[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/6925230″ iframe=”true” /]
Chamber Music is a collaboration between Ballaké Sissoko, who plays the traditional kora, a lute-harp from Mali, and Vincent Ségal, the French cellist who plays for the trip-hop band Bumcello. It is also, quite simply, one of the most elegant and beautiful recordings of “world music” in recent years. At a time when cross-cultural music has tended toward highly-caffeinated electric pop and dance music, Sissoke and Segal remind us that there is room – and maybe even a need – for a quieter, more refined world music.