggar in the Morning."
Related:
From Arcade Fire to enemy fire: recording Bassekou Kouyate during the Malian coup
Q&A: Bassekou Kouyate on AfroCubism and collaboration
Mali’s Bassekou Kouyate is the Jimi Hendrix of the ngoni
From bootlegging to Arcade Fire: producer Howard Bilerman
Devil’s music, from the Mississippi Delta to northern Mali
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones still kicking it