Lined up in front of the altar in an exquisite little north London church were three of Mali’s finest musicians. On balafon, the ancient wooden precursor of the xylophone, was Lassana Diabaté, and on the bass version of the ngoni, the African lute, was Mamadou Kouyaté. Between them, Hawa Diabaté, daughter of one of West Africa’s most revered singers, showed the power and authority of her singing from the opening notes of the unaccompanied Solyo, a praise song that dates back to the 13th century.
Trio Da Kali are a supergroup, each member from a different family of griots, the hereditary musicians who for generations have performed and passed on the songs and stories of the region. They were brought together by Lucy Durán, the academic and broadcaster, at the request of San Francisco’s adventurous Kronos Quartet, who were seeking a new African collaboration project. Their debut together, Ladilikan, is one of the albums of the year, and one would have expected a major concert tour, and perhaps an appearance on Later ... With Jools Holland, to coincide with its release. Instead, the Trio were playing by themselves at this intimate, out-of-the-way venue. But with or without the Kronos Quartet, it is clear that Trio Da Kali are now a powerful group in their own right. In an era of amplified desert blues/rock fusion, they are pioneering a new African acoustic music.
It’s a style based on the empathy between the three musicians. Lassana proved that the balafon can be subtle and melodic rather than purely percussive, as he switched from gently rippling passages to rapid-fire solos that veered towards jazz improvisation, as on his extraordinary solo workout Samuel. Mamadou matched the changes in mood as he switched from solos to bass lines that underpinned the songs. And Hawa showed why Kronos have compared her to the gospel star Mahalia Jackson, as she moved from the controlled power of Guede, a song recorded by her father, to hushed passages or the soulful Tita.
It was disappointing that the set didn’t include one of the album’s outstanding tracks, the Mahalia Jackson song God Shall Wipe All Tears Away – presumably omitted as its backing was provided solely by the Kronos’s strings. The two groups should finally perform together in the UK in the spring – though no dates have been announced – and I look forward to hearing it then.
