Ballaké Sissoko

Ballaké Sissoko (born 1968) is a Malian player of the kora. He has worked with Toumani Diabaté and Taj Mahal, and is a member of the group 3MA with Driss El Maloumi and Rajery. Ballaké's father, Djelimady Sissoko, was a notable musician from the Gambia in his own right who moved to Mali and was funded by the government to be part of the national orchestra. Sissoko started playing music at a young age, as most born into the jeli or griot caste do. In 1981, when he was 13, Sissoko's father died, and he took his father's place within the Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali. He also performed with several prominent female singers before coming to fame through his duet with Toumani Diabaté in 1999. In 2000, he formed the trio Mande Tabolo with an n'goni player and a balafon player. His 2005 album, Tomora, features Toumani Diabaté on kora, singers Alboulkadri Barry and Rokia Traoré and Fanga Diawara, violin soloist of the Mali National Instrumental Ensemble. His record Chamber Music released in October 2009 was the result of a collaboration with Vincent Ségal, a classical cellist known for his work with Bumcello, and was released by French label No Format! and the U.S. label Six Degrees Records. He released a solo album, At Peace, in 2013. Ségal produced the album and plays on several tracks. On returning from a 2020 US tour, Sissoko checked in his €5000 custom-made kora at the airport in New York for the flight back to Paris. On his arrival he discovered that the instrument had been dismantled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. According to Sissoko's manager, Corinne Serres, "Even if all the components that had been dismantled remained intact, it would take weeks for a kora of this calibre to return to its former state of resonance.". The customs agency, however, denied opening the kora case which should not have triggered an alarm in the security scanners. Sissoko's 2021 album Djourou, also released by No Format, takes its name from these events. Source: Article "Ballaké Sissoko" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Ballaké Sissoko (né en 1967 à Bamako) est un musicien malien, joueur de kora, issu d'une famille de «djéli» (musicien-conteur de la culture mandingue, assimilable au griot). Ballaké Sissoko est le fils du musicien Djelimady Sissoko. Autodidacte dans l’apprentissage de la kora, car son père ne souhaitait pas que son premier fils devienne musicien, il intègre l’Ensemble instrumental du Mali à la suite de la mort de son père en 1981, alors qu'il est âgé de 13 ans. En 1999, il joue avec un autre musicien malien, Toumani Diabaté, joueur de kora également. En 2000, il crée son groupe baptisé «Mandé Tabolo» et composé de Mama Draba (chant), Fassery Diabaté (balafon), Adama Tounkara (n'goni) et Aboubacar Dembelé (bolon). Il rencontre Vincent Ségal lors d'un festival de jazz d'Amiens. En 2009, ils enregistrent ensemble le disque Chamber Music, puis Musique de nuit en 2015. La situation plus difficile des musiciens traditionnels au Mali a conduit Ballaké Sissoko à privilégier une carrière internationale. Le 4 février 2020, de retour d'une tournée aux États-Unis, il découvre sa kora, confectionnée sur mesure et d'une valeur de plus de 5 000 €, démantelée. Elle est accompagnée d'un mot d'excuse de l’administration fédérale de la sécurité des transports, la Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Selon sa manageuse, Corinne Serres, «même si tous les composants qui ont été démontés étaient intacts, il faudrait des semaines avant qu’une kora de ce calibre puisse retrouver son état de résonance antérieur.» La TSA a cependant nié toute ouverture du bagage en question, qui n'aurait pas déclenché d'alarme durant les scanners de sécurité. Il est marié à la chanteuse Mama Draba. Source: Article "Ballaké Sissoko" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.