Jama Ko

Mali’s ngoni ace returns.  After his celebrated debut album ‘Segu Blue’ and the Grammy nominated follow up ‘I Speak Fula’, hundreds of concerts all over he globe, performing as headliner in the AfroCubism project, Bassekou Kouyate is back with his brand new album – ‘Jama Ko’ ‘Jama Ko’ means ‘big gathering of people’. Any important event in Mali be it birth, death or marriage has been accompanied by the music of the griots and Bassekou and his family are at the heart of this tradition.  Jama Ko is a call for unity, peace and tolerance in a time of crisis. Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Godspeed You! Black Emperor) recorded the album in Mali’s capital Bamako and during the first day of recording the military overthrew the president Amadou Toumani Toure resulting in less than ideal recording conditions but instead of keeping quiet, Bassekou plugged in his wah wah pedal, cranked up his amp and let loose to produce an album full of emotion and life.