A couple of months ago Kindred Spirits reissued an amazing african album by Amadou Ballake. Last week we found out that MR. Ballake sadly passed away. If you want to read more about this great musician check out this text written by Florent Mazzoleni.. rushhour.nl/store_detailed.php?item=72512 Amadou Ballaké After six decades of musical career, Amadou Ballaké died on August 27th 2014 in Ouagadougou. He was born March 8th 1944 in Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso. He stood as one of the last living legends of African musics golden age and one of Africa’s most mesmerizing voice. Hailing from remote Burkina Faso, Ballaké achieved an amazing musical heritage thru many albums and singles released along his long career which started in the early Sixties. Travelling to Mali, the Ivory Coast and Guinea in this decade of musical apprenticeship as a percussion player and singer, Amadou Traoré earned the ‘Ballaké’ nickname in Conakry where he performed this legendary mandingo song made popular by his friends from the Bembeya Jazz. Back home in Ouagadougou, he started one of West Africa’s tightest musical outfit called Les Cinq Consuls du Don Camillo in 1970. Recruiting local musicians, he teamed up with his Guinean friend Mangue Kondé in order to become lead guitar player and main composer of the orchestra. For a few years, Amadou Ballaké & Les Cinq Consuls recorded the soundtrack of modern Ouaga, combining local warba rhythms, mandingo classic repertoire, spicy afro-cuban flavors and cosmopolitan funk aesthetics. Moving and working to Abidjan, Paris and New York between the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Ballaké produced several classic albums along the way before moving back to Ouaga in the late 1980’s where he still performed on a weekly basis to this day. After many years away from studios, he just finished recording a new album a few weeks ago, to be released this fall thru Sterns Records in London.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:20:56 +0000
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