Ba Cissoko
Ilka Schlockermann talks to kora player and singer songwriter Ba Cissoko from Guinea who was one of the artists on the African Soul Rebels tour in February 2007.
Ba Cissoko and his group were, together with Femi Kuti and Akli D , part of the third edition of the African Soul Rebels tour. The 12 dates tour took them all across the UK between 14 and 27 February 2007.
Ba Cissoko is a griot, fully clued up on West African Mandinka tradition, yet he has a very modern and experimental outlook. He is the vocalist of his group and plays the kora as well as occasionally the tamani (the Guinean version of the talking drum). Ba's cousin and key member of the group is Sékou Kouyaté , a second kora player but his one is electric, complete with added effects pedals. Watching and listening to Sékou's customised, electrified kora is amazing. If you thought only electric guitar players can do solos that rock musically and also visually (you know, heads thrown back, pulling faces etc), then you ought to watch Sékou do one of his electric kora solos. Air kora anybody? The other two members are Kourou Kouyaté on bolon (a Guinean string instrument which produces a bass tone similar to the lower register of a harp) and bass and Ibrahim Bah on percussion.
Ba Cissoko's second album, after 2004's '
Sabolan
' (which led to their 'Best Newcomer' nomination at the 2005 BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards), is fittingly called '
Electric Griotland
', released in late 2006. A promo currently doing the rounds is a CD of three tracks from 'Electric Griotland' remixed by
Mo DJ
, a Bamako-based cassette vendor by day and DJ by night. Mo DJ is one of the first to remix Malian music using small rhythm box, which has lent its name to his genre of music '
Djembeni
' (meaning small djembe), and which, so says the press release, 'is set to revolutionise Western dance floors'. Judging by Mo DJ's Ba Cissoko remixes this can only be a good thing. As part of the promotion there is even a rather psychedelic music video available of one of Ba Cissoko's key tracks, '
Griot Ba
'.
The group have toured world-wide and in December 2006 they came to London to perform alongside Amadou & Mariam and K'naan at the Roundhouse, followed by an absolutely excellent in-store performance at Fopp the next day, organised by the bible of cool music, Straight No Chaser magazine – with or without Chaser's stamp of approval: Ba Cissoko is cool. We caught up with him before this performance.
In the inlay of your current CD you are referred to as a 'post modern griot (who projects) himself in the future without ever forgetting that glorious past' – how are you seen in your home country, especially amongst more traditional griots? How did you manage to find the right balance between traditional and modern?
In the beginning it wasn't easy because the kora is a traditional instrument. But I learned all the traditions and know all the traditional songs, and then for me it was like 'that's what you (the older generation of griots) made, all the old songs and we (the younger generation) followed you but now we'd like to modernise it a bit'.
When the first album 'Sabolan' was released, it was playing on radio, we were on TV, and in the end the older generation in Guinea also liked that. I then created an annual festival of kora and strings which I have done for two years now, and I invited the traditional players from Senegal, Mali and Guinea to play and celebrate.
I play traditional kora and my cousin Sékou Kouyaté plays electrified kora. We really balance each other, we rehearse and play together a lot, we searched to get the right balance and sound, and we also try out our sounds at the festival where the older people perform, too.
At what age did you realise what a griot was and that you were yourself a griot?
When you are born into a griot family, you are a griot - without ever even touching a kora. My father was a kora player, my mother was a singer. We had music in the house all the time, the kora was there from the beginning, I was always immersed in music. However, in the beginning I actually wanted to become a footballer.
If you were born a griot would it be possible to do a different career professionally?
Yes, my dad said it's ok to be a footballer, but he said to me 'you are a griot, you should at least learn two or three songs', so I did learn a few songs but I was really, really into football. It was only later that I decided I wanted to become a professional griot player; my uncle came, a griot, taught me.
Are your CDs released in Guinea?
Actually most people in Guinea don't have CD players, they have cassette players. My albums are not released yet, but some people have them on CD and my music gets played on the radio but I would like to release them on cassette.
What's the music scene like in Guinea? What do young people listen to?
The young people listen to a lot of hip hop, hip hop from Guinea and international hip hop, especially Senegalese hip hop like Daara J and Positive Black Soul, but also French and American hip hop. There's even an international hip hop festival in Guinea. Sometimes I do collaborations with local hip hop artists, and I play the kora on their records.
Which other African countries have you been to? What has the reception been like to your music?
I have done a tour of the French Alliance cultural centres in West Africa and performed in Senegal, Mauritania, Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast. Although they are Anglophone countries, Ghana and Nigeria were particularly excellent; I even did a press conference in Lagos. Bamako was very good, too. In March we will do an East African tour.
In February you will be performing alongside Femi Kuti and Akli D on the African Soul Rebels tour in the UK. Are you looking forward to the tour and playing with the other artists?
I actually met Femi Kuti in Nigeria, Femi was playing his regular gig at his Shrine nightclub in Lagos and he invited me on stage to open up for him, it was an excellent atmosphere. So Femi is a really good friend and I am looking forward to doing the tour with him. When I played at the Shrine, Femi came onstage with his sax during my last song and we played together - so you never know, we might do something together on the African Soul Rebels tour.
Which artists are you listening to? Who has influenced you? And did you actually listen to Jimi Hendrix when growing up?
Yes, I really do like Jimi Hendrix and listen to him a lot. Other artists I like are Salif Keita, Youssou N'Dour and Ali Farka Touré. I like reggae a lot too and blues - in fact I listen to all kinds of music.
On your current album there are collaborations with Les Nubians, Tiken Jah Fakoly, K'naan, Amadou Bagayoko (from Amadou & Mariam) – how did these collaborations come about and were you actually in the studio together with these artists?
I met Tiken Jah Fakoly at the RFI Awards in 2004, we were both finalists. We talked about working together. I met Amadou at festivals, but the K'naan connection came via Marc Antoine, the producer, he suggested K'naan and sent me his 'Dusty Foot Philosopher' album which I liked so I thought it was a good plan. Unfortunately, I was only in the studio together with Tiken Jah, the other collaborations were recorded separately. I have since met K'naan though, at a festival in Bamako, and also in France and London.
What are your future plans?
Well, this is still the start of the promotion of the album in the UK, so there's more work to be done in 2007. I am also preparing for the third edition of my festival which will be taking place in October/ November 2007. Also, I have opened a cultural centre in Conakry, Guinea's capital where I live. It's called Wakili, which means 'the courageous people/ the brave ones'.
We have made kora quite cool, by playing with hip hop artists for instance, so lots of young people got interested in learning. At the centre we give free kora lessons. There are also rehearsal rooms and artists can do shows there, and often artists from out of town stay at the centre when they visit.
Tracks from Ba Cissoko's album ' Electric Griotland ' (Totolo 001):
Listen: Griot Ba
Listen: Africa (feat. Tiken Jah Fakoly)
Listen: Silani (feat. K'naan) - this track is also featured on the compilation ' Africa Plays On … '