Chamber Music

It has been some nine years since Anouar Brahem’s ‘Astrakhan cafe’ shook up the music industry and truly opened all our eyes to the possibilities of ‘world music.’ Since then there has been a whole raft of releases and while many have been good there has been a huge amount of overrated guff and few to touch Brahem’s breathtaking beauty. So it was with no little pleasure that I have stumbled across this underrated little beauty. Sissoko, (from Mali), plays what is called a kora, (no I’d never heard of one either so I looked it up), which is apparently a bottle gourd cut in half with a bridge and 21 strings no less. Sissoko can make this sound either like a harp or more plucked in a blues like staccato style. Segal, (from France), plays the double bass and he grounds the music slightly for European listeners with a classical touch and thus, presumably, the ‘Chamber music’ of the title. The beauty here is the mixture of styles being offered to the listener. Many tracks have a Western edge with the kora sounding almost harplike with a shimmering beauty and crystalline fragility that on tracks like ‘Oscarine’ are just a delight. On tracks such as ‘Histoire de Molly’ & ‘Mako Mady’ the bass is forefront and a sombre downtempo feel leave the listener feeling reflective and not a little sad. Contrasts abound everywhere so that we are taken from uplifting to darker moods as well as the slightly potty with tracks like ‘Ma Ma FC’ which is great fun and sounds like Rolf Harris is playing the accompaniment. The playing here is seamless and effortless. The two musicians weave around each other and compliment one another hugely. The recording quality is very high with each instrument well placed and a very high level of detail retrieved. In all this is a great addition to any music lovers collection and not only represents a great opportunity for something different but also to hear two world class musicians combining their differing cultures to great effect. Highly recommended. By Mr. David Halliday (Ilkeston Derbyshire United Kingdom)