New Ancient Strings

'New Ancient Strings' is an album of eight instrumental kora duets that reinterprets the Mande musical tradition as a tribute to the performers' fathers and their influential 1970 album, 'Ancient Strings'. The intricate and conversational performances by Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko merge traditional compositions with modern, evolved kora techniques, including percussive string-dampening and flourishes influenced by flamenco. Recorded in a single, unedited live take in a marble hallway in Bamako, the album's production relies entirely on natural acoustics to create its distinctively pure and reverberant sound.