COMPOSERS: Soungalo Coulibaly
LABELS: Arion
PERFORMER: Soungalo Coulibaly (djembe), etc
CATALOGUE NO: ARN 64650
Soungalo Coulibaly’s band was recorded in Europe during concerts on what proved to be his last tour – he died shortly afterwards in Bamako, Mali last March, before he could hear the final mix.
Performing with musicians from Mali and Ivory Coast, Coulibaly leads vividly on the djembe drum, sparking offfurious competitive choruses of percussion in endlessly evolving rhythms. Melodic interest arrives on sonorous marimbas, known in these parts as balafons, and a women’s duet winds through the texture.
There’s torrents of unstoppable invention and spontaneity, and though the performances would have had dancers, such is the aural sparkle that you won’t miss them.