“Chamber Music,” the quietly elegant record from Ballaké Sissoko, who plays the traditional kora, a lute-harp from Mali, and Vincent Ségal, the French cellist who plays for the trip-hop band Bumcello, came about because Sissoko approached Segal after a Chocolate Genius show.  Following improvisatory leads, they wrote intimate and warm global chamber music, which sounds like it came about in the still of the night. 

For this New Sounds, they visit the studio to perform some of the tunes from “Chamber Music” AND treat us to one that did not appear on the record: “Nyan'dou.”  It’s a traditional melody often-played in Bamako that goes off into a Senegalese style.  Other selections that we'll hear have come about due to influences as disparate as Don Cherry, Randy Weston, West African griots, Tricky, the Philly Sound and above all, Sissoko’s and Segal’s friendship, including a piece inspired by the soccer club that both of their sons play for.

PROGRAM #        3202, with Vincent Segal and Ballake Sissoko (First aired on 5/6/11)