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His new album, Electric Griot Land, is the perfect reflection of this double culture. It’s also a fascinatingly eclectic work on which Ba’s melodic phrasing on vocals and kora fuse superbly with the saturated feedback from Sékou’s customised electric kora and the compelling loops from the rhythm section featuring Ba’s cousin, Kourou, on bass and Ibrahima Bah on percussion.

This album has an average beat per minute of 145 BPM (slowest/fastest tempos: 145/145 BPM). See its BPM profile at the bottom of the page. Tracklist Electric Griot Land. BPM Profile Electric Griot Land. Album starts at BPM, ends at BPM (+0), with tempos within the -BPM range. Try refreshing the page if dots are missing). Recent albums by Ba Cissoko.

The Guinean quartet Ba Cissoko won a Best Newcomer nomination at last year’s BBC world music awards for their wonderful debut album, Sabolan. The title of the even better follow-up references Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland.

Electric Griot Land" is the second album by Guinean group Ba Cissoko. As with their first, it both acoustic and electric koras, blending traditional West African (griot) music with modern styles and influences. On this album, the mix of instruments and styles is wider than the first. Balafons feature in several songs and make a pleasant addition to the overall sound. There are jazz influences in some songs and there is more of a reggae feel to much of this album than the first. Guest vocalists on the album include Tiken Jah Folly and the female singers The Nubians.

This album, with its titular nod to Jimi Hendrix, features wah-wah kora, dubby vibes, wild percussion and snatches of field recordings. Not all the combinations work entirely (some of the sweetness verges on the saccharine) but when it comes together, as on the rocking opener 'Griot Ba', this out-grooves almost anything.

The burnished laidback vocals of Kimintan Cissoko, in relation to the intricate polyrhythmic riffing, is a further happy juxtaposition. An occasional flirtation with reggae completes the picture. This is a pleasing refinement of the sound they presented on 2006's Electric Griot Land. Pick of the album: 'Chauffeur Taxi' lightly folds reggae into the mix. We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.

Sora (Le nom de la kora est Cissoko).

12 tracks · 1 January 2008. 13 tracks · 6 May 2016.