Last tour for this season: Mariana Sadovska

In her home country she is known as the ‘Ukrainian Bjork’: in her furious performances the singer, actress and composer Mariana Sadovska crosses all borders: Archaic midsummer night invocations, wedding songs and migrant chants from remote Ukrainian villages transmute into contemporary sound that embraces both folk and avant-garde. Creating innovative compositions in dialogue with ancient traditions, Mariana Sadovska approaches each piece with a fresh and uniquely personal vision. With a voice of impressive power and range her stage presence is a tour de force that oscillates between fragility and defiance.

For this tour she has teamed up with German percussionist and electronica specialist Christian Thomé tocreate an acoustic road movie: a meeting of cultures in poetry and melody, singing tales of love and death, despair and hope, in search of freedom and identity.

Live review: Trio Da Kali at NCEM York

By David Forsdike

Think of Mali and music and what comes to mind? Perhaps the pulsating electric guitars of one of the Touareg desert blues bands Tinariwen or Tamikrest. Or maybe the rippling harp-like sound of the kora played by a griot master such as Toumani Diabaté or Ballaké Sissoko.

Trio da Kali shed a different light on this corner of the former Mande empire, transporting us to a forgotten era before many griots laid aside their traditional instruments and took up the guitar. Here, it is the balafon which leads the ensemble, and Lassana Diabaté proves to be a complete master of his instrument. He is joined by the singer Hawa Kassé Mady, and Mamadou Kouyaté, who plays a large bass version of the ngoni, Africa’s oldest string instrument.

Each half of the concert began with a solo. Hawa surprised a few in the audience when she launched into her short opening song, and soon the trio were on stage in full flight playing one of the work songs taught to her by her grandmother on the family farm, complete with mimed actions illustrating the work in the field. Love songs and wedding songs made up the majority of what was on offer, and it was soon apparent that this is a trio whose members are acutely aware of each other at all times. There was great delicacy in some of the interlocking patterns between voice and balafon, and a wide contrast in textures, often within the same song. Lassana switched from short delicate strokes of the bars of the instrument to fast dazzling scales up or down at a moment’s notice. The punchy bass notes of Mamadou’s ngoni were often to the fore, and both instrumentalists revelled in the chance to shine when given the spotlight, wearing huge smiles as they did so.

This tour was Trio da Kali’s first visit to the English regions, having only previously played in London, and we were treated to nearly two hours of spellbinding Mande music. Here’s to hoping they will be back to share more of their music with us in the near future.

Live review: Trio Da Kali at RNCM Manchester

By Chloe Beth Smith

Following their formation in 2012, Trio Da Kali have dazzled audiences with their powerful and mesmerising performances in the UK, France and even the United States. Brought together by the Aga Khan Initiative, a scheme that works by uniting talented musicians across much of Central Asia and now also in Mali, Trio Da Kali play the music of the Griots of their Mande culture with a more modern and original feel.
The Manchester show took place in the Studio Theatre of the Royal Northern College of Music, an intimate venue which seats around 100 audience members., The almost full audience sat in the dim studio eagerly anticipating what was to come.
Opening the show, Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté slowly drifted onto the spot lit stage and instantly mesmerised the audience with the powerful yet delicate tone of her a cappella voice. The ease with which she performed, commanded the stage and the atmosphere in the audience was noticeably relaxed. Balafonist and proclaimed leader of the ensemble, Lassana Diabaté soon joined Hawa on stage and the pair communicated beautifully. As Lassana alternated between mellow accompaniment of Hawa's vocal passages and his own extremely virtuosic playing through solo passages in which the mallets floated across the keys in a rapid blur of crisp, melismatic melodies. The pair was soon joined by the punching bass lines of Mamadou Kouyaté on an amplified ngoni, which brought the music to a more contemporary setting.
As the show progressed into the second half the audience eased into the groovy feel of the music, being persuaded by the musicians to dance and even sing along to certain passages. A wide smile of satisfaction was constantly visible across Lassana's face throughout the performance, perfectly reflecting the contentment of the audience.
Trio Da Kali are a superb example of a group of extremely skilled musicians working together in harmony, who perfectly compliment each other’s musical talents and tone. Their recently released EP with World Circuit is a great recording of wedding songs that allows for their music to be heard otherwise, though their energy and stamina still make for a must see live show.

Photo by Chloe Beth Smith