A Platform for Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
ABOUT
Djimé Sissoko & Djama Djigui is a young music group born in the Bankoni district of Bamako. They are all brothers, cousins, and neighbors who have grown up together. They are all descendants of the Sissoko griots, the most memorable member of this dynasty was the great master Djeli Baba Sissoko who made the heyday of Radio Mali in the 70s and 80s, telling traditional tales every evening backed with his ngoni.
The members of this group have only known one school, and that school is "Music."
Trained since childhood to manufacture and to master the secrets of traditional instruments such as the ngonis, the tamas, and doundoun, they play together a music strongly inspired by traditional Mandinka heritage masters and virtuosos such as Bassekou Kouyaté and Baba Sissoko.
For years, they have backed many Malian griot musicians but also other artists from different horizons of the vibrant Malian music scene. Djimé Sissoko is a faithful companion of all projects of his uncle Baba Sissoko and participated in the recording of his albums "Djekafo" in 2009 (alongside Bassekou Kouyate and Afel Bocoum), "Baba and his Mother" in 2012, or "Black Machine" in 2010 in collaboration with Aka Moon.
Since 2008 he has been part of the group of Samba Touré, the heir to the Songhai tradition popularized by Ali Farka Touré ("Crocodile Blues" Riverboat Records WMN 2009 and the recent and acclaimed "Albala" Glitterbeat Records 2013).
On this album, the virtuosity of Djimé on different types of ngonis has made a strong impression in different songs marked by a dark and hypnotic blues backed by Hugo Race (ex Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). It is no exaggeration to say that the success that "Albala" met worldwide owes a lot to the involvement of Djimé, who in this project, was more than just a musician but also participated in the arrangements.
In early 2013 he played on the album of Anansy Cissé (trad-rock from Tombouctou) that will be available in early 2014 on Riverboat Records.
Between all these different projects, Djimé Sissoko found the time during 2011 and 2013 to reunite his childhood friends, also involved with various artists, to tackle their first personal project. They founded the group Djama Djigui. Djama Djigui: "Hope of the People" in the Bambara language. A symbolic name for the country of Mali which has barely managed to recover from over a year of a political and security crisis during which the artists of Mali first had to face the jihadist threat that wanted to ban music and then totally for months had to live under the curfew which prevented any cultural event from happening.
The 12-track album was recorded in the legendary Studio Bogolan of Bamako (co-founded by Ali Farka Touré). It's a collection of rhythms and songs of varying colors, steeped in tradition but also bringing its key of very personal power and creativity like the discrete distortions on the ngoni on a few tracks. The group is composed of three ngoni (small, medium, and large), djembé, and various percussions.
Djimé Sissoko is also a formidable player of the armpit drum called tamani, highlighted on two tracks ("Bankoni" and "Tama Solo").
On six tracks, the young singer Aichata does wonders with her powerful voice that echoes the sokou (traditional violin) of master Zoumana Tereta (Oumou Sangaré, Bassekou Kouyaté, Samba Touré, Vieux Farka Touré...) who also lends his hoarse and powerful voice on "Djimé Foly".
Other guests are Sadibou Kante ("Bajourou"), one of the masters of the Khassonké vocal tradition, and finally the faithful Samba Touré, on guitar and vocals on the captivating "Daamou". Djimé Sissoko and Djama Djigui represent the younger generation of griots, rooted in tradition but fully alive in their time of sound and fury, open to all musical horizons and resolutely turned towards the future.
The members of this group have only known one school, and that school is "Music."
Trained since childhood to manufacture and to master the secrets of traditional instruments such as the ngonis, the tamas, and doundoun, they play together a music strongly inspired by traditional Mandinka heritage masters and virtuosos such as Bassekou Kouyaté and Baba Sissoko.
For years, they have backed many Malian griot musicians but also other artists from different horizons of the vibrant Malian music scene. Djimé Sissoko is a faithful companion of all projects of his uncle Baba Sissoko and participated in the recording of his albums "Djekafo" in 2009 (alongside Bassekou Kouyate and Afel Bocoum), "Baba and his Mother" in 2012, or "Black Machine" in 2010 in collaboration with Aka Moon.
Since 2008 he has been part of the group of Samba Touré, the heir to the Songhai tradition popularized by Ali Farka Touré ("Crocodile Blues" Riverboat Records WMN 2009 and the recent and acclaimed "Albala" Glitterbeat Records 2013).
On this album, the virtuosity of Djimé on different types of ngonis has made a strong impression in different songs marked by a dark and hypnotic blues backed by Hugo Race (ex Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). It is no exaggeration to say that the success that "Albala" met worldwide owes a lot to the involvement of Djimé, who in this project, was more than just a musician but also participated in the arrangements.
In early 2013 he played on the album of Anansy Cissé (trad-rock from Tombouctou) that will be available in early 2014 on Riverboat Records.
Between all these different projects, Djimé Sissoko found the time during 2011 and 2013 to reunite his childhood friends, also involved with various artists, to tackle their first personal project. They founded the group Djama Djigui. Djama Djigui: "Hope of the People" in the Bambara language. A symbolic name for the country of Mali which has barely managed to recover from over a year of a political and security crisis during which the artists of Mali first had to face the jihadist threat that wanted to ban music and then totally for months had to live under the curfew which prevented any cultural event from happening.
The 12-track album was recorded in the legendary Studio Bogolan of Bamako (co-founded by Ali Farka Touré). It's a collection of rhythms and songs of varying colors, steeped in tradition but also bringing its key of very personal power and creativity like the discrete distortions on the ngoni on a few tracks. The group is composed of three ngoni (small, medium, and large), djembé, and various percussions.
Djimé Sissoko is also a formidable player of the armpit drum called tamani, highlighted on two tracks ("Bankoni" and "Tama Solo").
On six tracks, the young singer Aichata does wonders with her powerful voice that echoes the sokou (traditional violin) of master Zoumana Tereta (Oumou Sangaré, Bassekou Kouyaté, Samba Touré, Vieux Farka Touré...) who also lends his hoarse and powerful voice on "Djimé Foly".
Other guests are Sadibou Kante ("Bajourou"), one of the masters of the Khassonké vocal tradition, and finally the faithful Samba Touré, on guitar and vocals on the captivating "Daamou". Djimé Sissoko and Djama Djigui represent the younger generation of griots, rooted in tradition but fully alive in their time of sound and fury, open to all musical horizons and resolutely turned towards the future.
