David Dalle
Thursday March 20th, 2025 with David Dalle
New albums from Malian singers Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté and Amy Sacko. Boulez and Ballet: Bartok.

I got my hands on a couple of recent and new albums by some of my favourite Malian musicians on the small label One World Music. The first release from late last year is the latest from Bassekou Kouyate. Unlike his previous albums with his group Ngoni Ba, all credited as Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, this album is credited to Bassekou Kouyate & Amy Sacko. She is an incredible singer (and Bassekou's wife) and has sung on all the previous albums. However, this is the first album where she shares the main credit with Bassekou. Well-deserved, because the songs with Amy Sacko are the best of Ngoni Ba! When I saw them live in London two years ago, her singing gave me shivers. The second new album is by the Trio Da Kali. This all-star trio is formed by Lassana Diabaté on balafon, Madou Kouyate on ngoni, and singer Hawa Kasse Mady Diabaté. She is named after her father, the late Kassé Mady Diabaté, one of Mali's greatest singers and a personal favourite. Lassana Diabaté is a hidden figure behind so many amazing Malian albums. His balafon is so full of profound and insistent melancholy and beauty. Mandé music is one of the greatest musical traditions, with singing being the pinnacle, and these two albums are stellar examples. Before we get to Mali, we will start with more Boulez and Ballet. Boulez was born on March 26th 1925. He recorded almost all of Bartok's orchestral music, including Bartok's first ballet, "The Wooden Prince". This work is not as well known as his second ballet "The Miraculous Mandarin", but was one of Bartok's biggest successes when it was premiered in 1917. Like Ravel last week, this work owes its existence to Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, at least indirectly. The Ballets Russes visited Budapest in 1913 where Bartok encountered Stravinsky's "Firebird" and "Petrushka". This inspired Bartok to write his own folktale ballet and he composed "The Wooden Prince" between 1914-1916. This work has strong influences from Debussy and Wagner, the latter particularly in the luminous C major introduction and conclusion which echoes the Prelude to Wagner's "Rheingold". It has one of the largest orchestras ever used by Bartok with extremely rich music like last week's Ravel. And as with the Ravel, I don't find it necessary to be familiar with the story to sink into this wonderful music. This is a perfect score for the incredible ear of Boulez the conductor. We will hear Boulez's 1992 recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.